Horrorfest 2025: Strange Darling

Strange Darling
Written and directed by JT Mollner

Starring Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner, Madison Beaty, Steven Michael Quezada, Ed Begley Jr. and Barbara Hershey
USA, 2024

A game of cat and mouse unfolds between a woman on the run and a man with a gun in STRANGE DARLING, a movie where you’re never quite sure who’s the cat and who’s the mouse. Or if they’re both cats? Or if they’re both mice?

We’re told up front this is going to be a story told in six chapters, and then immediately have the rug pulled out from under us when we realize the six chapters are not going to be in order. This could be a moment where you roll your eyes and go, “I get it. I’ve seen a Tarantino flick before.” Except, for once, the non linear storytelling fits well with the premise, which is this: a woman and a man meet up to do a little bondage/rape role play. Where does the play start and end? What’s REALLY going on? If you’re like me, you’ll be kept guessing until the movie’s last moments.

The movie wouldn’t work as well as it does without the two central performances by Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner who are able to keep us guessing where they’re coming from while also embodying specific characters and rising to the physical challenge of what’s basically nonstop action. I wasn’t familiar with Fitzgerald before this, thought she’s been at it for 20 years, but I’m a fan of Gallner’s from his charismatic performance in the great DINNER IN AMERICA.

As Stefon might say, this movie has everything: gore, action, suspense, sex and even laughs. It’s the kind of movie that makes me want to say stuff like, “They don’t make ’em like this anymore” and, “Now THAT’S a movie,” but I won’t because that’d be cliched. 

It’s interesting to note the great cinematography is by Giovanni Ribisi, of all people, known to me mostly as one of the brighter spots in the less-good seasons of THE WONDER YEARS. He’s acted in everything from SAVING PRIVATE RYAN to AVATAR and now shows his chops as an accomplished DP. Good for him!

Anyway, the movie’s good. Go watch it.