The Strays (2023)★★★★☆

This is a TENSE movie. It’s slower than I normally prefer, but it works here - because a lot of the tension is internal, the slow build and slow unraveling of everyone involved fits with the storytelling and doesn’t feel too drawn out.

(Definitely spoilers) I particularly love that the spectacular build-up and climax leads to the almost anti-climactic but absolutely fitting ending. The expressions on the faces of the four in the final scene were heartbreaking and perfect. In fact, everyone was fantastic in this movie, particularly Ashley Madekwe as Cheryl/Neve.

I love that the dialogue, while never feeling quite “real,” feels super pointed and specifically chosen. Something in the line “I did what I had to do - what fathers do all the time” really stuck with me and feels kind of emblematic of what I mean here.

This is an interesting exploration of how your own demons and insecurities and past can not only come back to haunt you, but to claim you, to pull you back in to the life you thought you left behind.

…and yes, Cheryl’s demons and insecurities are a bit, let’s say, heightened over “normal” insecurities. But they’re also largely of her own creation and proliferation (ha, pun not originally intended but definitely intended now).

I guess that also makes this an interesting exploration of main characters who are maybe not the protagonists of even their own stories…there’s no point at which you’re given anything sympathetic, anything to offer reason or rationale to Cheryl’s choices and actions outside of self-interest and self-preservation.

…and maybe also an interesting exploration in revenge stories gone somehow right and terribly wrong at the same time? I guess I just appreciated the various explorations through storytelling here, and the underlying creep and dread factor throughout.