Strange Darling (2024) Review: A Twisty Thriller with Familiar Influences

   October 16, 2024

Strange Darling wears its influences on its sleeve. Director JT Mollner isn’t ashamed to let his inspirations be known as his latest thriller delivers twists and turns around every corner, and is told in a nonlinear fashion that makes it really hard not to think of a few classics. The likes of James Wan and Quentin Tarantino come to mind for these reasons, but Mollner’s Strange Darling doesn’t feel nearly as fresh as Saw or Pulp Fiction felt decades ago.

Strange Darling (2024)
Kyle Gallner as RC in Strange Darling (2024)

The movie is told in six chapters, although those chapters don’t come linearly. We arrive midway through the story as a man known only to us as The Demon or RC (and played by Kyle Gallner) crashes his pickup truck into a girl’s vintage car. The girl looks helpless, stumbling her way to a nearby cabin. We never learn the girl’s name, but she’s played with immense depth and emotion by Willa Fitzgerald.

Through the other five chapters, we learn of the incidents that precede and succeed this. It’s hard to describe the plot of Strange Darling without spoiling a film that relies so heavily on its reveals, but I will note that the two participate in a unique, violent one-night stand, and that neither party is as clearly innocent or guilty as the opening act suggests. The twists happen frequently, but are also rather easy to guess ahead of time.

Strange Darling isn’t as smart as it thinks it is. The style is abundant and confronting. The movie begins with a title card that plainly states that the movie was shot on 35mm, as if it is expecting you to stand up and clap for how daring it is. I like a movie shot on film, but the movie’s insistence on reminding you this plays as if it feels like it has to hold your hand through the entire experience. As if it has to explain every single detail instead of allowing you to infer pieces of the plot.

The rest of Strange Darling is often stylish, but with very little substance. Once the last true “reveal” is shown midway through the second act, the movie loses steam. Fitzgerald’s performance is fun, but way, way over-the-top. It’s cartoonishly villainous, and while she dominates the screen whenever she is present, it’s because she seems to be operating in a completely different film than Kyle Gallner.

JT Mollner’s Strange Darling is entertaining while on, but leaves your mind the moment the credits start. There’s little substance to what’s taking place. There’s more emphasis on the style, but the window dressing isn’t enough to pull the movie along by itself. It’s a unique genre piece for this Halloween season, but it doesn’t have much staying power after that.

Score: 4/10

Reviews for Movies like Strange Darling (2024)

its whats inside (2024) movie review and film summary
salem's lot (2024) movie review and film summary
oddity (2024) movie review and film summary

New Movie Reviews from Cinephile Corner