Review: 'Strange Darling' is a cinematic punch in the gut that'll keep you guessing
Did summer save its thrillingest thriller for last? That's what it looks like in "Strange Darling," now in theaters, where it keeps juggling time frames to throw us off course to investigate what writer-director JT Mollner called, in an interview with Collider, "one day in the romantic twisted love life of a serial killer."
Intrigued? You should be. I pause here to warn you that going in cold is the best way to approach the perverse pleasures of "Strange Darling." My advice? Come back to this review after you've seen it and we'll talk. There many delicious, nerve-frying shocks to deconstruct.
An onscreen message, read by Jason Patric, tells us we'll be diving into the head of a serial killer in six nonlinear chapters. So why not start with Chapter 3, in which we watch a terrified woman (Willa Fitzgerald), wearing blood-red scrubs, screaming "help me" as she runs for her life down a road while a dude (Kyle Gallner), in a pickup truck, shotgun in hand, is hot on her tail?
Think you know what happens next? Don't be a fool. You won't have a clue. Zipping into Chapter 5, we hear the dude utter the teasing, menacing words, "Here, kitty kitty kitty." That's three kitties, and each is more chilling than the next.
Snap to Chapter 1 and we learn that the woman has a safe word: "Mr. Snuffy," after Mr. Snuffleupagus of "Sesame Street." The word comes in handy during a hotel stop for a one-night stand during which the man tries to strangle her.
"Sometimes when I see people, I see demons," she announces, referring to him as "Demon."
In Chapter 4, the "Lady," as the Demon calls her, seeks refuge at a cabin occupied by a seemingly nice couple, delightfully played by acting veterans Ed Begley Jr. and Barbara Hershey. Much time is spent watching the couple prepare a breakfast of eggs with heavy dollops of butter and whipped cream. Of course, warm domesticity soon descends into sheer terror.
Ketamine and cocaine are introduced as early as Chapter 2 and will play a major role in maintaining control for the Lady and the Demon.
"Strange Darling" quits being contrary and ends where it should end with Chapter 6, entitled "Who is Gary Gilmore?" Gilmore was a real-life murderer who was executed by firing squad in 1977 and became the subject of Norman Mailer's nonfiction classic, "The Executioner's Song." I'll leave you to figure out how Gilmore fits into this tale of strange bedfellows.
Confession: I've been withholding major plot points from you in this review, merely sketching in the bones of the story. It really is best to go in blind. Visually, "Strange Darling" tells its own story, eerily abetted by the evocative lighting and camerawork contributed by Giovanni Ribisi, the "Avatar" actor making a dazzling feature debut as a cinematographer.
And the actors similarly rise to the macabre occasion. Fitzgerald ("Reacher," "The Fall of the House of Usher") seizes the role of her career to date as the Lady and takes it to places you truly don't see coming. And Gallner, so good in films as diverse as "Smile" and "The Passenger," is a spine-tingling wonder as this so-called Demon who keeps showing haunting vestiges of humanity. He's simply sensational.
Still, it's filmmaker Mollner who deserves cheers for the wow factor he packs into this cinematic punch in the gut. With only one other film to his credit, the wobbly 2016 western "Outlaws and Angels," Mollner shows he's ready for the big leagues, given the artful cunning and masterful control he reveals in "Strange Darling." You truly won't know what hit you.
