Editorials
[Set Visit Report] Actress Bailee Madison on the Terror of ‘The Strangers: Prey at Night’
Actress Bailee Madison is no stranger to horror, having starred in 2010’s Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, multiple episodes of R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour, and she even appeared in an episode of Holliston. Soon fans will know her as Kinsey, a rebellious teenager caught in the crosshairs of the masked Strangers in the upcoming Strangers: Prey at Night, in theaters March 9, 2018.
When I was in Kentucky visiting the set of the film, Madison was in the middle of shooting a very pivotal scene. Covered in blood and collapsed in the middle of an empty street on a foggy night, Madison’s character was clearly in the thick of a cat and mouse pursuit by her assailants when the scene begins. The actress shares this particular scene with two other actors, and it gets emotionally and physically intense very quickly. To describe the scene in any further detail would be a massive spoiler, but what I can say is that it seems as though the character of Kinsey might possess far more wit and fortitude than James Hoyt (Scott Speedman) and Kristen McKay (Liv Tyler) combined.
“Kinsey was someone I was drawn to the moment I read her on page. It was one of those actor moments where it was like, ‘I have to play her, and I have to bring her to life,’” Madison says of her character, “She’s a very fierce minded original, kind of follows her own ideas of what needs to be done. She’s also very misunderstood; she’s dealing with this terrible situation with her family where she’s so disconnected and desperately wants to be connected. Through this journey, she has to be thrown into a place to understand what really is important. It’s a really fun, totally different thing that I have ever been fortunate enough to play before.”
While the scene being filmed shows Kinsey desperate and distressed, there’s also an underlying hint of a strong will to survive. When asked if Kinsey does possess tough survival instincts Madison states, “She has her moments. I think what was so great about the original, that we get to fall along with, is from the moment you pick up in the first movie is there is a sense of dread and sorrow, and it feels as if you’re watching the lives of two people that you shouldn’t be. It’s almost as if you’re the Strangers, as the audience. Like maybe I shouldn’t be watching this? When a film can make you do that it’s really great, and this one picks up on the same dread, and the same sorrow. Just sort of a new reinvention of a similar situation.”
The scene filming during my visit struck me as interesting not only for its intensity, but that for all of the physicality involved for Madison, her stunt double remained on the sidelines ready and waiting. “The stunts have been the hardest but in the best way,” the actress says of performing as much of the stunts as she can, though she acknowledges it’s probably the most difficult part of filming for her. “I called Cal Johnson, our stunt coordinator- he actually did the first Strangers, too, which is really exciting. But the stunts because you’re emotionally drained by the end of the day, and you’re physically bruised and taking home the stunts with you. Even though you’re leaving your character on set, it’s still somehow coming home with you and you’re left with remnants of things. Cal is letting me do close to 99% of the stunts, which I’m very fortunate for. It was one of the first things I said to Cal and Johannes, I said, ‘Please let me do as much as I can do.’ Because if you’re able to get a great script that establishes great characters then it’s a no-brainer, but then when you get a great script that also establishes pushing yourself in ways you’ve never been pushed then it’s even bigger. They’ve been really supportive and I’ve got battle scars from my time here on set. It’s been a blast.”
Wearing a Ramones t-shirt, tattered jeans and sporting bloodied wounds from obvious encounters with the Strangers, the character of Kinsey appears to be the epitome of teenage rebellion. When asked how much of Kinsey is in her, the actress reflects, “I actually wrote this in a letter to Johannes before we started filming; I connect with her so much but she is such a stranger to me. I think I wrote pun intended in parenthesis, because I’m cool like that. I can understand the idea of so desperately loving your family and loving people but being blocked off by things that sometimes matter, but other than that she’s a bit of a stranger to me. I spent a lot of time looking at things and writing notes and figuring out who she is through the journey, with our hair and makeup department, costume department, and with Johannes. It was a very special collaborative project to bring her to life in a very one of a kind way.”
Madison, no stranger to horror, admits that while she loves filming horror movies, watching them terrifies her. The exception to that is one of her scene partners, the actress behind the mask of Dollface. Madison cringes, stating “Dollface scares the most out of me. She’s so creepy. And she genuinely terrifies me. As a human being, Emma – she’s lovely, but she really terrifies me. Because she enjoys it too much.”
Between talking with actress Bailee Madison, observing an intense scene being filmed, and touring the intricately designed mobile home community that serves as the Strangers’ lethal playground, it’s clear that this isn’t so much of a sequel as it is a seamless continuation of the narrative that originated in 2008. While still paying special care to retain that atmospheric dread, the follow up also seems to have improved upon the original in many ways; more stunts, a bigger set, a slightly larger cast, and a more formidable opponent for the Strangers themselves. For fans of The Strangers, we have a lot to look forward to.
I first heard about The Mandela Catalogue through a couple of nephews who were obsessed with the ARG’s sinister mythology. It was only after watching Wendigoon’s in-depth analysis of the series that I realized just how deep this rabbit hole goes.
In fact, I’d already been exposed to the nightmarish visuals of Alex Kister’s YouTube creation for years at that point without even realizing that it was the origin of several viral “cursed images” and spooky memes that had leaked into the wider internet – with this viral element actually being a part of the Catalogue’s overarching narrative.
