A meet-cute goes terribly wrong in Strange Darling, a new horror-thriller flick delivered by the producers of Late Night With the Devil and Barbarian. Rolling Stone exclusively debuts the trailer today, which features stars Willa Fitzgerald (Reacher, Scream series) and Kyle Gallner (Smile, 2022 Scream) rendezvousing for a one-night stand amid a serial killer’s murder spree.
In the trailer, Fitzgerald’s character asks a mustachioed Gallner, “So, I’m gonna have to ask you a question: Are you a serial killer?” The answer to her question is soon realized, as he turns out to be a gun-toting, truck-driving murderer who chases her through the countryside and down winding roads. The story is laid out in six nonlinear chapters, which looks to turn the traditional “final girl” narrative on its head.
The JT Mollner-directed and written film, out Aug. 23, was produced and shot by Giovanni Ribisi. “Before there was even a script, an image came to me … one that I couldn’t shake: a woman in distress, running through the woods in slow motion, in hospital scrubs. I heard a specific song (‘Love Hurts’), and even had a sense of the exact frame rate, but still had no idea what it all meant,” said Mollner in a statement. “It felt like a narrative trope all too familiar, but finally it all came into focus and I saw a unique opportunity to present the conventional ‘final girl,’ and the conventional evil that pursued her, in a very unconventional way.”
Ribisi added, “JT and I met each other through some friends at Kodak, and share a fondness for analog filmmaking.”
The film will also star Ed Begley Jr. (Better Call Saul, A Mighty Wind), and Barbara Hershey (Black Swan, Insidious). Bill Block, Roy Lee, Steven Schneider, Giovanni Ribisi and Chris Ivan Cevic produced the film, with Ribisi serving as the Director of Photography.
