Aahana Swrup
JT Mollner’s horror thriller film ‘Strange Darling’ takes the viewers on a wild hunt involving a serial killer and the poor date who becomes an unwitting victim in a one-night stand gone wrong. The Lady goes out to meet up with a stranger at a secluded hotel for a fun night. Although she is well aware of the dangers of her situation, she’s willing to throw all caution to the wind for just this once. Nevertheless, things take a sharp turn as the night unfolds between the Lady and her partner, The Demon, resulting in shocking violence. Consequently, the morning after, she finds herself on the run as Demon follows after her—furious and out for blood.
The film follows a non-linear timeline, presenting different chapters in Lady and Demon’s story in non-chronological order to keep their plight’s mystery alive. Influenced by this ambiguity, viewers are forced to fall back on assumptions only for their expectations to be overwhelmingly subverted. As a result, by the time the story comes to its conclusion, one is bound to be left with some questions. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Strange Darling Plot Synopsis
The narrative begins Lady and Demon’s story by establishing that it follows the last known murder spree of a notorious serial killer. The story picks up in the early morning hours as Lady—with one ear blown off—frantically runs into a forest while Demon follows after her with a shotgun in hand. Fortunately, she manages to find a remote house a little ways off, where an old hippie couple resides. As such, after wildly knocking on their door, she manages to find a place to hide. Nonetheless, it isn’t long before Demon tracks her down to the house and begins looking for her. The house is mysteriously void of the older woman Genevieve. On the other hand, Frederick seems to have fallen to a deadly demise after getting caught up in Lady and Demon’s game of cat and mouse.
The pair met the previous night when both were looking for a one-night stand and found themselves outside the Blue Angel Hotel. Although Lady was a little apprehensive of the idea at first—given the risks of violence that come with random one-night stands for women—she eventually got with the program. Furthermore, she wanted to partake in intense BDSM play, with some consensual “dubious consent elements” thrown into the mix. Within the moment, Demon delivers on his role a little too well, pushing Lady to safeword out of the scene. However, she’s only all too pleased to have found someone who can dole out cruelty so well within a safe environment.
As such, the narrative reveals that Lady has a few messed up fantasies. However, her craving for violence extends past the bedroom in truly foul ways. As it turns out, after she found a place to hide with the hippie couple, Frederick tried to call the cops for her. Nonetheless, she was adamantly against the idea—going so far as to kill the guy to prevent him from reaching out to the authorities. However, Genevieve managed to escape from her clutches as Demon made his timely appearance at the house, compelling Lady to prioritize her well-being by hiding in the icebox freezer to escape his notice. Thus, as the two find themselves under one roof again—with Demon’s hands armed with a gun and Lady’s stained with blood—both become equally suspicious under the narrative’s scrutiny.
Strange Darling: Who is the Serial Killer? Who is the Victim?
Due to the film’s out-of-order narration, Lady and Demon’s initial introduction into the narrative pitches their characters under certain roles. Lady’s introduction is her running into the forest, heavily bleeding and clearly scared of whatever is following after her. Therefore, as Demon enters the narrative—gun in hand—in pursuit of the woman, assumptions draw themselves. The same, paired with the cultural context of violence between men and women, compels one to believe Demon is the serial killer and Lady is his latest unfortunate victim. However, the entire truth only comes out in Chapter 2, “The Electric Lady,” which becomes the penultimate chapter in the story.
In their one-night stand, Lady and Demon are already playing around with some riskier sexual dynamics as they engage in kinky sex that demands a lot of vulnerability and trust between the two perfect strangers. Nevertheless, despite the intensity of their sexual encounter, Demon remains respectful of his partner’s wishes, never pushing too hard. However, the same cannot be said for the latter. Although Lady remains appreciative of the man’s company, she consistently puts off actual sex between them. Instead, she convinces the man to indulge in some cocaine with her, even though he is initially reluctant to.
Still, Demon agrees to her proposal and does coke with her. In the aftermath, Lady’s behavior rapidly changes as she begins snapping at Demon. Since the night apparently doesn’t seem to be leading to sex—the only thing both individuals came together in the hotel for—Demon decides to leave. However, he realizes too late that the woman actually tricked him into snorting Ketamine. Later, she drops his half-unconscious body on the bed, gags him, and carves the initials E.L. on his chest. After torturing him for some time, Lady retreats to the bathroom, where she goes through his stuff and realizes that her victim is actually a cop.
