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INTRODUCTION
During a Q&A session, it was revealed that Z Berg wrote every song on the soundtrack, except for “Love Hurts“. She sings every track except one, a very emotional one, sung by Ginnie Mollner, the director’s mother, which adds a nice personal touch to the movie.
“Strange Darling” (2024) is the thrilling mystery created by JT Mollner, who wrote and directed the film. It stars the beautiful Willa Fitzgerald, the intense Kyle Gallner, the great Barbara Hershey, and Ed Begley Jr.
The movie, shot in 35 mm film, during the summer of 2022, in the beautiful mountains of Oregon, is the cinematography debut of Giovanni Ribisi as well.
Strange Darling, though it might seem real, it draws inspiration from real-life events, particularly those surrounding Aileen Wuornos.
The film is a work of fiction, intentionally blurring the boundaries of reality. It fooled me, just giving you a heads up.
After premiering at the 2023 Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, “Strange Darling” made its way to a limited theatrical release in the U.S. on August 23, 2024, courtesy of Magenta Light Studios.
With a runtime of 1 hour and 50 minutes, the film is rated R, offering a raw and intense experience with its strong and bloody violent content, sexual themes, drug use, and gritty language.
WHAT IS STRANGE DARLING ABOUT? PLOT / SYNOPSIS
In a quiet corner of Oregon, a lady known as “the Lady” meets a guy she dubs “the Demon” in a bar. They have little loquaciousness together, but the sparks are there, and they head on over to a motel for what seems like a typical one-night stand.
They get a room, and” the Lady” quizzes the Demon, asking him basic questions about the perils. When he declines, she smiles, blinks, and comes up with another crazy party game: he can pretend to be a killer, and then she can be his victim.
After hours and hours of fiery role-play afterward, the Lady now has another brilliant idea. She says they may as well go do some cocaine before closing the deal, and the Demon agrees. Then at the apex of action, she abruptly pulls away and reveals to him that she secret-drugged him with ketamine, meaning he is almost unconscious.
The Lady is no other than a notorious lady serial killer known in the underground world as “the Electric Lady”. Carving her signature into the Demon’s chest, she finds out he’s not just any guy but a cop.
Ready to kill him, she’s in for a big surprise—he shoots her ear off with a gun that was hidden. She bolts from the motel, with a stolen car and more bodies in her wake, but the Demon isn’t giving up as he chases her down a lonely road, shooting at her vehicle until she crashes and then runs into the woods.
Lost and desperate, the Lady finds refuge in a home owned by two doomsday preppers, Frederick and Genevieve. While Genevieve runs for medicine, Frederick tries to call the police but is dispatched quickly by the Lady, and she sends Genevieve outside.
It is at this moment that the Demon arrives, holding a rifle at hand. Genevieve rushes away as the Lady hides herself in a chest freezer inside the farmhouse. The Demon finds her, handcuffing her to the freezer and radioing for backup.
In one of life’s weird and witchy ironies, the Lady concedes she felt something real during their earlier encounter, some kind of spark of true love, but it all-too-swiftly wanes.
She attacks him with bear spray; in the chaos, she bites his neck, hitting a vital artery and causing him to bleed out. Now armed with his gun, she lets the outlaw die.
Backup finally arrives in the form of two officers: Pete and Gale. They find the sorry state of the Lady, who claims the Demon kidnapped her with dark intentions in mind.
Pete’s suspicious, but Gale insists she be taken for medical help. As they drive her back to town, they also see Genevieve flagging them down. It can only get intense from here on.
Nothing is as it seems in this life-and-death game, as a night of twisted passion morphs into an unbridled bloodbath.
MY THOUGHTS ON “STRANGE DARLING”
“Strange Darling” is an impressively sneaky film. It’s disguised as a psychological thriller, but what’s going on in the mind of a serial killer is the wild ride.
The nonlinear storytelling at the beginning of the movie added a sort of complexity that kept me and I’m sure a lot of other people guessing, wondering what was going to be next.
What struck a chord most, however, is how the movie balanced all those dark themes with a playful, almost mischievous, sense of humor combination that, much to my surprise, works. It thereby cements “Strange Darling” as one of the most promising Independent Films this year.
For now, its only available in cinemas around you.
