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This backwoods thriller starts slow but builds to a taut and harrowing conclusion. Guinevere Turner (Go Fish, American Psycho) stars as Darla, the mother of two boys by her boozing husband Myers (Bill Sage, Simple Men, High Art). One boy is bookish and fervently religious, the other reckless and wild. When Darla finally resolves to leave their mountain shack and return to South Carolina, Myers comes home determined to keep them there--only to find that his sister Jolene (Dot-Marie Jones) may not be on his side. Stray Dogs is a lean movie, taking place mostly in the shack and the surrounding yard, but the characters are so fully realized and their relationships are so multifaceted that the movie will hold you through sheer narrative craft. The performances are solid all around, with Sage in particular giving the movie a genuine jolt of menace. --Bret Fetzer


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