A wild ride of a thriller that will subvert every expectation you think you have—go in without knowing much. (Spoiler-free review)
What would happen if you crossed a Tarantino film with a Coen brothers movie—and threw in a little Longlegs?
You'd get Strange Darling. Honestly, this review was supposed to be about the new Crow movie, but that cinematic venture is currently sitting at 20%, and I got seriously dismayed about having to sit through what's apparently horrible.
I was led to Strange Darling by several of my favorite movie critics and podcasters calling it the surprise of the year, and one of the leading contenders for favorite-of-the-year even. This, coupled with a nigh unthinkable 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, changed my focus.
I went in blind on the trust of internet strangers that know more about movies than I do, and I was rewarded. (I love these types of movies, the out-of-nowhere flicks that fans beg viewers to go in as blind as possible. It happens so rarely in these days of endless Spidermen and spoiler-y sequels.)
It would be very easy to spoil Strange Darling, and that's why it's very important that you read as little as possible about it. I'm going to sell you on it, however, with as much bravura and insight as I can without giving anything away.
First off, it's a non-linear serial killer story that actually works. Usually, I detest out-of-sync narrative chapters because they tend to be lazy ways of spicing up a story. With Strange Darling, the non-linear sections are absolutely imperative to what, and when, and how we learn details about the plot. It makes you feel like the first time you watched Pulp Fiction or Memento, like you're a kid in a film class learning about the different ways stories are told.
The sound editing, production design, and acting are all superb—the two main leads aren't famous (yet) but ground the characters that we spend so much time with. It's gorgeously shot, and feels strangely out of time, despite the fact that the characters have cell phones.
This movie is gory and violent and scary, but there is enough comic relief and small moments of tension relief that it's not a complete sensory onslaught.
If you like horror/thrillers, you owe it to yourself to see this shot-on-35-mm gem in a theater with absolutely no expectations save for a good time.
The Math
Baseline Score: 8
Bonus: I haven't been able to stop thinking about the breakfast scene in Ed Begley Jr.'s farm house and probably never will.
POSTED BY: Haley Zapal is a lawyer-turned-copywriter living in Atlanta, Georgia. A co-host of Hugo Award-winning podcast Hugo, Girl!, she posts on Instagram as @cestlahaley. She loves nautical fiction, growing corn and giving them pun names like Timothee Chalamaize, and thinking about fried chicken.
