One of the small truisms at Certified Forgotten is that any horror movie told in chapters is, on average, just a little bit better than its peers. Thankfully, that rule holds true with Strange Darling, a clever deconstruction of slasher tropes. Be forewarned, dear reader (listener?): this is a tough movie to talk about without revealing some if its twists, so only check out the episode if you've already seen the film.
It’s a tale as old as time: boy meets girl, boy hunts girl through the rural Oregon woods with a large-caliber rifle. But don’t assume you know what comes next: what follows is a horror-fueled game of cat and mouse, where the film’s two main characters – known only as The Lady (Willa Fitzgerald) and The Demon (Kyle Gallner) – compete in a grand battle of life and death. Written and directed by J.T. Mollner – and, we should add, shot by actor-turned-cinematographer Giovanni Ribisi – Strange Darling is the kind of high-concept horror that will be self-indulgent to some and wonderful to others.
In this short excerpt from the episode, Matt Monagle explains why Strange Darling brought to mind one of his favorite quotes from the late, great Roger Ebert:
"'Some people will find it emotionally manipulative. Some people like to be emotionally manipulated. I do when it's done well." Of all the reviews of Roger Ebert — still the GOAT — that I have read, for some reason, that is one of the lines that keeps coming back to me again and again. [...] It's OK to give yourself up to the experience of a movie like Strange Darling."
The Strange Darling episode of the Certified Forgotten podcast is now available to stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or the podcast platform of your choice.
