Strange Darling

After a large array of horror and serial killer thrillers full of style and atmosphere, 2024 continues its horror streak with JT Mollner’s gripping, brutally intense, and wildly unpredictable Strange Darling. It is one of those “the less you know going in” kind of movies. In other words, avoid any spoilers, and the film will play to even greater effect.

With a non-linear structure separated into six chapters that makes Quentin Tarantino’s structure look conventional by comparison, Strange Darling is a retro slasher that stylistically holds comparisons to earlier Brian De Palma (Think Sisters and Dressed to Kill), Tobe Hoober (certainly Texas Chainsaw Massacre) with some shades of Italian Giallo. The film is expertly shot in 35mm by actor and now cinematographer Giovani Ribisi, who holds an exquisite eye for low-key and neon lighting that balances the atmosphere between erotica and dread.

Magenta Light Studios

The film introduces us to characters introduced to us through the credits as the Lady (Willa Fitzgerald) and the Demon (Kyle Gallner). They meet up in the Demon’s pickup truck outside of a bar and have some innocent and flirtatious exchanges. They end up going to a seedy hotel with red shade lamps and with structure. The lady appears to like to role play, and she chooses to be submissive, and she prefers to be tied up and slapped. She has a code in case things get intense, and it doesn’t take too long of the date to go as planned. We know dread is on the way because we see the lady being chased down just like the iconic image of Marilyn Burns running for her life by Leatherface in the 1974 Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Because the film bounces between structures, the result feels even more nail-biting as you wonder just how the lady is able to escape the hotel room, and you feel the dread once she is tied up by her relentless and inevitable pursuer.

Director JT Moller, in his sophomore feature and who will be writing the adapted screenplay of Stephen King’s The Long Walk, proves to be quite a stylist and talent. The film holds a lot of reveals and goes down unexpected plot twists that never feel arbitrary. It’s simple, as it’s about a small-town lady looking to feel her physical needs and finds herself getting out of a very bad situation. Moller knows how to pull the audience in, and he gets the narrative moving before the dread fully kicks in. As mentioned above, director of photography Giovani Ribisi utilizes 35mm stock and great film lenses to give the film the visceral vision that made me feel like I was watching a horror thriller from the late 70s or early 80s. The movie never feels rushed either; we spend time with the Lady and the Demon, and we get to know them before the macabre sits in. Both Willa Fitzgerald (Scream series) and Kyle Gallner (Scream 2022, Jennifer’s Body) are comfortable, as they both have acted in horror before, and we get some memorable supporting performances. Barbara Hershey as Genevieve and Ed Begley Jr. as Frederick as a retired couple who get caught up in the menace after their daily morning ritual where they indulge with freshly hot coffee, crossword puzzles, and a hilarious montage of Frederick cooking his own griddles with whip cream that would make David Lynch’s mouth water.

Courtesy Magenta Light Studios\

Expectations are defied throughout many of the narrative’s plot twists, and I never knew how the film was going to end or how the lady is going to find herself out of the pending doom. The film plays on some power dynamics between men and women, but the focus ends up becoming about survival. You never quite know the motivations of the Demon, and the decisions he makes. The film also makes some commentary on perception and how things aren’t always as they appear. Ultimately, Strange Darling is sharp and feels refreshing while reworking many familiar elements. It pushes the envelope and delivers great shocks all the way up to the end while never feeling too sensationalized or exploitative. Strange Darling will become a highlight in the 2020s thriller genre in years to come.

STRANGE DARLING is now playing in limited theaters