Strays - 1991

I haven't done a made for TV movie in a long time, so with the help of some Mexican beer and Indian food, I watched Strays from 1991.  I'm gonna keep this review kinda short, but again, it felt nice to not be watching something from the boxset, and it also was nice to watch what I'd say was a pretty decent horror/suspense movie.

Strays is very minimal, which helped it along.  A family moves into a recently emptied house in a tiny little suburb somewhere.  Husband and wife Paul and Lindsey have a young daughter, and from the onset of moving into the house nothing goes right.  First the phone doesn't work, then the car crashes, then they find Paul's dog has been attacked by something in the night.  Paul is allergic to cats, and has been sneezing this whole time.  At first they think it's because of the cat they find living in the attic, but soon realize that might not be all that's setting him off.

I'm also gonna break here and say that I've been on an 80's binge for a long, long time.  I am not sure if this is because of my original 1986 marathon, or just because I love 80's movies, but it did feel good to watch something 90's again.  I do like the 90's.

This movie felt very traditional in it's approach, and was a semi slow moving feature, but still very likable.  The characters are not terribly defined, but still very charismatic.  They come off as a young and very in love couple, and even have a small story line of their own thrown in.  The daughter character annoyed me, but was probably realistic.  Then you have the cats.

The cats were shot extremely well.  This is how you make a horror movie about something like cats.  Shot in cool angles, with nice lighting, and capturing cats in a way that actually made you fear these things.  If you don't think a cat can kill you, well you're probably wrong, but second off, watch this movie.  They're surprisingly wily, strong, and intelligent creatures.  If they went for your jugular while scratching your face, you'd probably be fucked.

Some of the typical elements are in place, and there's maybe a plot hole or two, but nothing glaring that makes you hate the movie.  All in all, I'd say it was really quite good.  Not like, a classic, but for sure one to see if you like animal attack movies or if you hate cats.  My two cats slept through the whole thing, but maybe it gave them sadistic dreams about torturing me.  I guess I'll find out!
3 stars.