Do you enjoy walking out of a cinema and wondering what the hell you just watched? Then, oh boy, has JT Mollner got a movie for you.
Giovanni Ribisi, who also acts in and co-produces Strange Darling, shot this fever-pitch dream of serial killers and Americana on 35mm, grafting a seedy sheen on to a trippy downward spiral into the backwoods. Told in seven unchronological chapters, Mollner’s second feature aims to mess with your head. Buckle up. Following an intriguing overture, in which a final girl runs toward the camera, a demented, twisty narrative takes shape.
A mustachioed Kyle Gallner, exuding 1970s porn vibes, is introduced as the Demon, a suspected serial killer who hooks up with Willa Fitzgerald’s the Lady for a night of sadomasochistic role-play. That dark encounter, the hands-down meet-uncute of the year, inspires a belting car chase, a shoot-out and gory collateral damage. In step with their mythological designations, the Demon and the Lady are soon locked in a struggle of otherworldly dimensions across far-flung destinations in the United States’ western interior.
Each chapter lands an unexpected punch, a missed detail, a confounding revelation. A fateful stop at a farmhouse leads Frederick (Ed Begley Jr) and Genevieve (Barbara Hershey), a quirky couple afraid of Bigfoot and obsessed with jigsaw puzzles and extravagant breakfasts. The weirdness of Strange Darling is cut through with searing acts of violence. Biting, stabbing and bear spray are all acceptable. None of which is recommended for the faint of heart.
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Horror aficionados will find much to admire, but everything about this wild project defies generic expectations. It’s a thriller; it’s a cat-and-mouse game; it’s a truly messed-up love story. Gallner and Fitzgerald are extraordinary. Their electrifying physical and psychological commitment to the outlandish material lights up the screen. The chameleonic Fitzgerald looks like a different human being from scene to scene. There won’t be another movie duo quite like this one. There won’t ever be another movie quite like this one.
