Strange Darling is a film about a serial killer that hopes to surprise a viewer at every moment of its screening, at each twist and turn starting from the shot of “The Lady” (Fitzgerald) trying to escape “The Demon” (Gallner).
The movie made its launch in India on 6th Sep 2024. We meet the protagonist as she runs out of the woods, the green behind her, dressed all in red, matted blonde hair and fear stricken face while tears streaming down her cheeks from the eyes. The image sequence makes a bone chilling moment, about Little Red Riding Hoods and Big Bad Wolves.
We also see the film’s writer and director Mollner giving a sequence to the leads where they are thrown into a dangerous foreplay and then a combat that switches and switches back of moods, tones and power dynamics to subtly and constantly unsettling the couple.
After opening the film in the first scene with a declaration that its about the final days of a serial killer’s rampage across several states in America, between the years of 2018 and 2020, giving it a form of a true story, the director goes on to tell the story via 6 chapters that are not linear in form.
The story develops in one such cottage where “The Lady” lands up seeking help where she meets an elderly couple (Hershey and Begley Jr) enjoying a leisure Sunday breakfast and solving a jigsaw puzzle. When asked, they describe themselves as old hippies, old bikers or doomsdayers.
Director Mollner makes us rethink our assumptions from the beginning sequences, the characters first appearances, gender stereotypes, bodily strength, and violence. Before she checks into the hotel, with “The Demon”, “The Lady” tells him, “Do you know the kind of risks women like me run every time we get into a room like this?”
We also get a look into the epilogue after the six chapters in the film are over. The film gets a little dumb as it shows pure gender politics and lacks the kick in at the end. There is a pure killing spree and too much action, needless dialogues and a mention of the devil that does not add any special effects in the experience of the audience.
