Strange Darling is a cat-and-mouse chase that left me wishing I turned on Revenge or High Tension instead. Don’t believe the third act hype.
I’ve been a long-running fan of Willa Fitzgerald, especially since she starred in my underrated, favorite TV show—Dare Me—so I’ve been looking forward to JT Mollner’s Strange Darling ever since I first saw her face in the trailer. I heard so many intriguing things about the movie online with almost every single post and review reminding me to go in blind, so I was lucky to find out that my local AMC was doing an early access Q&A screening. Mostly, I was excited to see if it lived up to the hype, and I knew that seeing it before it came out was probably the only way I’d be able to resist trying to look up the spoilers.
I feel like the film delivered on many fronts—mostly artistically—but left me leaving the theater with mixed-to-negative feelings, especially regarding the story itself, which I will explore here with as much ambiguity and vagueness as possible for the sake of avoiding spoilers.
The film is tough to summarize without giving away crucial plot details, but at its most simple, Strange Darling follows the final murders of a serial killer, claiming to be a “dramatization of a true story” in its opening scroll. The story essentially is about a one-night-stand between The Demon (Kyle Gallner) and The Lady (Willa Fitzgerald) that seems to have gone terribly, violently wrong, spiraling into a deadly cat-and-mouse chase through picturesque woods, idyllic mountains, and red-lit motel rooms.
The obvious standout of the movie is Willa Fitzgerald’s stunning performance. She is absolutely wonderful and most certainly at her best here. She particularly excelled in some of her chase scenes: her character’s pure will to survive is etched all across her face in a sort of grim determination that really draws the viewer into the action. As someone with lots of experience in the horror genre, she nails all of the physical aspects of the role, especially with her ability to act convincingly injured—a skill that I believe can make or break a movie. She integrates each injury into her performance in a way that is not only believable but also palpable and painful, enough to make the viewer wince in sympathy only a few minutes into the movie. She has been an underrated talent for a while, and I hope this performance propels her to greater recognition.
I would be remiss to mention the highlights of Strange Darling without talking about its lovely cinematography. The visuals—shot on 35mm film, as the opening credits (kind of pretentiously) remind you—are nothing short of stunning, and when watching it unfold on the screen, I couldn’t think of any word to describe them aside from delicious. In an era where so many horror films are buried in darkness, Strange Darling embraces very vibrant, saturated colors in a way that manages to feel both surreal and organic, almost like it's an alternate universe rather than an entirely fictional world. The colors dictate the mood of the film and the characters in a way that really aids the storytelling without feeling contrived (i.e. “the curtains were blue to represent the character’s sadness”). The visuals in general delivered a well-earned sense of intimacy, physically close to the characters in a way that felt friendly or romantic rather than intrusive, which is a difficult line to toe. There were also a few split diopter shots, which are something that I always appreciate.
The film’s soundtrack, composed entirely by Z Berg, also deserves mention. It’s refreshing to see a horror movie take such a bold swing with its music. The score added layers of atmosphere to the film, particularly in the opening sequences, where the viewer is thrust directly into the middle of the action. It reminded me a bit of Boy Harsher’s music video/horror short film The Runner, though Strange Darling leans less on synth and more on a powerful yet ethereal sort of backdrop.
As mentioned before, the flaws of the movie were more apparent in regard to the writing and story. In terms of dialogue specifically, some of the lines felt like they were trying too hard to capture what contemporary speech sounds like but fell short, seeming more out of touch or behind on the times than anything else. In fact, I couldn’t tell if the movie was trying to make a genuine attempt at modern lingo or just mock it, which probably isn’t a good sign of it being well-executed either way. Beyond that, some of the dialogue was clearly included purely for the sake of red herring, making lines said by certain characters confusing or entirely pointless once the movie has revealed its hand.
Personally, I believe that the hype around the plot twist is much greater than it should be. A perceptive viewer probably could pick up on a lot of what’s meant to be surprising from the trailer, poster, and even simple costuming. Reminding the audience that there is a twist by telling them that they absolutely need to avoid spoilers at all costs definitely exacerbates this issue and makes it almost impossibly easier to guess. The story was almost exactly what I expected it to be going in, though I will say it was framed in a unique way. While said framing was not necessarily uninteresting, the overemphasis on “going in blind” will definitely lead to a lot of disappointment, especially with how we’ve been spoiled in recent years with great unexpected plot twists and third acts (with some of my favorites being Parasite and Malignant).
My biggest gripe with the film, however, was its poor attempt to grapple with gender politics. To be purposefully vague, while the point being made was technically a valid one, I really don’t think it is one that audiences need to hear right now. It came across as almost painfully out of touch and cynical if not entirely sexist. At one point during the film, I got to hear all the men in the audience laugh at a woman being called a “dumb bitch” (and trust me, the added context of the spoilers only makes this moment all the more glaringly offensive). It’s very hard to discuss the roots of this issue without spoilers, but I think the twist is as contrived and inappropriate for the current political climate as High Tension’s famously controversial ending, though I honestly believe that movie is a better one to turn on if you’re looking for a cat-and-mouse chase with lots of shock value.
Strange Darling came across as a more misogynistic Gone Girl, or like someone had watched Gone Girl and figured that all women are just like Amy Dunne. At one point in the movie, The Lady discusses rape culture and the risks that women take to participate in casual dating/hook-ups, and I got the impression that the movie was almost making fun of her more than truly exploring her perspective, though that could be a result of the clunky dialogue. I didn’t find this movie to be mean-spirited in general, but its attitude toward women was most certainly not positive.
Similarly to High Tension, the twist in this movie was very forced and poorly delivered. I remember reading that this movie was designed to challenge your preconceptions about cat-and-mouse horror movies. While a nice idea in theory, Strange Darling makes sure to spoon feed these preconceived notions to the audience in case they didn’t have them going in only to clumsily upend them later. A lot of horror movies treat the viewer like an idiot sometimes—films like Final Destination use characters that are walking tropes and stereotypes so there’s an illusion that we spent more time with them and know more about them than we do before they’re killed off—but for the most part that is a well-intentioned sort of pat on the head; it makes the scares and the experience more rewarding for the audience rather than detracting from them. Strange Darling, on the other hand, spells out conclusions for you and pretends to surprise you by pulling the rug out from under your feet, except you wouldn’t have been standing on that rug in the first place if they hadn’t held your hand and put you there, making it more irritating than shocking.
Overall, the movie is undeniably an artistic masterpiece, and Willa Fitzgerald is a force to be reckoned with. With the sound and visuals alone, it’s worth checking out on the big screen, but temper your expectations—this story is nothing particularly challenging or surprising. Limiting those expectations going in would have definitely made this a better watch for me, though I think the story will always be bogged down by its negative attitude toward women and/or victims of sexual assault. Ultimately, while the film shines on a technical level, I left feeling disappointed.
★★☆☆☆
4.3 out of 10
You can find Strange Darling in theaters on August 23rd.
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