Film Review – Strange Darling

August 30th, 2024 | POSTED BY Allen Almachar

***Warning: This Review Contains Major Spoilers***

Strange Darling (2023) might be one of the biggest surprises of the year. It’s a finely constructed, smart, and tense thriller. Writer/director JT Mollner has crafted a story that upends our preconceived notions about gender dynamics, the horror/thriller genre, and about storytelling itself. While many will be able to foresee the twists and turns littered throughout the narrative, that does not take anything away from how effective it is. It plays with our expectations, constantly switching things up so that certain scenes will have a brand new context as more information is revealed. And when the entire picture is exposed, it leaves us with the question over what it all means – if anything at all. This is a genre movie that has something interesting to say.  

Taking a page out of the Quentin Tarantino playbook, Mollner divides his plot into 6 chapters and an epilogue, rearranging the order in non-linear fashion. Things start off with an indulgent move: A title card explaining that the film was shot in 35mm. This is then followed with a narration describing a horrific killing spree, similar to the beginning of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). Adding these flourishes and mixing up the timeline is not new. However, in this instance it makes total sense in that it creates a certain expectation of what’s to come. The style sets us up for the surprises, with each piece of the puzzle resetting our relationship to the film and our connections to the characters.

For example, our opening scene (which actually takes place in the middle of the timeline) has a woman named “The Lady” (Willa Fitzgerald) sprinting through an open field. She is being chased by a man named “The Demon” (Kyle Gallner), who tries to shoot her down with a rifle. The bruises on her face and distressed look signals that there has been a physical altercation. Suddenly, the timeline shifts to the first chapter, in which we find both arriving together at a small hotel. The flirtatious back and forth hints that the man and woman are likely to have a one-night stand. Clearly, from the time they arrived at the hotel to the chase scene, something bad happened. What would make the man want to kill the woman? Is he a murderer set out to catch his latest prey? During their conversation in the car, the lady asks him – in a half joking way – if he was a serial killer, to which he quickly denies. Of course, in the world of movies, whenever a character denies they are a monster, chances are the opposite is more likely.

***Major spoilers are coming now. You have been warned***

The truth, however, is that he is not a serial killer – she is. Exploiting the man’s assumptions of women and sex, the lady lured him to the hotel to kill him. This change flips the entire narrative, causing us to readjust our perspective, particularly regarding the opening scene. He was not chasing her because he was some killer looking to add another name to his list of victims, but because he escaped the lady’s wrath and was pursuing her to stop her reign of carnage. With this move, Mollner subverts our own ideas about storytelling, about our view of villains and victims, and the inherent biases and stereotypes that come with the thriller and horror genre.

But to what end? What exactly is Mollner trying to say with this brilliant (albeit drastic) shift? If you look at it merely as a genre exercise, it is thrilling. Seeing the two attempt to gain an upper hand in their deadly chess game is exciting and nerve wracking. But if we examine this thematically, does it hold up? To create a situation in which the man is the victim and the woman is the perpetrator is a slippery slope, especially in the current political climate. To make the lady the cold-blooded serial killer has the danger of drawing misogynistic interpretations. Lesser informed viewers may see this and think, “See? You can’t trust a woman, she will only tempt you into oblivion.” Of course, I do not believe Mollner set out with that in mind. It could be argued that assuming she was in peril to begin with is problematic, and that the twist evens the playing field. It creates a circumstance in which we must throw out our beliefs and take everything in from a brand new angle.

Strange Darling’s saving grace – and what ultimately makes it a tremendous success – is that everyone is susceptible to their own prejudice. Everybody makes bad assumptions, whether it involves gender, age, or ability. The man – and especially the lady – are guilty of this. Just because the lady goes on a murderous rampage while others underestimate her doesn’t mean she isn’t immune to underestimating others as well. It is that very element that balances out the narrative. If this was simply a story of a bad girl going on a killing spree and outwitting everyone that crosses her path, that could had led to the overall result feeling awkward and incomplete. But because she is just as liable of making the same mistakes, that creates a fascinating setting for us to analyze.

For most of the runtime, Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner are the only actors to occupy the screen. Their chemistry does a lot of the heavy lifting, whether they are interacting romantically or at each other’s throats. The screenplay requires them to exude such different emotional states. At any given moment they can seem vulnerable, charismatic, or unhinged. Depending on where we are in the timeline, we are meant to either root for or be terrified of them. Fitzgerald and Gallner make all of it work with their performances. It’s as though they are two combatants duking it out in the middle of a boxing ring. Barbara Hershey and Ed Begley Jr. turn in good work in supporting roles, but make no mistake: this is the Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner show.

Of all the surprises, the biggest might be that actor Giovanni Ribisi moves to the other side of the camera to work as director of photography. Ribisi shoots the picture with vivid, colorful images. Outdoor shots have a shimmering, golden hue, working in stark contrast to the darkness of the material. Color plays a large factor in the overall mood and atmosphere. When the lady and man first arrive at the hotel, the blue of the neon sign floods the inside of their car, creating a quiet and intimate scene. When the action ramps up, Ribisi utilizes red in almost every corner of the frame – from the color of the lady’s wig, the man’s black and red checkered coat, the redness of interior scenes, and the redness of the blood that will eventually be spilled. Ribisi does not make his approach subtle. When the lady has a moment of contemplation in the hotel bathroom, Ribisi uses such stark redness that barely any other color is visible. 

Strange Darling takes genre tropes and flips them on their head, creating a scenario that feels unexpected and spontaneous. It causes us to re-examine its characters almost from scene to scene, as well as how we watch and react to movies as a whole. In a season where every other release feels like recycled blockbuster fare, here is some counter programming that entertains, excites, engages, and challenges the audience. This is excellent filmmaking.

Barbara Hershey, Ed Begley Jr., Featured, Giovanni Ribisi, JT Mollner, Kyle Gallner, Quentin Tarantino, Strange Darling, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Willa Fitzgerald