Customer Reviews

Strays [VHS]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I saw this movie on tv a couple of years ago and laughed myself silly. At the time I had a cat that looked identical to the nasty kitty in this film. Good B-Movie! No microwaving kitty!!!

This movie isn't necessarily BAD...I just wouldn't call it GOOD. Its actually kind of neat, as far as horror movies go, the characters weren't unlikeable, and the concepts are all solid but...its not scary.

I mean...the bad guy is a house cat! I thought through out the whole movie "He's...kind of cute." So what if he attacks people, so does my cat. I don't scream and run away and lock doors and call the police. I throw him on the couch. That shows him who the dominant male is. The shots of cats swatting against the camera made me laugh more than shriek, and I have to wonder how cats are able to latch on to people's necks and make themselves incapable of being thrown off. Its not like cats have tentacles that wrap around you, and I doubt a domesticated cat has the power of nine men. Plus the main villain cat in this movie wasn't evil, he just needed to be neutered. I guess this is really a fine showcase of how to not take care of cats: don't treat them well and they'll lead prolitariate revolutions against you.

By the way, know what the shocking closing shot of this movie is? A kitten. Oooooooooooh!! Scary!!! My pants are drenched!!

Okay, I enjoy campy horror movies as much as the next girl. But feral cats as villains?

I didn't find the "villains" all that scary. I've dealt with my cats when they are angry. Sure, I joke about pulling back a bloody stump when they are angry, but that's not the reality. They can give you bad scratches and bites, but kill you? They are tiny. Fifteen pounds, max. When my cats misbehave, I pick them up by the scruff (with my other hand supporting their weight. You can hurt an adult cat when holding it by the scruff alone.) and threaten to eat them. If they are *really* pissy, I throw a blanket over them. In the dark, with their movements restricted, they calm down.

And the use of water as a magic kryptonite cat repellent is hilarious. Spraying a cat with water will stop a cat from scratching the sofa. It will *not* stop an angry cat mid-attack. It'll just piss the cat off more.

This movie was obviously made by someone with *NO* experience with cats. It shows a remarkable lack of understanding dealing with them.

Now I'd find this funny, but if there weren't sinister implications behind all of this. Cats are more likely to be abused than any other domestic animal. There are a lot of people out there with an irrational hatred and fear of cats. This movie feeds that fear. I'm afraid that it might lead to cats being abused, especially by children who don't have enough perspective to see how horrible and unrealistic this movie is. As such, I can't rate it higher than a one.

Cats are misunderstood by people who don't try to see things from the perspective of a tiny predator. They can be more loving than dogs in the right circumstances, but as long as the media continues to portray them this way people will see them as tiny terrorists. And some will use that perception as an excuse to abuse them.

"Strays" was a made-for-TV movie produced by the USA network. According to some sources it was the worst made-for-TV movie USA ever made. That tells you something right there.

The premise for this movie is one of the hoariest old cliche's in horror-movie land; urbanite family moves to the country to escape the dangers of city life, unaware of the danger lurking around their new home. "Strays" adds nothing to this routine. Now basing a movie around a hoary old cliche without the slightest significant variation doesn't necessarily make it a "bad" movie, it just prevents it from becoming a "great" movie.

What makes "Strays" a bad movie is its incedibly poor execution. First, contrary to title's plurality there is really only one cat in the who actually causes any harm to the heroes. Oh there are lots of cats around, but only one does anything more than hiss and bare its claws to the heroes. So basically our heroes are meanced to near histeria by one single ordinary albeit foul tempered house cat.

Actually I shouldn't say "ordinary." This cat repeatedly breaks the laws of physics. It tears down a wall to get at a victim, bursts out of a microwave it has been trapped in and makes enourmous leaps into small spaces with perfect accuracy. Of course,no explanation is given for how this cat is able to accomplish these herculean feats, it's just a regular, cheesed off cat.

Now one would not think a cheesed off cat would provide horror so much as mild irritation. However, our heroes are incapable of dealing with this feline fiend in a remotely effective way. The cat leaps on them and they seem incapable of prying it off. On the rare occasions they use handy devices as impromptu weapons they ignore potentially useful things in favor of worthless ones (i.e. a long handled paint brush and a jug of water).

This isn't to say that the cats do not actually kill anyone. I counted three human deaths in this movie, two were surprised by a cat and fell to their deaths, one was apparently crushed by the sheer weight of the cats. Apparently the thought of killer house cats was too menacing, so the producers gave us killer house cats who can only kill by using their victims' sheer stupidity.

On the first viewing, "Strays" will dumbfound you with its sheer awfulness. The second viewing (if any) will have you rolling on the floor laughing at its monumental absurdity. By the third viewing you will realize you wasted your money by getting it, so don't.

If you're a fan of that good ol' tried and true "When Animals Attack" genre, you will looooove this one! I was just channel-surfing one day when I happened upon this gem. I'll sum it up in 3 words: THE MICROWAVE SCENE. Simply priceless. (hahaha)

this is a movie that my son, who's now 24, watched many years ago when he was about 8yrs old.. He's now married to a wonderful young girl who dearly loves cats and we thought it would be great for her to see it after recently adopting an "ol' yeller" cat from the humane society..... she loved it and we loved watching HER watch it...lol...Great old movie...

I saw this when I was younger on USA back when they put cheesy horror movies on like this.I am ashamed to say that it scared me years ago.That was probably back when I was actually SCARED of idiotic movies like this one lol

Flash forward many many years later as an adult.Ive read the reviews here and remember bits and pieces of this movie and all I can say is wtf was I thinking being scared of these adorable little cats? LMAO .

I'm a major animal lover and love cats especially so this movie makes me want to watch it again just to see the horrible and hilarious acting and the cute as a button kitties :)

Only one thing going for this movie: cute cats. :)

Great 80's HORROR. The best Horror movies came from the 70's and 80's, this is a good one. Rabid cats, a lovely actress, Kathleen Q. what more could you want?Timothy B. is not too shabby in this movie either. A must see for 80's HORROR movie fans.

STRAYS shows us the terror that is house cat invasion! A man, his wife (the lovely Kathleen Quinlan from TWILIGHT: ZONE THE MOVIE, and THE HILLS HAVE EYES remake), and their daughter move into a rural home, unaware that a band of eeevil, feral cats has already taken up residence. Led by a 9lb. alpha-male, these felines cause death and property damage! Now, there are about 10-15 cats in this movie. I am a (now terrified) cat owner, and even knew a woman w/ 16 cats in her house. The one thing I can say without doubt is that the people in STRAYS would have smelled their new kitty-urine-soaked house from down the road! Hazmat suits would be required to enter such a place! That fact aside, these people are the biggest wimps I've seen in quite some time! Pour water on the attacking cat?? No! Smash the water-pitcher over it's head you idiot! Killer kitty in the bedroom? Throw that thick comforter over it for god's sake! Sheesh! Anyway, this one is good for non-stop hilarity... P.S.- Watch for Claudia Christian (THE HIDDEN, tv's BABYLON 5) as the doomed relative...

Very Satisfied with transaction of vhs movie with seller. However there was a defect in the tape. Not the sellers fault. I notified seller and they rectified the problem ASAP. They sent me a new vhs movie to replace the defected one. It all took place in less than a week. I would definitely buy from seller again, and recommend seller highly.