STRANGE DARLING
(director/writer: JT Mollner; cinematographer: Giovanni Ribisi; editor: Christopher Bell; music: Craig DeLeon; cast: Willa Fitzgerald (The Lady), Kyle Gallner (The Demon/RC), Ed Begley Jr. (Frederick), Barbara Hershey (Genevieve), Steven Michael Quezada (Pete), Madison Beaty (Gale), Bianca A. Bantos (Tanya), Denise Grayson (Libby), Steven Michael Quezada (Pete, police officer), Madisen Beaty (lady police officer), Bianca A. Santos (Indian woman), Eugenia Kuzmina (Beth); Runtime: 96; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Bill Block, Roy Lee, Steven Schneider, Giovanni Ribisi, Chris Ivan Cevic; Magenta Light Studios; 2025)
“Non-linear horror/thriller.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
JT Mollner (“Outlaws and Angels”) writes and directs this gripping and unsettling non-linear horror/thriller. It’s a visually pleasing B-film (especially the neon lighting for the night scenes), that’s told in 6 chapters. It starts with an epilogue and fast-forwards to Chapter 3. It’s set in the 2020s, in the hills of rural Oregon. It’s one of those films the less you know about it before seeing it the better off you are.
It chronicles the story of a young woman known as the Lady (Willa Fitzgerald) who is first seen being chased by a young man with a mustache known as the Demon (Kyle Gallner). The question becomes if he’s a serial killer since in a later scene they’re beginning a strange sexual relationship in a floozy motel, where she’s handcuffed to a bed, upon her request, and wants him to abuse her in a s/m scene.
It’s a dark and disturbing film that has a few amusing moments, even at its goriest point. It’s fun trying to figure out what’s happening, as at first we’re confused by the unnamed young lady running into the woods after the man called the Demon, who shoots out her Pinto with a long-armed rifle. She seeks shelter in the comfy home of an aging hippie couple (Ed Begley Jr. & Barbara Hershey), who are from the city and seem out of place living in this gun-toting mountain community.
The weird, twisty, unpredictable, and violent story builds suspense as it probes familiar subjects like sexual obsession with fresh eyes and gives its fictitious story a fact-based look.
I loved it for its originality, its free-flowing natural dialogue, the way it played games with the stodgy genre and the outstanding nutty performance by Fitzgerald and the flawlessly perceptive one by Kyle Gallner. It’s a thrill ride that never stops giving until it runs out of vics and ideas.
The B-film indie, a sure-fire future cult thriller classic, asks one of its main characters if he’s a serial killer, as the fictitious film refers to a number of serial killings that took place in that part of the West from 2010 to 2020.
It was beautifully shot on 35mm film by the DP Giovanni Ribisi, an actor.
It played at the Fantastic Fest.
REVIEWED ON 8/24/2026 GRADE: A-
dennisschwartzreviews.com