User reviews

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."

Absolute rubbish from start to finish, to much comedy moments lack of story lack of characters, just plain wierd in some scenes.don't bother watching you will not be missing much

I am pretty sure Ketchum is feeling happy he's dead, so that he can't see this utter bs.

McIntosh also stars in this film which deals with issues revolving around our inner, animalistic impulses, the battle on patriarchy, and the corruption of religious leaders. Lauren Canny (who plays Darlin') is fantastic in her role of savage-turned-tame after being brainwashed into a "civilized" adolescent.

Unsure why some people would attribute a 1 or 2 to this movie because that's evidently simply just people trying to trash it. Even if one were to dislike the movie, it cannot possibly be worth a 1...

I thought the film "The Woman" had a lot to offer, but this follows up seemed poorly acted and poorly executed all around. At 1. Hour 40 minutes, it way overstayed its welcome. The previous film covered all the salient points; this brought nothing new to the story; watch the first film give this amiss.

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.

A wild cannibalistic feral girl (Lauryn Canny) turns up at a hospital. After her initial assessment and treatment there she is handed to a convent where she is supposedly to be educated where she is shown kindness and sympathy by a nun there (Nora Jane-Noone) and some of her school girl friends, but also falls under the spell of the corrupt paedophile Bishop (Bryan Batt) who runs the convent. Her wild mother (played by the films director and wroter Pollyanna McIntosh) is also looking for her.

NELL (1994) this isn't. What it is, is the 3rd film that began with OFFSPRING (2009) and THE WOMAN (2011). While the idea has potential, it falls foul of some incompetent filmmaking, poor dialogue and amateurish plot structuring, despite a good performance from Canny who clearly has some talent as an actress.

Really good sequel to The Woman. Good one to watch back to back.

I love everything that this film is addressing: religion, women's relationships, and the female body. But because this film tries to tackle so much, it doesn't completely finish a sentence or thought. It did, however, make me fiercely close my legs more than I ever have in my whole life.

I enjoy Jack Ketchum's books and movie adaptations, so I had high hopes for this movie even though it's only based on character that he created. It was a big disappointment. The acting, the plot, the factual errors... it couldn't have been worse if it was made by 6th graders. Pollyanna should leave the writing and directing to those who can and just stick to acting. On the other hand, maybe she should just get a job

Nonsense without a purpose.. It literally doesn't have a defined plot, IMO.. Total waste of time..

Forced myself to watch till the end and I regret every minute of it..

Watching ice melt would be better than watching this nonsense of a movie

A waste of time....very amature and empty....the acting is so stiff and the whole film is an utter bs...what were they thinking?

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.

I didn't actually know this was a sequel until I read the other reviews. I thought it worked as a good premise on its own. I thought the social commentary was really excellent too, all the acting was great. It was a lot more well polished, and well done than I expected it to be.

I have seen "The Women" and they do feel completely different to each other. So I can understand why fans would want something that feels similar. I didn't click they were from the same series.

The actress who played the "Dog Sister" to Darlin' was living her best life in the role and I was definitely there for that. You could really tell she was having a great time, and it really helped me have fun with the film.

I actually overall thought this film had many things to like about it.

Alright, dirt! And more dirt. Basically if you like dirt most of the creative energies in this story went into applying dirt to people. Add a few snarls, a quick two seconds of blood & you have a horror (sort of) plot. Besides the humorous put downs on Catholicism (always an easy, and deserved, mark) nothing much happens other than (and research has shown this can't happen) they make a cognitive & language devoid person a literate near genius. Acting, props, storyline - bad, & dumb.

2009's 'Offspring' was nasty, brutish, and short, an unembellished violent romp that rode a line of being excessive in its blood and gore. 2011 sequel 'The woman' was genuinely, excruciatingly, exquisitely horrifying, and brilliant, in building off the ideas of its predecessor and expanding the story in new, realist, awful ways. Pollyanna McIntosh, star of both films, had her work cut out for her in taking on this picture not only in following from the tremendous work of Andrew van den Houten, Lucky McKee, and Jack Ketchum, but also in doing so in her debut as both writer and director. What immediately comes across here is that it's a rather different story from its antecedents - and, as becomes more evident over the length, that it has a hard time finding its voice. When all is said and done I do very much enjoy 'Darlin',' but there's no mistaking that it's a very different set of flavors that may not find as much appeal with viewers.

