[Film Review] The Strings (2020)

The Strings (2020) opens with shots of a lonely beach and a man walking into the ocean. He’s too far away to see clearly, and we’re left wondering who he might be. The rest of the film follows singer/songwriter Catherine (Teagan Johnston) who goes to her aunt’s cottage in remote snowy Canada to create some solo music. She brings along an entire music studio, and baggage from a recent breakup. In addition to music, Catherine is interested in physics, which she sees as “looking behind what’s responsible for all the shit we take for granted.” Through video chats with a friend and phone calls about her music career, we learn that her band is on hiatus, due to her recent breakup with her ex Derek. She meets up with her photographer acquaintance, Grace (Jenna Schaefer), for a photoshoot at the beach at an abandoned farmhouse. After the photoshoot, Catherine has trouble sleeping, and starts to sense a presence following her. Is she just drinking too much and scaring herself, or is something more sinister hanging around?

There is a lot to enjoy in this film. Teagan Johnston wrote and sang original songs, and to say she has a beautiful singing voice is an understatement. Her music is gorgeous. Along with stunning music, there are stunning visuals, including grand lingering shots of the snowy winter beach and the stark landscape where Catherine takes her retreat. Scares are scattered throughout the story, and there are several truly creepy moments, as the frights build to the end. The first time I got a sense that something was wrong was when Catherine tells her friend she doesn’t remember her aunt’s place having a basement. The casual delivery of the line was effective in conveying how unsettling that would feel. It was fun to see a movie with an all-female cast, and it was very creatively done with almost a single location and a handful of characters. The filmmakers really did a lot with a little. 

Though Catherine is by herself for most of the movie, the audience truly gets to know her. The film does an efficient job of showing us who Catherine is through her music and other pursuits. She is creative and smart, self-sufficient and tough, but a little sad as well. You get the sense she is used to keeping others happy at the expense of herself when she agrees to play a set at a bar when she is supposed to be practicing self-care. The time spent with Catherine made me invested in her character.  

However, I didn’t enjoy this movie as much as I had hoped. While there was beautiful music and cinematography, there were long stretches of time where that’s all there was. The plot is very thin, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but the music-making scenes felt like filler in place of advancing the plot. The scares were too spread out for me to feel a sense of building dread, and while there were good scares, I couldn’t get an overall horror feeling from this film. I think if the story had been condensed, it may have worked better for me. There is potential for a really scary short film.

This film is successful in that it sets its tone in the beginning and holds true to it. If you enjoy atmospheric films, don’t mind a slower plot, and want to listen to some gorgeous music, check out The Strings. 

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