The Strays

2023 - 2 - 23

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Radio Times"

The Strays ending explained (Radio Times)

The new Netflix thriller is the directorial debut of actor and playwright Nathaniel Martello-White.

[Netflix](https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81444812). [subscribe now](http://radiotimes.com/magazine-subscription?utm_term=evergreen-article). [Sign up for Netflix from £6.99 a month](https://www.netflix.com/gb/). But also, from a technical aspect, the difference is that not only are you actually basically performing a mini-play, but you then are really aware of the fact that there's a camera, sound, and all that in there, too." And it was so helpful because it meant that when it came to those shooting days, it was almost a fine-oiled machine." It is made clear that Cheryl is their mother and abandoned them to start a new life when they were young. [Film](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/) hub or check out our [TV Guide](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/tv-listings/) and [Streaming Guide](https://www.radiotimes.com/streaming-guide/). Meanwhile, when they reveal that Neve had offered to pay them off, her husband Ian is furious – even demanding a divorce. Myrie added: "The type of scene that we were shooting as well is everything coming to the crescendo of the film. "It was a very long scene – it's almost 20 minutes that scene," Madekwe explained. So you have to be prepared. [terms and conditions](https://www.immediate.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/) and [privacy policy](https://policies.immediate.co.uk/privacy/).

Post cover
Image courtesy of "cosmopolitan.com"

Netflix's The Strays true story that inspired new film (cosmopolitan.com)

A new Netflix film has just dropped, called The Strays, and writer and director Nathaniel Martello-White has explained how he based the film on a true ...

He was taking part in the BFI Network (a program that supports new and emerging filmmakers) as part of the London Film Festival and recalls being asked repeatedly about what his first feature film should be. And I was just really struck by the kind of complexities of that, like, what would make somebody feel like they had to erase their past and deny it?" "[She also] had two children, who were very fair-skinned and almost white-passing, and this woman was biracial.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "digitalspy.com"

The Strays ending explained: Delving into the shock ending of the ... (digitalspy.com)

The Strays has arrived on Netflix, and the new thriller builds to a shocking and dark finale, so let's delve into what happened and why.

Talking to Digital Spy, Madekwe revealed that the prologue and callback weren't in the original script. While this is happening, dinner arrives and Neve answers the door to the delivery driver. They tell her that even though she thinks she left them in the care of her sister, she didn't want them and "gave us away". In the build-up, Neve starts to suspect that she's being stalked by a young Black man, who she later sees working as a caretaker at her school, and a young Black woman. It's Dione's birthday and they want the whole extended family to celebrate together with a Chinese takeaway. She's working as the deputy head of the local private school and arranging a charity gala in a few days' time.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Digital Mafia Talkies"

'The Strays' Ending, Explained: What Was Carl And Dione's Plan ... (Digital Mafia Talkies)

Written and directed by Nathaniel Martello-White, "The Strays" tells the story of a woman whose sensibilities were so absurd and erratic that even her ...

That’s when Ian, Mary, and Sebastian discovered that Neve was just an alias Cheryl had used to hide her tracks and that she had offered her own children money to leave her and return to where they had come from. She was a disgrace and Carl knew that she was only apologizing so that she could make them go away and then return to her perfect and posh life. We believe there was absolutely nothing wrong with her ex-husband Michael, and she was only making all of it up to make her family sympathetic towards her situation. Cheryl told them that Michael, to whom she was married, was a bad man, and he had forced her to have a second baby. Cheryl was an extremely racist person who thought that people of color polluted her environment and that the two worlds should never mix. Cheryl had offered a whooping sum to Carl and Dione, and she believed that she could win them over and make them go back to London. Cheryl wanted to handle the situation and do some damage control, but contrary to that, she went and did something that worsened the situation. There was an air of mystery around her intentions, but it still couldn’t be perceived to what extent she was ready to go to get to that aspirational financial and social status. Cheryl completely revamped her identity and took the alias “Neve.” She married a white man named Ian and had two children named Sebastian and Mary. Cheryl had a literal panic attack, and her sister on the other end of the phone was constantly telling her to breathe and calm down for a moment. On the face of it, she was the most polite and well-mannered person one could ever meet, but hidden underneath that exterior was a racist and treacherous person who could betray even those people who meant the world to her. We come to know that Cheryl had a problem with the way society treated them, and through their condescending behavior, thought of them as no more than reprobates.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Decider"

Stream It Or Skip It: 'The Strays' on Netflix, a Psych-Thriller Tackling ... (Decider)

Ominous. It's a key vibe here. Also portentous and foreboding. You know, like something's going to break.

