Rent Strange Darling (2023)

Promising start soon runs out of steam - Strange Darling review by Alphaville

Erotic thriller? Not unless you’re turned on by OTT sexual aggression. The time-shifting plot starts in the middle (Chapter 3 of 6) with an imaginative car-chase but soon gets bogged down in overlong static close-ups of talking heads. Its shifting plot does upend audience expectations and seems to have garnered good reviews from jaded critics, but it has little else going for it. Hardly the promised ‘thrill ride’, with no interesting characters and little else of interest going on. Bored by incessant time-filling dialogue, I was soon on FF looking for somewhere interesting to pause. The end. A one-star film with another star for at least an attempt to be different.

Very Intriguing Horror/Thriller - Strange Darling review by GI

This is a provocative, quite daring thriller that defies expectations and a film that I found myself increasingly compelling. It has the hallmarks of Tarantino or even Tobe Hooper in its jarring plot twists, structure and the quiet setting of the American backwoods. Basically a serial killer narrative but one that goes in some uncomfortable and surprising directions that in fact make this an undeniably intriguing film. The plot is divided into six chapters that are told out of linear order, with each chapter having a title that hints at the macabre events to follow. The off-kilter structure adds to the sheer brilliance of the plot. The film opens with some onscreen titles explaining how a few years ago a serial killer went on an extended killing spree and the film to follow will show the final part of those events. This information leaves the impression the film is based on real events (it's not) and this adds to the horrors to follow. We then cut to a young woman (Willa Fitzgerald) fleeing an armed man (Kyle Gallner), she is clearly badly hurt and he hunts her as she flees through the forest to an isolated house and begs for the help of the aging couple who live there. Then we cut to the same man and woman in earlier events as they arrive at a motel and discuss having casual sex eventually beginning a night of kinky sex that sets the scene for an uncomfortable ride for the rest of the film. As the events jump back and forth in time we get revelations in the story that will shock and surprise in what is a first class thriller and a film that is highly recommended.

Strange twists and turns Darling. - Strange Darling review by RP

The synopsis and the blurb of the film makes it clear that there are plenty of twists and turns. The film opens with a voice over reading what is on the screen and setting up the atmosphere nicely. We are fooled into believing that this could be an erotic thriller or a Natural Born Killers set up or just a straight serial killer saga. But we have been warned in the burn that it wont be like that. Which in a way makes the twists a little less twisty. But for all that the film goes along at a great pace. We have chapters that go back and forth to give you one perspective and then we see another. 

I enjoyed it very much and after the rather slow build up. It develops into a well acted little shocker. So expect the unexpected and enjoy the twists and turns.