Strange Darling

Strange Darling, a film impressively shot entirely on 35 mm film, is a hard film to discuss without giving too much away. What can be said, is it’s a very tight thriller, with a small cast, focusing mostly on Willa Fitzgerald’s, “The Lady,” and Kyle Gallner’s, “The Demon.” JT Mollner, who both directed and wrote the screenplay, plays with audience’s expectations a lot in this film, constantly jerking the rug out from beneath you to question what exactly is happening as the film drops its audience in the middle of the story, where Fitzgerald is fleeing from Gallner with little context of what occurred beforehand. Gorgeously shot, Mollner’s work with his cinematographer, Giovanni Ribisi (a recognizable name from his acting credits), is incredible. The movie boldly announces that its entirety has been shot on film as it begins, but it pays off for these two because the use of lighting is simply gorgeous. Scenes shot in the middle of the day are stunning, the golden glow of the sun over acres of farmland is ever so grainy. Night shots, meanwhile, are proudly in front of distinguishable neon signs with red and blue tones. It harkens back to the slashers and thrillers of old in a stunningly visual way.

The performances from the leads should continue to push these two into the public eye. Fitzgerald recently  joined the Flannaganverse in The Fall of the House of Usher, and eagle eye horror fans might even recognize her from the shortly lived Scream television series. Her character is multifaceted and nuanced, and Fitzgerald clearly has fun playing with the audience on what they expect her to do, giving minor adjustments to her face that slightly reveal her true character. There is a long shot of her in the film which recalls Chalamet’s performance at the end of Call Me By Your Name. Fitzgerald has fun with the whit but is simply breathless with the drama. Gallner is also not new to horror having been seen previously in Smile and Scream, the fifth installation in the movie series (funny how both leads have a connection to Scream). Every step he takes, every whisper he breathes, is trudged with menace and insincerity. If Fitzgerald is captivating, Gallner is warring. 

The score and sound design of this film is wickedly fun. Designed specifically to make you feel a specific way about these characters until the plot starts to unravel itself and let you understand more of their circumstance, it almost appears on the nose in a satiric way. A menacing electric guitar that sounds like it was stripped from a heavy metal album comes out of nowhere to imply something terrible is going to happen before cutting to something much quieter and softer with an acoustic guitar or piano. At first jarring, it becomes more fun as the film continues and the audience can wonder what new twist is waiting around the corner in the screenplay. The combination of the storytelling, visual setting and sound design continuously plays with the audience’s expectations of what comes next in this story and it's simply a delight to be along for the ride. This might not only be one of the best horror films of the year, in a year where there has been some exceptional horror that has been released, but one of the best films of the year period.