Darlin'

Been waitin' for "Darlin'" quite some time, re-watching "The Woman" and enjoying a lot of TWD meanwhile & I'm honestly not disappointed as I was sure the sequel won't beat it's predecessor, "The Woman". No hard spoilers ahead, just a lot of description.

"Darlin''' continues developing similar atmosphere & visual style as "The Woman", providing the viewer with aesthetics on satisfying enough level to look good out there in the indie horror scene. I can't complain much about the cinematography & practical FX, especially if I compare this side of the movie with "The Woman" - it simply hasn't gotten any worse, which is all I could want. It sure was nice to see a few TWD actors (I'm a fan of the series, have been with them in joy and sorrow since 2011) and, of course, the director and writer Polyanna McIntosh was in both TWD and "The Woman". Acting's very decent, I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the lead actress. The problems with "Darlin''' start with the plot & characters. There's a lot of points put in the script, there's themes of woman trauma, sexuality, a lot of social commentary on religion and more, in the end it seems either overstuffed or slowly turns from serious to a joke, a caricature, if You will. In the end it's hard to say what message exactly the director what for us to receive. The Bishop character & the whole religion/church/sisters home antics are painfully stereotypical and shallow, almost tiring. From the very first scene with the Bishop I knew his whole character arc & I was not wrong in even my earliest predictions. However, the flaws didn't affect the nicely, but, dare I say, actually subtly made climax.

To sum it up, the story engages, the horror aspects are well played and the movie entertains, but it leaves you scratching your head and unsure of how much You really liked it. My rating: 6/10.

Not sure why people gave it a low grade. The movie is as decent a horror movie as many out there. The concept of a wild, untamed, human being found in a civilized setting in the 21st century is weird. I could understand if this happened in the Amazonia. But, let's assume it is possible. We would all look at that being as a savage one, and, likewise, we would be very strange to that being.

How do we adapt to circumstances which are completely new to us? What is the role of God in a modern society? Are we understood if we are complete outsiders somewhere? All of these questions could apply in a broader sense to the world we live in today. Many of us have felt as outsiders sometimes somewhere in our lives, and we learned to adapt, to change. When we go to a new school, or start a life in a new city or country. Sometimes we get accepted, sometimes not.

But, enough of going into philosophy. Just watch the movie. It is completely okay to watch and is not a waste of time.

Although it is a third sequel, it can be watched on its own.

Wow, what a disappointment. I mean, the possibilities stemming from the end of the previous movie. What was the Woman's life like? What is the fate of the daughter she just walks away with? How would she be raised? In this movie, the girl is hit by an ambulance, sent off to a religious school for the nefarious purposes of a crooked bishop, meanwhile, the Woman tries to track her down. When she finally does, well, the ending makes no sense.

I think what I hated most about this movie, was that it seemed to be purely about agendas and messages. Even the songs in it are hitting you over the head! Characterization takes a back seat (or you're just left with plain caricatures). I thought The Woman handled its social commentary much more eloquently. This was pretty dumb.

I suppose the "men are despicable" angle is a commonality. Here, every single "bad guy" gets his comeuppance, as in, they are killed, by a woman. The only competent, compassionate, helpful males in this movie are a gay couple (2019, yeah, that's accurate). The "worst" perpetrator, the bishop, is played so OTT, that he is one moustache twirl and a lady tied to the tracks away from being a cartoon character. Of course the foxy nun gets to wear a sweater and jeans, while every frumpy nun wore their habits. I had no idea what to make of that.

Darlin'. She is feral and mute to begin with, and after spending a little time at the school, can fully comprehend English, speak like a normal person, AND grasp religious philosophies thrown her way! Then the nurse from the hospital pays her a visit, and she speaks in broken English. What, did the editor get the scenes mixed up? Oh, they throw in a little E. T. too, for good measure. Like, my hand was on my forehead. And there is a point where this movie becomes a comedy for a while. New girl drinks a bottle of bleach and nothing happens. The End.

The title character, played by Lauryn Canny, did a nice job of playing a feral little girl. Hence the extra star.

Glowing review from a prominent movie review site on the back. Ohhhhhhhh... a horror movie with real-life issues and messages. That's an automatic "thumbs up."

Some sequels do not get the same title as the original movie. One of those cases we get here. Based on novels (I think of the same titles, I haven't read them) the movies are quite good. They push boundaries and are quite horrific in more than one sense. But that is what they try to do.

If horror is not your thing, this may offend you quite deeply. It may also offend religious people, whether it was meant to be very obvious or not is another thing. But it is there and the movie does not care, if some will hate it for it. It's like an animal, not very lady like then. And therefor the title is quite fitting

This movie seemed to have potential, I really wanted to get into it. Unfortunately it moves painfully slow, and has far more moments of absurd comedy (or just plain stupidness) than scares. You also have an overload of predictable stereotypes. The religious characters are mostly hypocrites or perverts, of course. Gay characters are heroic, cops are idiots, you know the drill. The lead actress was convincing and I was rooting for her, she just didn't have much to work with. There is a character who would stick out like a sore thumb in any crowd, but somehow she walks around killing people in public and everyone seems to take no notice. U might want to skip this one.