The Strays

2023

Action / Drama / Horror / Mystery / Thriller

13
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 54% · 26 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 27% · 500 ratings
IMDb Rating 4.8/10 10 11698 11.7K

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Plot summary

A Black woman's meticulously crafted life of privilege starts to unravel when two strangers show up in her quaint suburban town.


Uploaded by: FREEMAN
April 05, 2023 at 03:14 AM

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24 fps
1 hr 39 min
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Movie Reviews

Reviewed by karinahatem 1 / 10

Netflix continues acquiring bad movies

Not sure what's up with Netflix, but they continue making / acquiring one bad movie after another. Nine out of ten Netflix movies are not just bad, but really bad. This was a very bad so called horror movie, completely meaningless, no clear story from beg til,end, unless that was intentional, it wasn't even suspenseful. Ending was just terrible. Sorry to say, but Netflix's quality of both movies and tv shows started declining, they cancel all the good shows and keep the stupid ones; and with the latest password sharing crackdown, I think am going to cancel my subscription soon, unless they do something big very very soon .

Reviewed by Turfseer 3 / 10

A Tale of Two Cities meets Nat Turner

Wikipedia describes The Strays as a British "horror" film. I would not classify it anywhere close to horror unless you accept the hallucinations of the main character and her possible "mental illness" as real.

The Strays really is an attempt at social commentary by way of revenge fantasy (a la Quentin Tarantino). It is full of distasteful tropes courtesy its neophyte creator/director Nathaniel Martello-White.

The basic story revolves around a bi-racial woman Neve (Ashley Madekwe) who as a young mother runs away from an abusive relationship and abandons her two young children to fend for themselves, eventually remarrying a rich white guy and moving to the suburbs.

There she has two (now teenage) children, Sebastian (Samuel Small) and Mary (Maria Almeida) with her nice-guy husband Ian (Justin Salinger). As the headmistress at a posh private school, Neve appears to have "made it" in upper class society despite her "humble origins."

Martello-White makes it a point how Neve has rejected anything that has to do with her original racial identity, refusing to let her hair out and constantly wearing wigs to make herself look more "Caucasian."

Act II finds Neve suddenly haunted by what she perceives as a black male and female teenager who appear to be following her. For a while it is unclear whether this is all in her mind or actual reality.

Eventually it becomes clear that the teenagers, Marvin (Jordon Myrtle) and Abigail (Bukky Bukray) are real and turn out to be Neve's children from her prior relationship. They make it clear that they're here to not only punish their mother for abandoning them but to humiliate her as well for what they regard as the betrayal of both her race and class.

On one hand, Martello-White seems to be pointing out the reality of class and racial enmity in modern society particularly regarding the highly charged conflict between black and white today. His is a modern day version of Dickens's "A Tale of Two Cities," in which an oppressed class seek to "even the score" for past injustices.

Indeed the old dictum of the oppressed becoming the oppressors appears to certainly be applicable here. The main question that remains is whether Martello-White supports or rejects the tactics of the oppressed class he is focusing on.

I would argue that the film's creator harbors a great deal of sympathy for Marvin and Abigail whom he deems to be the film's protagonists. This despite their vengeful behavior which makes little sense especially in the case of Ian, their main victim.

If Neve is the equivalent of an "Uncle Tom" in Marvin and Abigail's eyes, Sebastian and Mary are seen by them of having been corrupted by the class and race they were born into.

Marvin decides to "toughen" Sebastian up when he pretends that he is going to push him off the roof. But Martello-White perhaps acknowledges there is something unhinged about Marvin as he shows the effects on poor Sebastian (the kid pees in his pants).

But again, it's still clear where Martello-White's sympathies lie. Somehow most of the upper-class people here are despicable. Take for example the arrogant bully that Marvin helps Sebastian to beat up-Marvin evens turns gentle Sebastian into a monster like himself. And nice guy Ian must be sacrificed in the eyes of the resentful Marvin and Abigail as well, for he's still part of the "system."

Indeed, if Martello-White wanted to show solidarity with the real victims here, he would have had Neve tell the delivery guy to call the police. But she merely flees, and it appears her children from her first relationship have gotten away with murder.

Neve's flight confirms her as a cowardly character who refuses to stick up for the memory of Ian or take the side of the rebellious kids.

At heart Martello-White is only slightly conflicted by the actions of his protagonists. His upper class characters are stereotyped strawmen who deserve to be either humiliated (as in the case of Neve) or outrightly killed (like Ian).

Marvin's actions are reminiscent of Nat Turner and his Slave Rebellion before the Civil War in which both guilty and innocent parties were singled out for revenge. Martello-White resists showing the consequences when the "oppressed become the oppressors"; instead, there's the adolescent fantasy of a slave revolt without the predictable consequences.

There's not much you can say about the acting here as the characters are designed for agitprop. While some may give the neophyte writer/director credit for calling attention to the reality of racial disharmony today, insinuating you are on the side of violence will only lead to unproductive and disastrous consequences for those who see themselves as perennial victims of history.

Reviewed by Sport_Ho 8 / 10

Very Interesting and Different

A lot of people hating on this movie maybe just didn't get it or have been indoctrinated by cookie cutter Hollywood productions or remakes that fall flat. This movie makes you uncomfortable in a good way. And it didn't even have to be made about a black family though that adds another complex layer to this film.

A mother leaving her family as opposed to fathers who seem to get a pass is the real crux of this movie.. Revenge from children coming back from the past and the dilemma of guilt and not wanting to call the authorities on your own estranged children because of that guilt. Then in the end, taking the easy way out. Again. Give it a chance. It's quite an interesting film.

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