Movie Details
| Title: | Strange Darling | |
| Director: | JT Mollner | |
| Year: | 2023 | |
| Genre: | Thriller | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 11.01.24 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (0)
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 11.01.24 | Internet | This is another one where the less said the better. I'll have a lengthy spoiler section below. I liked it pretty good. It certainly held my interest. I heard about it on a podcast talking to Giovanni Ribisi (who shot the film) so I thought it might've been some bs indie movie he produced just to get to DP something but then I heard from another person that it was actually good so... here I am. It is good. It does still remind me of other indie fare... no surprise here that it premiered at Fantastic Fest last year. I'm kinda reminded of a movie called Too Late which also touted its shot-on-35-ness, but that one was more of a neo-noir told in long takes vs. a thriller told non-linearly. It does come off as a reel for Ribisi's new title, but it also serves the movie because it's that kind of movie and allowed to be showy. SPOILERS BELOW The movie does a good job leading its audience through each twist and turn. The reveal that we don't start in chapter 1 was nice right off the bat. The only bit I found a tad too manipulative was calling the characters 'The Lady' and 'The Demon' in the beginning titles. I'm not sure how the dude is a... oh I get it now. Never mind, the movie earned that. Somewhere around the start of 'Epilogue' I felt a little fatigued but I guess they want you to feel like she's about to actually get away. Ed Begley Jr. and Barbara Hershey were welcome, their performances were all too brief. They sure loved butter! I was mostly with them until the jam came out. I also thought this movie was just wild enough to throw Sasquatch into the mix but alas. It also took stylistically and photographically from a bunch of horror movies which lent to its topsy turvy nature, like with a Texas Chainsaw intro you're expecting a dude hunting a chick and all the super-saturated Suspiria colors you expect a lady in distress (although also maybe other things). And I have to say, I freeze-framed the demon at the end and they did a decent job! Forked tongue and everything. Maybe it wouldn't have worked for more than 1 frame but I thought it was a decent-looking demon for what they had. I've seen a bunch of good movies in the last couple days. I feel like this flu right before DVRfest has drained the list a bit from what would've played great in the fest itself, but oh well! It's just me watching these anyway, and it's not like I don't have a hundred movies to watch during the festival weekend as well. It's just won't have the horror movies I watched now. |
