Say "No" to the Dress: "In Fabric" casts a surreal, hypnotic spell for those who are interested

In Fabric (2019)

118 min.

Release Date: December 6, 2019 (Limited)

Writer-director Peter Strickland’s giallo-infused horror film “In Fabric” bleeds Mario Bava and Dario Argento tones through visual and aural composition, weaving a surreal, deliberate, hypnotic spell that unsettles. The concept of a killer dress sounds so inherently absurd, but Strickland presents a gallows sense of humor, a satirical critique of consumerism, and nightmarish logic throughout that makes it closer to sinister art. “In Fabric” will be a very specific moviegoing clientele’s kind of “weird” and probably satisfy no one else. 

Recently separated from her husband, lonely bank teller Sheila (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) is ready to get back into the dating scene in London. An artery-red dress catches her eye when she sees a sale at Dentley & Soper’s department store, and it’s made more perfect when ethereal saleswoman Miss Luckmoore (Fatma Mohamed) tells her it is “her image.” The dress is clearly haunted and out to wreak more havoc. Marianne Jean-Baptiste is so compelling and sympathetic as Sheila that once the film pivots in the second half, it loses its way a bit with a washing machine repairman, Reg (Leo Bill), who tries on the dress at a stag party, but recovers with a bizarrely creepy finale. Like Strickland’s previous films (2012’s “Berberian Sound Studio” and 2015’s “The Duke of Burgundy”), “In Fabric” relies more on stylish '70s mood and twisted, deeply strange suggestion than direct jolts.

Grade: B