It’s not as funny or unsettling as it needs to be, with a predictable end-of-act-one twist and a conclusion that’s surprising in its logic, but isn’t precluded by the nerve-wracking buildup of suspense it needs to pack a serious wallop. In that opening sequence, she asks if it’s wrong to want more, and now that she’s got more, what does it mean, what did she have to do to attain it, and was it worth the effort and apparent sacrifice? She’s out for tea with an associate and sees a man in a red cap (Jorden Myrie) in the background, and she’s unsettled. Her cell phone rings and she doesn’t answer it and then the landline rings and she doesn’t answer that either. She seems to be developing quite a (scratch scratch scratch) (damn wig) tic. He amps up the ominousness with a cliched musical score, stalker-in-the-periphery visual cat-and-mouse games, and the usual gaslighting of the protagonist. The film almost timidly skirts the edge of satire, as if it wants to slash racial tropes and dynamics to ribbons, but didn’t sharpen its claws enough. Martello-White’s intent and ambition is notable, but his hand is heavy. She pops a prescription pill, which isn’t a big deal at all, lots of people take prescription pills every day, but this is a movie and it makes a point of the shake from the bottle and the – glunk – swallow. It’s either Cheryl/Neve’s sanity, or a flimsy secret about to be traumatically Humpty-Dumptied – a secret hinted at in the film’s opening sequence. Neve is married to a nice enough Caucasian fellow, Ian (Justin Salinger), and they have two teenagers, Sebastian (Samuel Small) and Mary (Maria Almeida). Whether The Strays has something to say about vital issues of the day remains to be seen, but one thing that’s certain is, this affluent woman Got Out but ended up very deep into something else entirely.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "The Indian Express"

The Strays movie review: Netflix's new horror movie is unsettling, but ... (The Indian Express)

Ashley Madekwe in a still from The Strays. A suburban horror that offers a salacious peek into the secretive lives of the almost-wealthy, a social thriller that ...

In fact, presenting them — the only two overtly Black characters in sight — as the violent ‘villains’, especially when the movie itself wants us to believe that they’re the ones who’ve been wronged, is dicey optics at best, and self-defeating at worst. It is suggested, strongly, that Neve has never really been able to connect with her children, seeing in their mixed-race appearances hints of the past that she has worked so hard to bury. Neve’s husband recoils in shock at the sight of her pummelling their son, which is when he begins to recognise that something is seriously wrong with her. But things begin to spiral out of control when two strangers begin showing up at random times in Neve’s life, and begin to methodically pull at the seams of her perfectly crafted fake existence. She refuses to take it off even at home, as if her Blackness is a crime waiting to be discovered. Presumably presented with several options — she could have chosen to become anybody, really — she decided to transform herself into a sort of person that society had conditioned her into believing is superior.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Sportskeeda"

The Strays ending explained: A full circle, once again (Sportskeeda)

The Strays premiered on Netflix on February 22, 2023, bringing together an interesting story, an invested cast, and a lot of racial and class commentary, ...

And it was so helpful because it meant that when it came to those shooting days, it was almost a fine-oiled machine." This entirely uncomfortable scene was perhaps Marvin and Abigail's response to not having the family that they deserved. However, when the food arrived, Neve saw her chance and quietly snuck out on the pretext of getting the delivery. It was revealed during the gala that Marvin and Abigail were Neve's children from her previous marriage, the ones she abandoned to start a When she told this to Carl and Dione, they were not satisfied with the answer. It was the debut feature of actor and playwright Nathaniel Martello-White.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "India Times"

'Got Me Dying', Psych-Thriller 'The Strays' Gets A Big Thumbs Up ... (India Times)

The Strays is a film by first-time director Nathaniel Martello-White. Using the story of an affluent woman played by Ashley Madekwe who never, ever, ...

And I was just really struck by the kind of complexities of that, like, what would make somebody feel like they had to erase their past and deny it?" [#TheStrays]on Netflix is really just a knock off of the movies: Get Out”, “Us” and “Bad Hair”. S/O to Dione/Abi though..she was my fave character.” There, big midcentury homes are tastefully arranged among the trees, cute tea shops abound in the towns, and life is focused on pricey private education. The Strays is a film by first-time director Nathaniel Martello-White. [The official synopsis reads: "A Black woman's meticulously crafted life of privilege starts to unravel when two strangers show up in her quaint suburban town."

Post cover
Image courtesy of "cosmopolitan.com"

Netflix's The Strays ending explained (cosmopolitan.com)

We see Neve explain to her new family why she had to leave the children behind when she fled from their abusive father. the ending of the strays on netflix ...

