Stree 2

My heart is still doing this weird thrumming thing. Or maybe that's just the three Red Bulls I mainlined to stay awake. Can't tell. My brain is just… soup. A spicy, confusing, slightly terrifying soup.

Just finished Stree 2 on Netflix. Like, literally five minutes ago. The credits are still rolling and I'm just sitting here in the dark on my couch, the glow of the TV screen the only thing keeping the shadows at bay. (Which, after this movie, feels like a very, very important precaution.) My phone buzzed with a notification halfway through a jump scare and I nearly threw it across the room. A stupid Instagram story from someone about their vacation. Thanks for ruining the immersion, Brenda.

So, what even WAS that? One minute I'm laughing so hard I'm snorting, the next I'm genuinely considering sleeping with all the lights on. It's like the movie couldn't decide if it wanted to scar me for life or make me pee my pants, so it just went for both. Simultaneously.

There's this one moment, this one tiny little shot, that is just burned into my retinas. It's when they're all huddled in that little room, and Vicky (Rajkummar Rao is a national treasure, fight me) is trying to be all logical and brave, but you can see his hands shaking. Just a slight tremble. The camera holds on it for like, two seconds. And I just… I felt that. I leaned forward so fast I almost slid off the couch. It wasn't a big, dramatic moment. No screaming. No special effects. Just a man's hand betraying the terror he's trying to hide. And then, five seconds later, someone makes a dumb joke about chole bhature and the tension is gone. But that hand… I keep seeing that hand.

It reminds me of this one time, when I was like, maybe ten, and my dad took me camping. It was my first time and I was so excited. But then night fell, and the woods came alive with all these sounds. I was trying so hard to be brave, you know? For my dad. But I was terrified. He was tucking me into my sleeping bag and he just grabbed my hand, and it was shaking. Just like Vicky's. My big, strong dad, who I thought was afraid of nothing, was scared too. He saw me looking and he just smiled and said, "The woods are just noisy, buddy. Nothing to worry about." But I knew. I knew he was just as freaked out as I was. Anyway. That was random. Sorry.

The villain, Sarkata. This flying, headless dude with a… well, with a head, just not attached to his body. The first time he showed up, I actually yelped. A full-on, undignified yelp. My cat, who was sleeping peacefully on the other end of the couch, shot up and gave me a look of pure, unadulterated contempt. He's still judging me, I can feel it. But honestly, that design was so creepy and yet… kinda goofy? Like a really messed-up balloon. I thought I hated it, but now that I'm typing this… was it actually kind of brilliant? The way it moved was so unnatural. I don't know. My brain is too fried to form a coherent opinion.

And the whole experience of watching it at home… it's a different vibe. I paused it twice. Once to get more ice cream, once because I had to explain the plot of the first Stree to my roommate who walked in mid-way through. "So there's a ghost who only attacks men at night and steals their clothes?" "Yeah, basically." "…Okay, cool." It breaks the spell, you know? In a cinema, you're trapped. You're forced to just sit there and take it. Here, I'm the master of my own domain. I can pause the existential dread to go pee. It's a weird power.

Honestly, I thought the ending was a little… much? Like, they tied everything up in a neat little bow with a big, preachy message. I thought I loved it while I was watching it, but now that I'm thinking about it… was it actually kind of dumb? I don't know. Maybe I'm just cynical. It felt a bit too clean for a movie that was so gloriously messy for two hours.

But whatever. I'm still thinking about it. That's got to count for something, right? My heart rate is finally starting to go back to normal. I think. The cat has forgiven me. The ice cream is gone. Time to go try and sleep and probably dream about a floating head chasing me through the streets of Chandigarh.

7/10

- Ishaan