The chief issue is that the picture swings somewhat irregularly between horror vibes and violence, to quieter drama of plainspoken themes, to tongue-in-cheek comedic flourishes that seem bizarre by comparison. The mishmash struggles at times to fit together, reflected in odd discrepancies in scene writing from one moment to the next, in successive story beats - and even in its characterizations, the title figure not least of all, that can't seem to find focus. None of this is to say that the picture doesn't work, or isn't entertaining, but it seems to me as though much more than with 'Offspring' or 'The woman,' the writing is straining at the seams, straining to hold itself together. With that said, I hardly mean to impugn the efforts of McIntosh - this is her first such endeavor, after all - but the difficulties are very noticeable.

There are tinges in 'Darlin'' of social commentary: the corruption, hypocrisy, misogyny, abuse, and otherwise oppression represented in the Catholic Church specifically and religious institutions generally, weighed against the unfettered freedom represented by The Woman and the life Darlin' has known. Levity and slight humor manifests peculiarly when putting The Woman or Darlin' in circumstances (including in scenes with other characters) that contrast sharply with how they are broadly written. The horror element that was so dominant in the first two films is largely sidelined, mostly appearing at the beginning and the end - though sprinkled throughout thanks to The Woman, and seen much more underhandedly in the revelations about the Church, and in the protagonist's character arc. Save perhaps for the humor there is an odd-fitting, off-kilter balance achieved, not least as the various story threads converge in a backhanded slap in the face of false piety and supposed spiritual righteousness. That climax is ultimately worthwhile, and subtly tasty, just as the plot that led up to it is softly engrossing and satisfying. Again, though, the amalgamation is so delicately stitched together that the whole constantly threatens to fall apart.

With all this having been said, I think 'Darlin'' is very well made. The cast give excellent performances all around; McIntosh, as writer and director, gives herself more opportunity as an actor to show nuance as such than she has at any other time when I've seen her. Uneven as Darlin' (the character) is written, Lauryn Canny gives a capable, steady performance to anchor the feature. The production design and art direction are swell, as are are blood, gore, and stunts, costume design, hair and makeup, and so on. For all of its difficulties, I think McIntosh's screenplay is more solid than not, and just has difficulties cobbling together everything that it wants to do, say, and be. I find no fault with her direction, and to emphasize again, all the contributions of those behind the scenes are good.

At length I feel that 'Darlin'' is worthwhile, but not essential even for fans of the preceding pictures. It's enjoyable on its own merits, and for the skills demonstrated by all involved. It doesn't feel entirely cohesive, however, and maybe not fully realized, as the disparate ideas can't quite mesh together. I admire the effort, though, and I look forward to seeing what McIntosh may give us in the future if she continues to develop as a filmmaker. Falling short of either 'Offspring' or especially 'The woman,' this 2019 film maybe isn't the ideal sequel we could have gotten, but all on hand put in sincere hard work, and it stands on its own nonetheless. Don't go out of your way to see it, but if you've watched the previous features with these characters and are open to all the wide possibilities thereafter, 'Darlin'' earns a modest recommendation on that basis.

Honestly one of the worst movies ever made , I watch maybe 10 movies a week for the last ten years and this is 100 percent the worst I've ever seen.



I'm all for girl power but when its so cheap and forced Iike in this movie you can tell the director or writers forced it and it shows

They should have watched a few horror movies with naturally strong female characters.

"Even the most recent Halloween has the best strong female character I've seen in a movie in years"

PS....I feel awful for the foster dad in shazam because he's in this movie and I hope it doesn't kill off his career .

I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I sat down to watch the 2019 movie "Darlin'" from director Pollyanna McIntosh. But the movie definitely seemed to be a horror movie, so of course I took the time to sit down and watch it. Needless to say that I hadn't even heard about this movie prior to getting to watch it in 2020.

First of all, I must say that the movie was off to a great start, and the storyline definitely was interesting. And I was genuinely enjoying the plot and movie as a whole, right up to the point where Darlin' started to talk. Then the storyline just died for me, and I lost interest in the movie actually.

I will say that the movie has some pretty nicely casted performers on the cast list, and the movie was so phenomenally well carried by the performance of Lauryn Canny.

The movie definitely had some nice moments and it was quite a treat to watch the performances in the movie. It just was a real shame that the movie went from being rather interesting and entertaining to becoming a boring movie in the blink of an eye.

My rating of "Darlin'" has to land on a mere three out of ten stars.

Not a great film, but the main actress is skilled and certainly has a bright future. My problem, however, is with the depiction of catholic priests as corrupt paedophiles. I live in Italy and i can witness that there is significant number of gay priests who are not pedophiles as well as priests with a female partner, either occasional or permanent. There is also a number of priests, albeit small, who actually do what they say and refrain from sex.