With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 95%, beating even The Substance and equalling Nosferatu in the list of the year’s best horror films, Strange Darling deserves so much more exposure than it got on its cinema release back in August. Now released for home viewing, it’s time to give this gem of a film due recognition.
Essentially, this is a fairly standard tale of a serial killer spree and a victim’s revenge, following two protagonists after a one-night stand takes on a terrifying and sinister turn. But it may not be the turn you expect.
And that’s because Strange Darling has a number of very effective aces up its bloodied sleeve.
Writer-director JT Mollner clearly likes to mess with his audience. Told in six chapters, and in a manner that has the look and feel of ’70s and 80s slasher horror (Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre looms pretty large), the first of his aces is the film’s construction. Opening with Chapter Three, it’s almost halfway through the film before we get to know how our story begins, and this non-linear approach to the plot frequently pulls the rug from under us. Even when you think you know what’s going on, you don’t. It’s a gleefully wicked structure that overturns our expectations and plays with all that we think we know at the film’s start. It’s a narrative device that really works wonders in keeping us guessing and keeping the suspense at fever pitch.
Another ace is the look of the film. It’s a thing of beauty. Shot in 35mm and with a colour palette that leaps from the screen, the cinematography is stunning and works brilliantly in bringing to mind those films that terrified us decades ago.
And then there’s the cast. Uniformally superb across all performances, Strange Darling belongs to its two leads, The Smile’s Kyle Gallner as the Demon and Willa Fitzgerald as the Lady. Entirely convincing and with levels of performance commitment that would put die-hard method actors to shame, this pair create on-screen dynamite. Willa Fitzgerald, in particular, gives one of the year’s very best performances, and it will be a predictable but enormous shame that she won’t get the recognition she deserves come awards season. Hers is a truly brilliant turn, displaying a huge range of emotions.
Nowhere is this more heightened than in the film’s epilogue and final shot, an extended and deeply affecting take that has one of the best pieces of acting to be on the screen for years. It’s stunning, and easily the best final shot since the one that ended The Fabelmens so brilliantly.
Criminally overlooked, this beautiful Blu-ray release from Kaleidoscope is a horror fan’s nightmare. In a very good way.
