Chloe Bailey stars in suspense thriller "Strung," review says it borrows stylistic DNA from Blumhouse and Tyler Perry

A new suspense thriller, "Strung," has opened with early critical attention after a review published June 26 by The Guardian described the film as an awkward blend of the horror-leaning momentum often associated with Blumhouse and the dramatic, character-focused tone commonly linked to Tyler Perry. The Guardian’s review frames the movie as a cautionary story about following your instincts, with the writer arguing that the script is overfull and that the pacing may reflect a longer-form structure compressed into a feature.

Directed by Malcolm D. Lee, the film stars Chloe Bailey as Laila, described in the review as a classical violinist with her sights set on a concert seat. The review characterizes Bailey’s character and the premise as part of a broader suspense arrangement, with the lead’s ambition serving as a starting point for the thriller’s escalating complications.

The Guardian review says there are brief stretches of low-budget entertainment value, but it argues that those moments get swallowed by what it calls a busy script. The reviewer also writes that the movie’s structure can feel like a limited series that was “inelegantly cut down to movie length,” a criticism aimed at coherence and continuity rather than special effects or production design.

In the same assessment, The Guardian highlights the director’s track record, citing Lee’s work on films such as "Girls Trip" and "Barbershop" as examples of franchise-building competence. The implication in the review is that the director’s established strengths are present in flashes, but that the material itself prevents those strengths from fully landing in the final cut.

The review’s description places the film’s suspense elements on-screen as the plot proceeds, with the critic suggesting that the film’s combination of tonal influences and narrative density does not always harmonize. The concern is less about individual scenes and more about how the movie sustains tension over time while trying to deliver multiple beats and reversals.

For viewers and the industry, the practical takeaway is that "Strung" arrives on Peacock as a prestige-leaning thriller with a known streaming distribution outlet, but early response so far emphasizes structural risk. With the film released under a recognizable director brand and marketed through the presence of major talent like Bailey, the next test will be how audiences respond to a story that at least one prominent reviewer says feels more like a shortened series than a fully shaped feature.