Stay review
Huluween joins the Spooky Season with Stay.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Stay
Directed by Jas Summers
Written by Jas Summers
Starring Megalyn Echikunwoke and Mo McRae
Stay Review
Huluween has earned its position near the top of Spooky Season treats. More than just a somewhat clever marketing campaign, the yearly tradition sees an ample amount of quality horror titles join Hulu’s streaming service. And…as has been the case since 2019…a lot of fun original horror films. Little Monsters, Hellraiser, Jagged Mind, Appendage, Carved and Mr. Crocket have all been a part of Hulu’s October offerings. This year’s Huluween adds a remake of The Hand that Rocks the Cradle and latest release Stay to the list. Time will tell on that remake (which features a strong cast). The verdict is in on Stay.
Unlike the majority of Huluween original content over the years…Stay plays things incredibly straight. There are no laughs to be had here. No gross out moments to make you wriggle in your chair. Huluween has never been just one thing, of course. But it has aimed for weird and wild more than it has anything like Stay. Last year’s Hold Your Breath is the closest in tone to what Stay has to offer. Stay moves much quicker than Hold Your Breath…but it has the same heavily dramatic take on its material.
There’s no one right way to do Spooky Season. Variety is the spice of life…as they say. Stay is here to satisfy those looking for a light horror experience with a lot of marital drama. When I tell you that Stay lacks any laughs…I mean it lacks any smiles too. There isn’t one moment in Stay that wants you to crack so much as a smile. Which leaves it feeling more of a fit for any other time of the year than Spooky Season. At least…as it pertains to being one half of Huluween’s original offerings this year. Huluween has traditionally been a fun event for the streamer. This…isn’t any fun.
Is it any good? Parts of it are. Megalyn Echikunwoke and Mo McRae are excellent in their dramatic roles. Stay is predominantly about the dissolution of a marriage. We see flashbacks to the budding and flowering relationship between the couple…but the story takes place as they prepare to sell their home and go their separate ways forever. The house, it would seem, has other ideas.
Kiara (Echikunwoke) and Miles (McRae) find themselves unable to leave the house. The doors won’t budge. Windows can’t be opened or broken. People outside the house can’t even see or hear them. They are completely trapped. Soon, they begin to run into their own memories. We get to experience what drove them apart in all of its miserable glory. Like I said…no smiles here. Kiara’s family has a history of witchcraft…which feels as strange in this otherwise grounded story as it is essential to progress it. Mostly, however, Stay is about two people dealing with the end of their marriage.
We’ve seen that story before. In fact, we’ve seen that story perfected before. Possession makes a masterpiece out of the end of a marriage. Stay goes about things in a very different way. Namely…a sad one. It isn’t enough to watch two people who have fallen out of love trapped in a house haunted by their own memories…those memories are depressing. From Kiara’s drinking problem to the tragedy that drove a wedge in their marriage, Stay takes you from one downer moment to another. With a bit of a supernatural edge to keep one foot somewhat in the horror realm.
Dramatic horror is a tough sell during Spooky Season. People are looking for something fun…something to make them scream and laugh in equal measure. Stay wants to make you feel bad. It succeeds at it…which means there is some merit to its methods. And there will be an audience for it…somewhere. It plays out more like an indie drama than a horror film. A decent one thanks to the performances of its lead actors. But it isn’t exactly what people are looking for from Huluween. It does move at a surprisingly brisk pace given the subject matter. When one of your plusses is that the story unfolds fairly quickly despite being a depressing watch…how much are we really saying?
Scare Value
Stay is a bit different than we’ve come to expect from Huluween original movies. There’s no fun to be had in this purposely depressing story of a marriage at its end. Why this is happening and the manner in which it happens leaves no room for joy. That’s fine for a horror movie, of course. But Spooky Season from Hulu usually comes with a bit of entertainment. Megalyn Echikunwoke and Mo McRae do some great work here…you just have to be in the mood for a continuous downer to enjoy it.
2/5
Stay Link
Streaming on Hulu
