If you haven’t seen Strange Darling, I suggest you watch it first and read this afterward. I can wait.

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Okay, you continued reading anyway. Just know that it was not my intention to spoil anything. So, I’ll give you one more chance to pause and watch it.

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Ah, you might as well keep reading. Unfortunately, just knowing there’s going to be a surprise kind of spoils it—which means that when the trailer quotes Mike Flanagan saying, “You must go in blind,” the disservice has pretty much already been done. Why would anyone say that if there wasn’t a twist?

I know I promise spoiler-free reviews, but just mentioning a surprise kind of ruins this one cause it’s not that hard to figure out. Fortunately, based on the comments, just about everyone who went in knowing there would be a twist figured it out rather quickly—myself included—and still enjoyed the film. It helps that the reveal happens about a third of the way into the film, so you don’t have to wait forever for the story to catch up to what you already know.

Besides, Strange Darling already had me under its odd spell early into its runtime. I knew I was a fan the moment I saw the title card reading, “A thriller in six chapters,” juxtaposed with another title card reading, “Chapter 3 ‘Can you help me? Please?’” Anything that audacious has to be wonderfully self-aware of its own pretension, and it made me laugh out loud.

And this came after it brags about being shot on 35mm, openings with scenes shot in black and white and follows it with a written explanation stating we are about to watch a reenactment of the final murders of one of America’s most notorious serial killers. The entire opening is a beautiful exercise in the type of pretentious, artsy excess I eat up.

Then, when Chapter 3 starts, it’s during the middle of a car chase. Honestly, this has to be one of the best movie openings to a movie I’ve ever seen.

But if you’re worried you won’t get to see Chapters 1 and 2… don’t be. Strange Darling is a film that makes the most of a disjointed timeline, forcing us to reevaluate what we thought we knew from earlier scenes. It’s a fun and innovative way to structure what would have otherwise been a pretty straightforward serial killer narrative.

From what I’ve read, keeping the nonlinear chapter structure was a hard-fought battle between the young director, JT Mollner, and Miramax studio executives. Mollner only won after his cut of the film received an exceedingly positive test screening.

And actress Willa Fitzgerald absolutely nails her role as the nameless Lady. Her chemistry Kyle Gallner—another excellent casting choice—adds a layer of depth to the story. Its easy to stay invested in the tense cat-and-mouse game when the leads are so captivating and the performances are so well done.

(At one point, Miramax actually tried to replace Fitzgerald, which was another fight Mollner won.)

On top of fantastic storytelling, Strange Darling also boasts excellent stylized cinematography and a fantastic soundtrack by Z Berg that I downloaded the day after watching the movie. But the real payoff comes from an extremely rewatchable final scene that packed full of pathos.

JT Mollner has taken a rather straightforward thriller plot and flourished the hell out of it, resulting in one of the best horrors of 2024. (I know, it was actually circulating around festivals in 2023. But its theatrical release was 2024.) It is extremely rare to find a film where all of the sounds and images floating in a filmmaker’s head so seamlessly transferred onto the screen- so I’m not surprised that it landed on so many year-end best-of lists.

Usually I have more to say in my reviews, but I feel brevity in this case might be warranted. The more I write, the more I feel like I might spoil some of the fun. So I’ll just end stating hope that JT Mollner feels like he’s found a home in horror. I’d like to see what other ideas might be kicking around his brain.