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The Strays is a new film, initially centering around a young woman called Cheryl (Ashley Madekwe), who wants more out of life and is getting harrassed on the phone by a nasty man called Michael.
Then cut to “years later”, when we’re in a fancy big house, with a different fammily, headed by matriarch Neve (also Ashley Madekwe, above). She’s living the perfect life as the deputy headmistress, until she kicks off at seeing son and schoolboy Sebastian (Samuel Small) smoking in the forest.
Add in daughter Mary (Maria Almeida), and husband Ian (Justin Salinger – The Trick), and I could soon see where someone was coming from, as they commented on the trailer, saying that it owes to the films of Jordan Peele (certainly Get Out), so… I figured it’ll be worth a look, but still a bit meh?
As such, there’s brief weird things happening, shot from funny angles, whether it’s someone’s hair, or someone else crunching a lobster, or another individual giving weird, dead-eye stares.
There’s a lot of weird stuff happening, like an episode of Homes under the Hammer gone wrong, and Neve keeps scratching her head like it’s constantly itching.
Jumping back and forth in time occasionally, more characters are introduced, and obviously avoiding spoilers, I can see the story starting to flesh itself out more – occasionally being one of those films where all the all the weird stuff happens to one character, leaving everyone else completely oblivious to their plight.
Ultimately, however, The Strays does rather feel all over the place and, eventually, just rapidly disintegrates into something completely – and unnecessarily – horrible, like some bizarre ’70s horror movie.
I’ll be interested to see the reaction towards The Strays, but it turned me off completely the longer it went on.
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
The Strays is on Netflix from February 22nd, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 97 minutes
Release date: February 22nd 2023
Studio: Netflix
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Score: 2/10
Director: Nathaniel Martello-White
Producers: Valentina Brazzini, Tristan Goligher, Rob Watson
Screenplay: Nathaniel Martello-White
Music: Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch
Cast:
Neve/Cheryl: Ashley Madekwe
Abigail: Bukky Bakray
Marvin: Jorden Myrie
Sebastian: Samuel Small
Mary: Maria Almeida
Ian: Justin Salinger
Amanda: Lucy Liemann
Barry: Tom Andrews
Robert: Rob Jarvis
Kenneth: Michael Warburton
Keith: Alastair Ellery
Elle: Vanessa Bailey
Betty: Joanna Brookes
Sign teacher: Lara Steward
Emily: Izzy Billingham
Mr Fillet: Cornelius Booth
Hotel manager: Al Nedjari
Sonia: Rosie Akerman
Waitress: Toto Bruin
Delivery Guy: George Greenland
Rain (voice): Aliyah Odoffin
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.