By MICHAEL GINGOLD

Starring Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner and Madisen Beaty
Written and directed by JT Mollner
Magenta Light Studios/Miramax

Believe the hype: STRANGE DARLING is a film that will truly catch you off guard, delivering the best unexpected twists and turns of any movie in quite a while. At the same time, it’s not just about the twists; this is largely a two-hander in which the terrific performances and taut scripting keep you engrossed throughout, punctuated by moments of truly shocking violence. It’s an indie standout that deserves the biggest audience possible, so get thee to a theater to see it this weekend.

Really, that’s all I want to say about STRANGE DARLING, because writing in depth about a lot of what makes it special would give its game away. The usual trailer embed isn’t being included at the bottom of this review, because even though the preview doesn’t contain any major spoilers, even those couple of minutes reveal stuff best experienced when you watch the movie itself. STRANGE DARLING is truly a film that rewards going in completely cold.

What can be acknowledged is the terrific achievements of all involved. Writer/director JT Mollner here plays with the structure in a manner that’s been done in horror films and thrillers before, but not quite this way, and not often with this much impact. And it isn’t a simple gimmick, or a method of teasing the audience, but a means of deepening the mood and intrigue; the way he lays out his story, a lengthy sequence that’s already unsettling is charged with a heavy extra level of menace. It also keeps the viewer anxious to find out how the pieces of his narrative fit together, and how it will be resolved when the final one is snapped into place.

At the same time, the here-and-now of STRANGE DARLING is gripping from the very first scene, as Mollner drops us into a desperate situation that immediately seizes our attention. His two principals are billed only as “The Lady” and “The Demon,” played very well by Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner. Fitzgerald, evoking intense sympathy right away, gets to show many other colors of her character than simple victimhood, and nails them all, creating one of the most memorable female protagonists in modern horror. Gallner, who spent his young adulthood as a victim himself in the likes of THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT and the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET remake, here gives a ferocious turn as a shotgun-wielding, implacable force, though he too reveals more shadings as STRANGE DARLING continues.

An opening title card proudly proclaims that STRANGE DARLING was “shot entirely on 35mm film,” and the equally big news is that that cinematography was handled by actor Giovanni Ribisi, in his first time behind a feature film’s camera. And it’s one hell of a debut, as he brings a tactile, gritty quality to the images, both indoors and out. A good deal of STRANGE DARLING is set during daytime, and Ribisi does some wonderful things with sunlight–the way it harshly floods the rooms at certain points, or catches one character’s cigarette smoke. His camera also captures some seriously ick-inducing makeup effects by Vincent Guastini; Mollner is uncompromising in the way he presents the movie’s numerous acts of brutality, and he knows how to present them in a way that’s impactful rather than gratuitous. Evocative scoring by Craig DeLeon and songs by Z Berg (who discusses them here) give the movie a sonic atmosphere equal to the visual one.

Any movie that receives the kind of advance fanfare STRANGE DARLING has, with raves from horror heavy hitters like Stephen King and Mike Flanagan, risks tempting certain viewers to respond with “I’ll be the judge of that, thanks.” This time, though, I can’t imagine any fright fan not being totally captivated: It approaches a familiar basic subject in a way that feels fresh, it harks back visually to past classics while being very much a modern movie and it’s bloody and gruesome as hell. Already a darling among critics and festgoers, it seems assured to become an enduring favorite among a wider genre fan base as well.