CHARACTER PERFORMANCE
Much of the success behind “Strange Darling” emanates from the powerful performance of lead actors Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner.
The chemistry and raw intensity of their parts in the film leave nothing to be vowed, as the trembling felt with each scene gives it a touch of realism.
Fitzgerald is particularly well-cast as the female lead, able to show the layers of her character with subtlety that remains captivating and unnerving at the same time.
Gallner brings a cold presence to his role that makes him a very terrifying figure, yet one the audience can find themselves deeply interested in.
Additional noteworthy performances come from two supporting actors: Barbara Hershey and Ed Begley Jr. a pair of queer backwoods hippie types.
Their characters insinuate a weird, quirky quality into the film-something removed from the darker elements, certainly capable of lifting tension momentarily.
Strongly contributing to the overall feeling is the chemistry between the leads-without it, “Strange Darling”‘s characters would have never fully come to life, seeming as real and human as all those individuals who pass us by daily.
VISUAL DESIGN AND CINEMATOGRAPHY
Visually, “Strange Darling” is a feast for the eyes. The cinematography in the film is both beautiful and haunting; framing the desolate beauty of rural Oregon while engendering an atmosphere of tension and dread.
The use of light and shadow feels particularly effective as if it often reflects the state of mind of the characters of this film.
The cinematography is done in such a nonlinear structure because the scene flows from one time and place to another with such fluidity, thus making it both disorienting and engrossing.
The movie revels in its classic horror film homages, from the opening roll of font reminiscent of “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” to, well, many others.
This isn’t just stylistic; it also echoes that sense of dread that’s attached to us for the entire time. The novelty and expressiveness in the visuals of “Strange Darling” have an extremely great effect on the work.
WRITING STYLE AND STORY
One of the striking things about “Strange Darling” is its writing.
The story, while it sounds fairly basic upfront, is nothing but simple. Of course, this can easily overrun the audience, but in the case of “Strange Darling,” it works exceptionally well. The film is slow-paced, but it is a deliberate one, with each scene chiseled out in careful detail to create tension and intrigue.
The writing also singularly shines in the presentation of dark humor. Deliciously wry to the point of near-sardonic take-off, at times it seems as if the movie is a Coen Brothers hybrid.
The humor is subtly laced throughout the film, but it constantly works in conjunction to help alleviate the darkness of the situation while keeping the audience interested as the story takes its genuinely unpredictable twisted turns.
Cuttingly intelligent, each next line furthers character development and plot advancement in very subtle ways.
THEMES
While treading on several themes, the most prominent is the nature of violence and the human capability for cruelty. The major thematic preoccupation in “Strange Darling” is just that.
The movie is not shy to show the brutality of the killer’s action; it does so in a very measured manner.
The violence in this movie illustrates the psychological themes, which is to say that evil could hide behind a normal facade.
Another recurring theme in the movie is that of identities and the masks one wears to shield that identity. Fractured identity is shown in the storytelling; the audience sees peeked pieces of who the characters are until the whole is unveiled.
This theme is even more evident in the persona of the female lead, whose real nature is unraveled bit by bit to the end.
AUDIENCE COMMENTS
Strange Darling had me shook. Legendary asf 👏
— 👂akan (@dumpy_EK) August 28, 2024
Wow, indie horror film STRANGE DARLING played in my local Cinemark for a full seven days! What an age of riches we live in.
— Eric D. Snider (@EricDSnider) August 28, 2024
tbh i enjoyed strange darling but i mostly want it to do well bc kyle gallner is a one-man promo team for his movie
— fangs4asking (@fangs4asking) August 28, 2024
CONCLUSION
To sum up, “Strange Darling” is a very unpredictable film. With its tight storyline, good performance, innovations in visual design, and darkly humorous writing style, it belongs to the category of psychological thriller movies.
The movie stumbles at the end with an unfortunately vague subplot, but overall, it stays highly enjoyable and thought-provoking.
A hit for independent cinema lovers, “Strange Darling” is right in tune with its genre and keeps viewers both actively engaged and entertained throughout.
It’s a film that doesn’t leave your mind for some time after the credits roll while trying to figure some things out and think over its theme.
People also Read – THE CROW (2024).
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