Varèse Sarabande Records releases The Strangers: Prey at Night original movie soundtrack both digitally and on CD. This film has been a long time coming. The original Strangers film from 2008 (in which a couple is terrorised in their home by three strangely masked intruders) was supposed to have been followed-up pretty quickly with a sequel. For one reason or another it never quite happened. That is until now, ten years later. This time it happens at a secluded mobile home park. The music is composed by Adrian Johnston, who has worked previously on Kinky Boots, Brideshead Revisited, and Becoming Jane. This soundtrack also includes five previously released songs from different eras...

The songs here consist of two from Kim Wilde ('Kids in America', and 'Cambodia'), 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' by Bonnie Tyler, 'Making Love Out Of Nothing At All' by Air Supply, and (probably the best of the bunch) 'Live it Up' by Mental As Anything. Any fans of these songs will be surprised and delighted to experience them again while watching the film, but on a film soundtrack they are a bit of a non-entity. Had this collection been made up of songs matching the theme (such as School of Rock, for example) I can understand the attraction. However, anyone who likes one or two of these songs will already have downloaded them.

As for the incidental music, the main theme is stolen straight from John Carpenter’s The Fog. The following tracks consist of a lot of low rumbling indicating underlying menace, with electronic flourishes and music box tinkles. Probably the best track is 'Pulled to Safety' which contains an inherent wonky, off-kilter feel to it. 'End Titles' is a rehash of the main theme (or should I say, Carpenter’s The Fog), and 'Bonus Track' is a sort of a remix of the main theme (or should I say… etc.). I will say this version is somewhat different and should have been used instead.

Adrian Johnston mixed acoustic instruments, vintage synths and organs, and this is most evident on Inferno. He apparently recorded the music at night in an atmospheric, centuries old deconsecrated chapel. He projected the film onto a 30-foot high screen and improvised to the pictures. It makes for a better story than the music itself which is, at best, average.

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Ty Power