User reviews

The only thing I liked about this movie was the music. I so would buy an album from her. The rest of the movie had no plot and seemed to go nowhere. Watched on Shudder. Unfortunately, I expected more from them.

I am not one who needs everything in a movie spoon fed to me but, this had no cognizant plot, no character development, no redeeming quality. The only decent part was the cinematography. IMHO don't waste time on this one.

Trying to continue her career, a young musician rents out a remote house in the wilderness to hone her songwriting craft, but the longer she stays there she comes to believe there's a malevolent supernatural force living in the house that doesn't want her there and tries to find out what it wants to get away alive.

Overall, this one was a rather solid if troubled effort. When this one works best is the rather enjoyable setup that gets her out to the house and lets the atmosphere there take over. With the early introduction giving us a glimpse of her efforts towards the musical endeavors and the desire for solitude to complete her compositions, stumbling upon the remote house in the middle of the countryside and using the isolation to craft her skills is a fine endeavor that allows the film to move into the haunting atmosphere quite well. The howling winds, freezing desolate landscapes, and complete silence since she's the only person in the area manage to combine together into an effective atmospheric touch which is quite well appreciated here as the sequences of her setting up the place to be furnished and livable space offering up a fine start to things. From there, the film generates a lot to like with the addition of the supernatural into the proceedings which are quite fun. The first stages to this, with the discovery in the photograph and a dark figure spotted in the background of a video taken when she's unaware of its presence, are subtle enough clues that something's going on and starting to affect her psychologically. The later stages, where it shows up around the house and is not really interacting but more looking over her to the point where it's become far more psychologically destructive about her music and career as well as the relationship she's trying to salvage are fine enough as well at continuing this effect, but once her friend becomes involved and under its influence, this one picks back up again to have a chilling enough climax to be mildly enjoyable overall. There are some problems to be had with this one. The main drawback to the film is the agonizingly slow and dreary pacing that keeps the film from ever generating any kind of momentum or excitement for anything. It's almost as lethargic as the atmosphere here where there's no energy at all for anything that happens, whether it's the scenes arriving at the house, taking in the local landscapes, or even just the scenes of her and the photographer getting together which are all in the same tempo and setup that it all just comes off with a similar sense of disinterest. As well, this also manages the other feat of making the films' genre qualities come off so deep in the second act that it's very possible to have checked out from lack of interest long before it gets there since it never gives off hints or any other kind of notice that the film will become one with the way it builds up. These issues are what cause this one to hold itself down overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Language, Violence and Brief Nudity.

But why? An hour in and all that has happened is a bunch of long drawn out scenes of nothing. Just her life alone in this cabin doing everyday, mundane things. Not sure how that makes a movie plot. Imagine The Movie A Ghost Story, but without the emotion or story. It just goes back and forth between her staring into space, and writing music. At this point I just want to yell at the writer and director "WE GET IT! SHE'S LONELY AND SHE'S A SONG WRITER! CAN WE MOVE ON ALREADY?!?!?!?!?" But move on we did not. She performed no less than 5 (terrible) full length songs during the movie, and the acting is bad, the dialogue is bad, and her fake smoking is bad. This movie is just bad. This movie was aiming to be a slow burn, but it was just a slow because there was no burn. This was barely even a drama. Skip this one.

Despite some gorgeous cinematography, this film fails to deliver anything worthwhile. Unconvincing performances, lackluster character building and a story that fails to do much of anything combine to deliver a truly awful film. Don't waste your time.

I've seen garbage movies and I dare say I recognise one when I see one and guess what... This is one of em. I'm not gonna fat shame the lead, like other reviewers have... pointless, what I will do is say is from the lead the the support cast the acting its just poor the "story" is weak. We don't get any reason or rhyme as to why the spooks there not always needed I know, but, when the script and film in general is this bad some explaining is needed . The only good thing about this movie is that it ends.

The film itself... not so much. The camera work and lighting are fine. The audio is right where it needs to be. The acting isn't award winning but it's serviceable. And again, the music is phenomenal. But it's essentially an advertisement for the music. Nothing happens, really. The lead character spends most of the film bathing, on the phone, playing music, smoking, on the phone again, bathing again. Rinse/repeat. So I guess, if the intention of the film was to sell me on the music, then kudos. You succeeded. Teagan Johnston is now on my rotation on Spotify and I tell people about her music. By the way, the lead actress is actually a singer/songwriter, which lends further credence to my theory that this was made to sell music. However, if the director was trying to make an enjoyable horror film, even a slow burn, they failed miserably. 10 stars for the music, 1 star for the film.

Where to begin? The songs belong at a bad teenage poetry open mic, the characters have no motivation, there's enough plot for about a five-minute short, the acting is amateurish, and the soundtrack intrudes like a dump truck. Sure, there are some nice shots of landscapes and houses, but whatever passes for a story here is so thin that you won't care. Add in the barest whisper of pretentious New Age "guantum curtain" or whatever, and you've got this movie. I watched it on Shudder and it made me want to cancel.

I see I'm one of the few people who actually liked this film. It's a nice, slow-paced film, with beautiful music performed by a talented actress. It chronicles the transformation from blocked creativity to true art and the costs associated with that journey. It reminds me of the video game "The Cat Lady", which I also enjoyed as a slow, immersive story. Watch this in the winter, while the sky is pale and grey.

Like watching an 89 year old guy with prostate issues take a leak. It's a very long drawn out process, but not too much actually comes out. Anti-climactic and scenes are long and drawn out. The story building is like a bad massage without the happy ending. If you didn't watch this movie, your life will be no different than if you did. The only thing good about it was the acting, it seemed real. For that, 2 stars.... out of 100.

