Strange Darling (2024) review

Dir. JT Mollner

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★★

Strange Darling opens with a unique trigger warning; one that informs us this film was “shot entirely on 35mm film.” It’s an odd declaration to make, but the gorgeousness the stock — handled by actor Giovanni Ribisi of all people — is as welcomed as it ever was.

If that was the only thing JT Mollner’s film had to offer in the realm of thrillers, it would be seen as more of a gimmick. Strange Darling, in fact, is a thriller remixed, one that would be deceptively simple if told linearly, but one that actively engages the viewer because of the position in which it puts them. Both the beauty of the cinematography and the intrigue afforded by the six-chapter (plus epilogue) story structure would wear off early if the film itself didn’t offer more, and thankfully, Mollner’s latest does.

An unnecessary text-crawl tells us that a killer was active throughout the western United States before coming to an untimely end in the deep forests of Oregon, where the film is set. It probably would’ve behooved us not to know this, but alas, we do. The story starts with the third chapter, with an injured woman known only as Lady (Willa Fitzgerald) running for her life from a man called Demon (Kyle Gallner). From there, Mollner subverts your expectations of this serial killer story with each subsequent chapter. It’s less a puzzle and more an oppressively foggy window slowly being wiped away, each brush revealing just a little bit more before the entire picture crystalizes.

That’s about as far as I’m willing to go in my plot summation. Few other actors turn up, save for a hippie couple played by the eminently lovable duo of Ed Begley Jr. and Barbara Hershey. A thin cast of major players allows the twofer of Fitzgerald and Gallner to develop. Given the structure, we see in chronological mish-mash just how Fitzgerald’s Lady gets her resilience and confidence. In the meantime, Gallner oscillates between brooding and charismatic. Gallner in particular has developed into a fine young actor, while Fitzgerald expands upon her abilities that were shown sparingly in the MTV series Scream.

Ribisi tries his hand at cinematography, suggesting a directorial debut is in his near future — especially with the talent he flexes here. He’s a man with a clear eye for textures, in love with bright-red blood and the washed-out color palette of the 70s, further evidenced by the way he lovingly lingers on Gallner’s aviator shades and moustache.

Where Strange Darling captivates on an immediately accessible level, it sidesteps some of the gender politics with which it flirts. At one point, Lady asks a man, “Do you have any idea the risks a woman like me takes whenever she decides to have a little fun?” Credit to Gallner for not overplaying the strong-woman female archetype, but there is an opportunity for further exploration of the fun Lady seeks to have with the men whose path she crosses. But for a film to be both a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase coupled with a toxic love story — guided by a filmmaker’s love for sweeping, wide-angle framing and intense colors — isn’t nothing, and does manage to stand out in an increasingly cluttered horror landscape.

Starring: Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner, Ed Begley Jr, and Barbara Hershey. Directed by: JT Mollner.