Flash-forward to 2026 and the unprecedented success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms has led to Hollywood betting on horrific internet properties with existing fanbases, which means that Kister’s unique hybrid of both religious and analog horror is finally headed to the big screen with a script written by Kister himself alongside Tyler Clifton.
While this news shouldn’t be too surprising if you’ve been keeping up with the ongoing success of The Mandela Catalogue (both myself and Wendigoon having previously predicted that the series would inevitably make the jump to theaters one day), plenty of horror fans are likely confused as to why so many folks are excited for what appears to be a Hollywood adaptation of a series of creepy .jpeg images under a VHS filter.
With that in mind, today I’d like to invite fellow readers to accompany me as I explore the origins of Alex Kister’s viral hit and attempt to explain exactly why we should all be excited about the Mandela Catalogue adaptation!
From High School Writing Project to Internet Horror Phenomenon
The first seeds of The Mandela Catalogue were sown when Kister was still in high school and developed a writing project subverting religious tropes in a world where biblical history had been altered by demonic forces. A little while later, Kister came across an analog horror contest on Reddit and decided to adapt his ideas into a standalone video where he would edit a religious kids’ cartoon –The Beginner’s Bible: The Nativity, to be specific- into something far creepier. This is how the iconic Overthrone video was born, with this viral short film taking on a life of its own as fans demanded more eerie content from Kister.
Though the video was originally meant to be a one-and-done sort of affair, with Kister actually regretting some of its primitive visuals and considering the editing amateurish and “YouTube-Poop-like” when compared to his current standards, fan reaction and free time during the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged the (then) seventeen-year-old filmmaker to continue producing content set in this same world. The Mandela Catalogue name was inspired by the Mandela Effect conspiracy theory, as the series would slowly begin to explore the subtle horror of alternate histories.
Inspired by existential dread brought on by extended periods of quarantine as well as a personal crisis of faith, Kister continued to expand his alternate timeline where the rise of Christianity had been prevented by what was presumably the Devil disguised as the Archangel Gabriel. This alternate course of fictional events led to the existence of certain paranormal anomalies that had come to be accepted as “normal” by the 1990s, which is why most of the series’ supernatural horror is presented in such a matter-of-fact manner.
Most of this background information and religious lore is delivered by increasingly cryptic broadcasts and in-universe PSAs, as well as the occasional found footage video, that often have to be decoded by clever viewers. Of course, it’s the consistently disturbing imagery that made the series so popular – much of which was originally created by Kister on a smartphone!
The Alternates: Horror’s Most Unsettling Modern Monsters
The show’s early episodes mostly take place within the fictional Mandela County in Wisconsin and depict life in a world where demonic entities are capable of using media to enter our reality. This process usually involves scaring victims into killing themselves and then repurposing their bodies as horrific doppelgangers referred to as “Alternates”. This terrifying phenomenon has become so common that local police already have specialized procedures in place to deal with the issue, though this usually consists of simply ignoring calls for help so as to avoid spreading so-called “Metaphysical Awareness Disorder” any further.
Over time, Kister would expand this mythology and incorporate different kinds of Alternates into the mix, though the story never stopped deconstructing religious concepts. The series’ second volume exponentially increased both video quality and the overall narrative scope as we began to follow the lives of characters who had already grown up in this dystopian hellscape where the government is forced to prohibit religion, television, and even mirrors in the hopes of mitigating the damage done by the ongoing invasion of otherworldly entities.
The really interesting part comes into play when you realize exactly how the Alternates make use of scary media in order to spread their demonic influence, with the analog horror of it all being a diegetic part of the story and something of a memetic trap orchestrated by the false Gabriel.
I particularly appreciate how some characters begin to suspect that there’s something wrong with their version of reality and that things weren’t meant to play out this way, especially when Mark utters the haunting line “who have I been praying to all this time?” That’s why I think The Mandela Catalogue is an effective piece of religious horror even if you don’t subscribe to the Christian worldview, as the mere idea of a world where evil has already won is a universally terrifying concept in and of itself. Not only that, but the series’ uncanny analog imagery alone is already worth the price of admission, as you’ve likely already noticed by looking at the pictures accompanying this article.
Why The Feature Adaptation Could Be Horror’s Next Big Success
It’s actually been a whole year since Kister first announced that he had been working on a feature-length screenplay for a Mandela Catalogue movie since 2022, with his proposed story following an ensemble of high-school graduates who uncover a supernatural conspiracy after the mysterious disappearance of a fellow student. This premise sounds similar to narrative elements present in the series’ second volume, but I’m pretty sure that Kister is going to go the Kane Parsons route and make the movie more of a spin-off than a re-imagining of its source material.
While notable Hollywood producers like Aaron B. Koontz, Scott Stuber, and Steven Spielberg himself are backing the upcoming project, I feel like there’s no one better to adapt this deeply personal exploration of faith and the dark side of communication than the person who first came up with it. That’s why I can’t wait to see Kister’s work on the big screen, as I have a feeling that this young filmmaker is the next one on the list about to make cinematic history – especially since this is clearly a passion project that has been in the works for years at this point!
That being said, there’s always a chance that the film could end up unleashing a fresh wave of Alternate incursions, but I guess that’s just a risk we’ll have to take.
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