Strange Darling - FrightFest International Premiere Review
Director: JT Mollner
Starring: Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner, Ed Begley Jr, Barbara Hershey
Written by: JT Mollner
Produced by: Bill Block, Chris Ivan Cevic, Roy Lee, Giovanni Ribisi, Steven Schneider
Cinematography by: Giovanni Ribisi
Original Score by: Craig DeLeon
Synopsis:
Nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer's vicious murder spree.
Thoughts:
It’s important to go into 'Strange Darling' completely blind, so if you don’t want to know a single thing about the movie, turn back now. Still here? Good.
Going into 'Strange Darling' I was slightly aware of what the plot was going to be. Killer vs victim, game of cat and mouse etc. with the hope of some high-tension scenes and satisfying kills. Personally though, I was fully committed to the film when I learned that Kyle Gallner was one of the main stars. Gallner is one of my favourite working actors today, delivering incredible performances in recent films like 'Dinner in America' and 'The Passenger'. So, was 'Strange Darling' going to be another Gallner classic for my collection, or was this going to fumble my favourite actor?
The film opens with a 'Texas Chain Saw' style opening crawl and it immediately had my attention. I’m a big fan of the Grindhouse era of cinema and I’m always interested when a modern filmmaker takes a swing at that genre. Writer/Director JT Mollner clearly had a vision for the film and for the most part, the film looks stunning thanks to DOP Giovanni Ribisi (Yes, THAT Ribisi.) The film uses a lot of striking primary colours and it really helps the film establish a certain style. I don’t know if it was intentional but the film's colour palette reminded me a lot of 'Psycho III'.
I wouldn’t say Mollner captures the true feeling of a grindhouse film unfortunately as the film is told in six different "chapters" and those chapters are told out of order. I understand why Mollner has done this, as it hides the ultimate twist of the film, but it becomes quite tedious to watch when the twist is blatantly obvious 5 minutes into the film. All of the tension in the film is pretty much gone after its excellent opening chase and you’re kind of just sat waiting for the penny to drop with the characters so the story can move along, but by the time it gets to the third act, it’s relied so heavily on you not guessing the obvious twist, that the third act just doesn’t have anything else interesting to say.
The massive take away from 'Strange Darling' is it’s central performances. Kyle Gallner, as always, is a powerhouse performer here. Showing us a character with a darker side, yet showing some true humanity. His character has a genuine sweetness in “Chapter 1” and by “Chapter 4” (which is the start of the film) he is absolutely terrifying. Willa Fitzgerald is also fantastic in the film and has amazing chemistry with Gallner on screen. Much like Gallner, I’m a big fan of Fitzgerald after seeing her in the 'Scream' TV series (an under rated show in my opinion) and recently in 'The Fall of the House of Usher'. Fitzgerald gives final girl energy and you really feel for her character when she’s in danger.
The film's over reliance on its “twist” really takes all the tension out of it for me, but Gallner and Fitzgerald push through the mediocre script to deliver two outstanding performances. It honestly feels like a film that’s very smug about its twist, when really, it’s the most basic high school English class type of story. It's a real shame as everything else in the film is at such a higher quality. While this didn’t exactly work for me, I can see this being a Friday night crowd pleaser.
Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
-Adam Neeson
'Strange Darling' received its International Premiere at FrightFest '24 on August 24th and will hit UK cinemas on September 20th from Icon Film Distribution.
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