Audiences have become conditioned to accept the conditions that media puts in front of them. If a movie claims to be a certain genre, we trust that the movie is that genre and set our expectations accordingly. If a movie claims to be based on a true story, we are naturally inclined as an audience to accept that the movie will, in some capacity, be based on actual events. Very rarely does a movie play with those expectations that we’ve been conditioned to normalize as moviegoers.

I’ve considered myself a movie enthusiast for about nine years now - regularly seeing movies in theaters multiple times a week in that period. In that time, I’ve seen very few movies play around with genre expectations. Maybe a gag “fake-out” credit sequence here and there, but I’ve never seen a movie actively deceive its audience to the strength of its own narrative.

This week, that changed when I saw Strange Darling, a masterful thriller that is undoubtedly set to become a modern classic and be remembered as the pinnacle of audience deception elevating the thriller experience. With the help of excellent style, lighting, performances, and editing, Strange Darling is a surprise hit that instantly shot up to being a contender for my favorite movie of 2024.

In order to uncover and discuss how Strange Darling masterfully deceives its audience, I will need to delve into what Strange Darling specifically does. As such, spoilers are present in this review.

“Are you a serial killer?”

This is Strange Darling’s opening line, spoken by Willa Fitzgerald’s character, who we are seeing a POV shot of. We only see Kyle Gallner’s character, smoking a cigarette while sitting in the driver seat of a car, looking into the camera. We flash cut to an opening text crawl that introduces the audience to something that’s commonplace in many films: a disclaimer that this is based on the true events of a serial killer active from 2018 - 2020, with the film dramatizing the final few killings by the serial killer in question. This is something that’s commonplace in the modern media landscape, especially in the true crime subcategory of media that’s become even more popular in the era of streaming.

After the text crawl, we see opening credits that introduces Willa Fitzgerald as playing “The Lady” and Kyle Gallner as playing “the Demon”. The opening credits conclude with “The Lady” running through a field towards the camera as blood drips down the side of her face and a panicked expression explodes from her face. Anyone who has ever heard of a serial killer can immediately put the pieces together based on what they’ve seen thus far - “The Demon” has put “The Lady’s” life in danger and we’re about to witness a story of her escaping from “The Demon”. We’ve all seen thrillers of this kind before - the main drama is going to come from whether “The Lady” survives this encounter or not, as well as whether “The Demon” will be caught or get away with his crimes. What’s more, the terms “Lady” and “Demon” have clear connotations with good and evil, respectively.

As the audience, we’ve been conditioned by other media to know what to expect. We know the general building blocks of what will make this story work. What follows is a genius deconstruction and subversion of audience expectations that makes for an unforgettable cinema experience.

As the title card for Strange Darling appears, we’re told that this film will be a story told in six chapters. Immediately after, we’re taken to Chapter 3, as we see “The Lady” running from a man we only know as “The Demon”, chasing her down with a shotgun. We don’t know the context for what got these characters in their current position, but our conditioning and instincts as an audience of a serial killer narrative informs us to immediately take empathy for “The Lady”. She’s screaming, she's clearly fearing for her life, and she’s being followed by an imposing man with a shotgun that seems very intent on killing her.

In conjunction with the first shot of the film (which includes a brief shot of “The Demon” shirtless and seeming to choke “The Lady” in what immediately appears as a violent sexual encounter), we already know who to fear and who to empathize with as the audience. We hold our breath as “The Lady” hides from “The Demon” and finds refuge in a nearby house.

We’re then taken a few chapters later to Chapter 5, where we see “The Lady” hiding from “The Demon” in this house, with a dead body being found in this house, certainly a result of the frantic man with the shotgun roaming through the house. We still hold our breath as we hope to see “The Demon” not notice where “The Lady” is hiding in the house. While the story of Strange Darling has been told out of order thus far, the film has been constructed in such a way to give the audience a clear view of who the hero and villain of this story is. We, the audience, have only cemented in the character that we want to see get out of this situation alive.

It isn’t until this point in the film where we begin going back and now finally getting to understand the context of these two characters’ relationship with each other. We see a detailed conversation between “The Lady” and “The Demon” as they sit in a car together (while illuminated by some striking neon lighting that makes this particular scene pop). It is in this scene that we see the first line of the film now given its situational context - “The Lady” is talking about how women have to worry about certain things when they go out to have fun. Whether it’s partaking in city nightlife or going out for a one-night stand with a man they just met, “The Lady” confirms to us what we already know - women are trained to be cautious about how they act around others in these situations. As history and other stories about serial killers have informed us, women are indeed often victims of violence at the hands of men that are denied something that they feel is owed to them, among other causes.

“The Lady” tells us that she often wonders if a man she spends a night with is actually a serial killer - a thought that she has to think about out of survival and necessity. This is a tragic but all-too-real truth that many women have to confront. This only makes us empathize with “The Lady” even more, given that we know that she is going to be chased down by “The Demon” in later chapters of this story. As “The Demon” promises to “The Lady” that he isn’t a serial killer, we cut to a scene where “The Lady” and “The Demon” are in a BDSM sexual encounter that quickly turns south, resulting in actual violence that defies their agreement established in the car scene.