Once Lady returns to Demon, the latter manages to get his hands on his gun and starts shooting at her–effectively taking out her ear. Still, she manages to escape while the man is too drugged up to follow after her. As such, the chase between the two begins. Consequently, the truth ends up being the exact opposite of the assumed reality the film’s beginning presented. In this scenario, Lady is really the killer, and Demon is her victim who managed to evade death by her hands. For the same reason, he’s now chasing after her to bring her to justice. Hence, the film’s central premise hinges upon the damaging pitfalls of perceived assumptions and how one can exploit social biases to their own wicked advantage.
Why Does the Lady Kill?
Towards the film’s end, Lady and Demon’s backstory is laid out in the open, leaving only their present confrontation. At the house, Demon finally finds Lady hidden in the freezer and fires his gun at her. Even though the shot doesn’t kill her, it restricts her movements. Furthermore, he also handcuffs her to the freezer to ensure she can’t run away again. During this encounter, Lady reveals that she is the Electric Lady, who has already killed numerous people. She also confesses that even though she liked to think of herself as the kind of criminal who would face her demise head-on when it came, she wants to live now more than anything. In fact, she would even take prison over death.
Lady also circles around the idea of love to compel Demon into thinking she may have cared about him more than just as a next kill. However, this soon reveals itself to be a ploy as she takes the first chance to attack the man with the bear spray she has been smuggling. It turns out that Lady is genuinely desperate to live and is more than happy to add another name to her ledger. Therefore, once she gets the opportunity, she savagely bites his neck off with her bare teeth—killing Demon on the spot. Afterward, as Demon’s backup arrives on the scene, the serial killer manages to stash the cop’s gun away and then stage the scene to look like he sexually assaulted her.
As a result, once the police arrive, the female cop is inclined to believe Lady is a victim who must have acted in self-defense. For the same reason, they put her in the back of their cop car to drive down to the station. However, they run into Genevieve on the way, whose presence reveals Lady’s reality. Consequently, she pulls Demon’s gun on the cops to win control over the situation. As Demon’s partner, Pete, drives Lady away as a hostage held at gunpoint, the latter’s motivations reveal themselves. Lady confesses that the reason she kills so brazenly and brutally is because sometimes she looks at people and only sees the Devil.
Lady presents the instance as if it’s a switch that goes off in her mind, compelling her to violent actions. The same also explains why she suddenly grew weary of Demon—as well as the latter character’s name within the narrative. Even though this isn’t an actual explanation of Lady’s motives, it highlights the dangerous psychopathy of her serial killer nature. After the confession, Lady starts perceiving Pete as a devil, too, and ends up killing him in cold blood. Thus, it remains evident that Lady has always been a loose canon and a hazard to keep around other people. Nonetheless, she has managed to learn how to utilize her social standing to manipulate the optics of her situation into something more favorable for her.
Is the Lady Dead? What Does Her Death Signify?
After Lady kills Pete, she’s left to her own devices. As she’s walking down the empty road, she soon comes across a truck and manages to get their attention through her bloodied and exhausted state. The truck driver—a woman—is eager to help out the other woman, who evidently requires medical assistance. Consequently, she helps Lady onto the truck’s passenger seat. In the process, Lady glimpses at her own reflection in the rear-view mirror, leading to an epiphany of sorts. Thus, she draws out her gun, which triggers the truck driver to pull out her own gun and shoot. Even though the truck driver tries to drive Lady, presumably to seek help, it’s evident that the latter would be taking her last breath in the passenger seat. Still, as she’s dying—oddly enough—the Lady looks like she’s finally at peace.
As such, Lady’s death casts an ambiguous shadow on her character’s arc. A potential explanation behind this can come from the narrative’s emphasis on the moment when the Lady looks at herself in the mirror. Earlier, Lady shares that she’s only compelled to kill people when she sees a demon in them. As with Frederick, she isn’t averse to further meaningless killing to cover her tracks. Still, the central reason behind her violence stems from her inexplicable visions. Thus, it is possible that when Lady looks at herself after hours and hours of killing, lying, and manipulation, she finally sees a devil in herself.
This would imply that when the Lady draws out her gun, she could have been aiming for her own head instead of the truck driver. It’s unclear whether or not her other victims “deserved” their fates on account of actually being devilish individuals whose reality Lady realized in prophetic visions. Nonetheless, it can be said with certainty that her own actions cement her immorality. Nonetheless, before she can kill herself, the driver pulls her trigger, realizing the stranger might be a threat to her. If this interpretation is to be believed, Lady’s dying moments in the passenger seat become a moment of relief at having avoided staining her hands with her own blood. Furthermore, the character would have chosen her last moments—just as she once fantasized she might.
Read More: Strange Darling: Is the Movie Based on a True Story?
