"Strange Darling" subverts genre tropes as a vicious cat-and-mouse chase

Strange Darling (2024)

Festival hype should theoretically have nothing to do with the actual quality of a buzzy film. The one in question is certainly justified in garnering some praise—it’s too well-made not to—but can a film ever just be effective rather than the Second Coming? Putting that “emperor’s new clothes” reaction aside, writer-director JT Mollner’s "Strange Darling" is a devious, subversive genre exercise and an accomplished piece of indie filmmaking.

Billed as a dramatization with a narrated intro à la "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," this “thriller in six chapters” tracks the spree of a serial killer on their last legs from Denver to the woods of Oregon. It essentially becomes a cat-and-mouse chase between “The Demon” (Kyle Gallner) and “The Lady” (Willa Fitzgerald), who begin as a man and woman having a one-night stand. Let’s stop right there because, yes, this is a film that rewards if viewers go in completely blind. 

With hints of Quentin Tarantino’s "Pulp Fiction" and Mickey Keating’s "Carnage Park," "Strange Darling" is a vicious and perversely entertaining ride that’s simple with a complicated flourish. Strategically shuffling out of sequence with its chapters, JT Mollner’s script knows we have our own assumptions about these two seemingly archetypal characters and craftily toys with expectations. The film is, to be frank, all about the tricksy structure. Read the full review at GuyAtTheMovies.com 

Grade: B

Magenta Light Studios released "Strange Darling" (96 min.) in theaters on August 23, 2024.