As the audience, we fear that we know how this goes. We know, based on other media of this type, that “The Demon” is going to go too far, frustrated by “The Lady’s” lack of desire to go through with their sexual fantasy. Thanks to some clever editing, we cut between this scene and another scene where “The Lady” outright gives “The Demon” consent to ignore her if she tells him to stop. They establish a safe-word to truly stop, in which we cut to back to the hotel bed where “The Demon” stops after “The Lady” says the safe word.

This is the first instance where the audience is put in a bit of an awkward position. The further this scene progresses, the more we begin to question our relationship with both of these characters. “The Lady” is now beginning to appear less trustworthy (after all, what kind of person outright tells another person to treat a “no” as a “yes”?). We’re also beginning to see that “The Demon” is someone that follows through on his word, as he stops being rough with “The Lady” after he hears the safe-word. Throughout this scene, we see “The Lady” still be playful - offering to take drugs with “The Demon”, to which he agrees. As the night continues, we see that “The Demon” has been poisoned with the drugs given to him by “The Lady” - something that she decides to do when she discovers that he’s a cop. As he tries to get away and gets quickly dragged back into the hotel room by “The Lady”, we finally see the nature of this film’s deceit.

While this is a serial killer story, the actual killer is the woman running from the seemingly violent man throughout this out-of-order saga. Not only does this recontextualize every scene we’ve watched thus far, but it also smartly challenges the audience to reconsider why they felt inclined to trust “The Lady” so much in the first place. In a vacuum, there’s nothing particularly noble about “The Lady’s” actions in the film up to this point. Sure, she finds herself trapped in a house with a man who’s dead in the kitchen, but then…we never saw “The Demon” kill this nameless man either. In one fell swoop, Strange Darling subverts the audience’s entire perception of its characters, making for a thriller that only accelerates its tension from here on out.

The remainder of Strange Darling showcases just how easily “The Lady” deceives other characters, making them believe that she’s the victim of a man that wants to kill her. The genius of Strange Darling is that it makes the audience itself experience both ends of how much “The Lady” lies to others. The audience themselves have been deceived by “The Lady” (who we later learn is the Electric Lady, the serial killer who was referenced in the opening crawl, but whose name was conveniently left out). The audience trusts that the Electric Lady is a victim of a killer on the loose, just as other characters that act as good samaritans do. These characters decide to help the Electric Lady, only to be immediately backstabbed and killed by the Electric Lady without a second thought.

What makes the Electric Lady’s deception so petrifying is how successful it is throughout the film. As the film steps toward its climax, it seems that the Electric Lady is able to twist any situation into her advantage. She gains the upper hand on “The Demon” and police officers that discover her. After turning the tables against these officers, the Electric Lady admits that she sees people as demons - hence why we see the officer we saw throughout most of the film be introduced as “The Demon”.

The opening crawl itself is an upfront lie to the audience. In truth, Strange Darling isn’t based on any real serial murder case. There is no real-life Electric Lady that killed people from 2018 to 2020 - rather, the opening crawl is just a front to set up the audience’s expectations to feel inclined to side with the Electric Lady.

The credits themselves emotionally manipulate the audience. Since the opening credits, the audience is led to believe that the man is the serial killer thanks to the label of “demon”. Since the term is oft associated with malice, we were immediately given the inclination that he wasn’t to be trusted - but this label as “demon” is just a twisted distortion of the Electric Lady’s worldview. In reality, the man we were introduced to as “The Demon” is just a typical man who thought he was going to have a one-night stand with an attractive woman. In reality, he was a targeted victim of a serial killer that didn’t believe he had any humanity in the first place.

To put it another way, Strange Darling gaslights its audience. Through intelligent framing and using the audiences familiarity with the film’s genre against them, Strange Darling subverts and weaponizes audience expectations, making them just as much of a victim as the many characters who get bested in the film. Strange Darling is a stylish, bloody, and subversive masterpiece of thriller filmmaking that is honestly as good as its genre can possibly get. The out-of-order structure, while often a narrative gimmick to give films a different flavor, actually elevates the storytelling on display and naturally makes audiences connect the dots between events the happen in the six different chapters depicted in the film.

Strange Darling is a film I was floored by thanks to its dedication to deception. With an intelligent screenplay, a phenomenal structure, and excellent style and cinematography, Strange Darling delivers a thriller experience that will likely stand as one of the decade’s best films. I walked into Strange Darling with practically no expectations and walked away from the film reminded of the incredible power of intelligent filmmaking. This film gaslit me, openly lied to me, and made me initially side with a cold-hearted killer - to do so in such a masterful way is tantamount to being a legendary film creatively showcasing the power of deception and how easy expectations manipulate our hearts.

Final Grade: A+

Thank you very much for reading! What did you think of Strange Darling? Are there other films that you think masterfully deceive their audience? As always, join the conversation and let me know your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter/X @DerekExMachina.