Paul (Timothy Busfield, "Revenge of the Nerds") and Lindsey (Kathleen Quinlan, "Apollo 13") are a big city couple who move to the country, with their adorable daughter Tessa (played by twins Heather and Jessica Lilly) in tow. All seems well at first, but it turns out that the immediate area has a VERY bad feral cat problem. Eventually, this gang of cats start attacking these schmuck humans en masse.
"Strays" is so very, very average. Even in its more suspense-oriented final half hour, it offers little in the way of thrills, although the fiendish felines are clearly as well trained as cats can be. The leader of these cats IS a pretty nasty looking creature. The dopey script is by Shaun Cassidy (yeah, THAT Shaun Cassidy), who also functions as co-producer, and his dialogue is pretty bad overall. His script is plenty predictable; when Paul & Lindsey acquire a dog, one automatically assumes that the poor thing is going to come to a bad end.
The main plus is a supporting performance by super-sexy Claudia Christian ('Babylon 5'). She plays Claire, Lindsey's vampish sister who Paul is representing in a divorce case. Also co-starring is the great character actor William Boyett ("The Hidden"), who's a hoot as a gruff veterinarian. Busfield and Quinlan try to be likeable, but their characters are pretty insipid; these two have been better served in other projects. The twist is that allergy-prone Paul must be the one to figure out how to deal with the problem.
This is NOT for hardcore horror fans. With an extremely minimal body count, and a lack of scares and tension (not to mention gore), this will mostly appeal to viewers who get a kick out of bad movies.
Five out of 10.
