For those who were terrified by the original movie “The Strangers” (2008), they can hold writer and director Bryan Bertino responsible. The movie became a cult classic horror and spawned an entirely rebooted trilogy as well as a standalone sequel, “The Strangers: Prey at Night” (2018), which Bertino wrote and executive produced. He went on to write and direct other horror movies such as “Mockingbird” (2014), produced by Jason Blum; “The Monster” (2016); “The Dark and the Wicked” (2020); and “Vicious” (2025), starring Dakota Fanning and Kathryn Hunter. Bertino is a horror specialist who knows how to scare an audience senseless no matter the budget. He has produced multiple other movies in the genre, such as “The Blackcoat’s Daughter” (2015), “Stephanie” (2017), and “He’s Out There” (2018).