No idea who thought having a musician deal with their creative process in an isolated cabin would be a good scenario for a horror film (and perhaps it could've been), but here it's an exercise in patience as NOTHING happens for 99% of the running time.

Non-existent plot, nothing even slightly scary, THE STRINGS is an epic waste of time. Just ... wow.

Even with that, that is still giving this steaming pile of poo emoji entirely too much credit. The lead is not easy on the eyes, overweight and unattractive as others have already said, they weren't stretching the truth, talentless hack should be added to the list. Whatever this nonsense is she calls "music" is well not any good. What's even a little funny but really just sad is the movie tries to play off like she's some established musician which just makes it all that much worse. Everything in this movie is fake and bad, her fake and bad acting, her fake and bad smoking, her fake and bad drinking, her really fake and bad "music"

I hesitate to call this a slow burn, cause it never even catches a spark to start to slow burn. Anywho read the other reviews, others have made comical points about the movie that are true and made me laugh a little.

In fact, I'd almost say the reviews are more entertaining than the movie. Skip this if you value your time at all.

So nothing happens in the first 38 minutes of the movie. Then nothing happens afterwards.

I would rate it one of the worst movies i have seen if there weren't so many of them

Just skip it and save yourself the agony.

I like slow burn horror, but that's not what this is. At all.

The beauty of a quiet horror movie taking its time is the building tension that pulls tighter and tighter until you need it to break. Great directors know how to draw you in so you not only care about the characters, but you dread what might be coming. What they don't do is make you just watch someone silently mope, stare off into the middle distance, and scroll through pictures of themselves.

Ok, sometimes the lead makes music. And by "make music", I mean she plays two minor chords on a Casio to a lame drum machine, uses a loop pedal so poorly that it doesn't line up, then goes "ahhhhh ahhhhhh" into a microphone. I laughed out loud when she stopped moan-singing for a second and rubbed her hand on her face, then scribbled a note on a piece of paper like she was fixing a lyric. The lyrics were just "ahhhhh", so what was she writing? That said, there is some sort of poetry in the fact that her music is just two sad chords, droning on and on with nothing to hook you in. That's this movie!

Maybe the main character is a lovely person who we all should care about, but it's hard to convey that when all we see her do is act self-obsessed and bored. The rare bits of dialog are just people talking about her, but none of it is the slightest bit interesting. She has a long Skype call with a friend (now that's cinema), and she shows zero interest in the other person. They just talk about her, her music, her breakup, her photo shoot, and her room. The only redeeming thing about that scene is that it's so horribly acted that it's actually a little entertaining.

Really, don't waste your time with this one. It's not so bad it's good, just bad and boring.

Not your typical horror movie, THE STRINGS (2020) is a slow burning, atmospheric look into the mind of a music composer. Hauntingly portrayed by Teagan Johnston, a Canadian musician, in a beautifully somber winterscape that echoes her barren personal life, realities seem to merge and overlap within a ghostly situation, that could just well be all in her fractured mind. Reminiscent of The Shining, in that way. Don't expect too much action, though, or a clearly-explained ending; just some clever hints... Personally, I like it, and her music too, there's a beautiful sadness to it all; just not most people's cup of tea, I guess.

Strange but only the eerie background sounds made it scary.

I was definitely able to fall asleep. Not even the nude shower scenes could keep me awake. If she is a composer/musician, she would be better served writing less dark, melancholy music.

The "cabin" was nice but the frozen wasteland and isolation ... who would want to live there alone, particularly in winter.

Almost fell asleep writing this review because reviews require six hundred characters but can't find anything else to say about this film. Just...EXCRUCIATINGLY brutally boring. Could have spent my time having a bourbon at a boring bar.

As a fan of supernatural horror I just gave a low mark to 'the popes exorcist ' and 'pray for the devil', both bigger budget cliche crap.

In this film, its subtle to the point of non existence but personally I prefer that. When something does actually happen it has weight.

The reviews criticising the looks and weight of the lead actress are appalling. It's 2023, wake up you low life. I'm sick of films with skinny, Conventionally attractive women for the sake of it, its the most pathetic cliche EVER. Watch blue movies if you need to jack off.

This is something subtle, different and with a cool modern vibe and Arctic landscape. It is worth watching in my opinion.

This product is more selling the music implant by horror storyline. It could be totally lame but the outcome not too bad indeed. Just a matter of balancing between the music part vs the story would be better. I can see people watching this expect more on horror and storyline but not the music piece. But I found this interesting product, an unusual mix of elements.

OK, so I'm now 36 minutes into this awful movie, wondering why I started it. This has got to be the most boring movie ever made.

Absolutely nothing is happening except following around a very unhappy person in an unhappy life (or lack thereof).

I'm positive I will not invest any more time as I've passed 40 minutes of nothing happening and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to miss anything or be any the worse for not finishing it.

And I'll when finish a very crappy movie of I've invested any time into it

This one....not so much.

If you're the artsy-fartsy indie type that thinks a movie about a guy filming a trash bag blowing around in the wind is an amazing genius movie, you might it.

If not, skip it. I guarantee you'll not lose any sleep because you missed something awesome.

This movie is shot beautifully and has a great soundtrack. I really enjoyed it. It's definitely a slow burn but I thought the actress was great. I immediately went to look for her songs after watching.

Can be hard to watch if you are in a hurry for it to take you somewhere. Once you settle into the atmosphere it gets enjoyable and you see her music come together as the artists outlook gets darker.