With a piece like this, you can kind of look at it and think: 'Okay, how can we enhance this?' and I think showing a bit of the backstory is one of those things," she explained. We then jump forward a number of years to find Cheryl – now going by the name Neve – and living a completely different life. In what soon becomes an incredibly tense situation, Carl and Dione insist on celebrating Dione’s birthday with the whole extended family by playing a board game and ordering a Chinese takeaway. Her oldest daughter assumes that Neve will let them stay with her new new family, however, their mother attempts to make things right by giving her two oldest children – Carl and Dione – £20,000. [Netflix](https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/entertainment/g12450465/netflix-best-new-films-tv-shows-documentaries/) and it has quite the ending! The movie begins with Cheryl – played by Ashley Madekwe – who is living a rather miserable life in London, packing up and deciding to leave her life behind.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "OTTplay"

The Strays review: Netflix's intriguing social thriller fails to take off (OTTplay)

A Black woman (Ashley Madekwe) experiences difficulty in THE STRAYS as a result of institutionalised racism and marginalisation. She departs from there in ...

The Strays starts off promising but ends up heading in a really bizarre, trivial way. The film takes great pleasure in making you feel disoriented and completely absorbed as a result of the storyline changes. The suspense in the film increases to nearly unbearable levels when everyone is gathered together for the astounding climax. Before we have time to process the section's dramatic revelation, the movie shifts to a more coming-of-age vibe in the second half. In the opening scene of "Neve," Neve is stalked by beings that are just out of sight, but are they actually there? Neve (Ashley Madekwe), the mother in the Netflix movie "The Strays," appears to be leading a charmed life in the suburbs with her husband and two kids.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Bloody Disgusting"

'The Strays' Review – Netflix's Social Thriller Feels Like an ... (Bloody Disgusting)

Nathaniel Martello-White's feature debut The Strays is a social thriller that lacks bite, discipline, and a third act. When the film abruptly ended, I.

The Strays might come from a place of impossible angst about everything from assimilation to self-hatred, but concludes with all the grace of an Irish exit on St. Neve’s behavioral commentary on “passing,” class mobility, and serving yourself over others provides a situation ripe for social investigation, but Martello-White’s third act tosses kerosene on expanding themes and dares the audience to figure it all out. A film built on obvious secrets divides itself into three acts, the first two of which — one about “Current Neve,” the second about Marvin and Abigail — are expositional to a sluggish fault. The introduction of Marvin (Jorden Myrie) and Abigail (Bukky Bakray) is so emotionally weighted, only to abandon character development in favor of a third-act horror bend. Martello-White toys with haunted visions and break-in foreshadowing with minimal degrees of intensity in an attempt to hone on Neve’s house of cards tumbling down at the slightest gust. Ashley Madekwe leads as a complicated housewife everyone knows as Neve, a light-skinned Black woman who embraces wigs, makeup applications, and the comforts of white suburbia.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Netflix Life"

What is The Strays about on Netflix? (The Strays plot and more) (Netflix Life)

The Strays starring Ashley Madekwe is now streaming on Netflix. What is the Netflix thriller film about? We shared the synopsis and more here.

Given what the movie is about, this maturity rating seems appropriate. Cheryl/Neve has worked hard to hide her background and strives to live a picture-perfect life. Initially, the story is set in the year of 2003. He made his feature film debut with this movie and wrote the screenplay. So, she decides to run away from her problems to seek a better life. Also, if you enjoy movies like Get Out and Us, this film will be right up your alley as well.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Looper"

The Ending Of The Strays Explained - Looper (Looper)

At a glance, "The Strays" may give viewers strong "Get Out" vibes. After all, both are psychological horror movies that begin with a Black character in a suburb ...

Audiences hear the revving of the delivery guy's motorcycle, and judging by the faces of the other characters, Neve has hitched a ride with the Uber guy and fled. She even tries to draw attention away from the cries of pain from her husband, whom Carl is torturing in the gym as she speaks. At a glance, Carl seems to be the villain of the story. The two walk in like they own the place and begin acting out the charade of a happy family, threatening Neve and her family to play along. One of the most jarring images in the entire movie is what Dione chooses to wear during the break-in: a silver party hat. In this respect, she takes after her mother — she would rather live a lie than face the truth. In a sense, their staged family gathering is no more real than the illusion that Neve was living in suburbia before Carl and Dione showed up. For Dione, the break-in is a chance to become a kid again, even though she knows that it's only pretend. Yet Neve is blind to how they feel, because she assumes that her children are like her and care only about money and social standing. For a while, Dione seems to cling to the hope that her mom will welcome her with open arms. Not once has Neve reached out to her children, nor has she told her new family about her former life. The ending of "The Strays" may be difficult to wrap your mind around.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "BBC News"

Netflix film The Strays filmed in 'other-worldly' Lavenham (BBC News)

A picturesque village was chosen for the filming of a psychological horror movie because of its "other-worldly look", according to a film agency.

Mr Horsfield said there was "a fantastic range of beautiful villages in Suffolk" and Lavenham was chosen due to its "other-worldly look". Lavenham is one of two Suffolk villages transformed into an English suburb for Netflix film The Strays. A picturesque village was chosen for the filming of a psychological horror movie because of its "other-worldly look", according to a film agency.

Explore the last week