The twists, turns, and ending of Strange Darling explained

Strange Darling is out now and is filled with twists and turns, so here’s how the serial killer thriller plays out, including an explanation of that wicked ending.

Strange Darling hit US screens today (August 23), and has already been causing a stir in genre circles, through stellar festival reviews and master of horror Stephen King calling it a “masterpiece.”

We are fans, awarding the film five stars, and writing in our spoiler-free Stranger Darling review: “By messing with chronology, structure, and genre tropes, Strange Darling defies convention and expectation, with J.T. Mollner taking the serial killer thriller, spinning it around, then smashing it head-first into the ground.”

But now it’s time to talk SPOILERS, as the fact that the movie jumps back-and-forth in time means there are surprises and switcheroos we’ve been avoiding… until now. So feel free to read on, but only if you’ve already watched the sensational Strange Darling.

What’s the big twist at the heart of Strange Darling?

The big twist in Strange Darling is that the seeming victim for the first half of the movie is really a serial killer, meaning the perceived serial killer is really the victim. Let us explain…

Strange Darling is a story told in six chapters, though they play out of order, enabling writer-director J.T. Mollner to withhold information and repeatedly wrong-foot the audience.

The new movie opens with a woman (Willa Fitzgerald) asking a man (Kyle Gallner) if he’s a serial killer. It then cuts to him appearing to kill her, before we jump into Chapter 3, where he’s chasing her, shooting at her, trying to run her over, before pursuing her through the woods.

Chapter 5 is next, where she’s hiding from him in a house. Followed by Chapter 1 where the pair flirt before embarking on some S&M-charged sex in a motel bedroom.

Chapter 4 follows, where the woman – our protagonist until this point – seeks refuge in a house, which is where the switch happens. She kills one of the owners and it quickly becomes clear that she is the predator, and the film’s antagonist is really her prey.

Does the serial killer get caught in Strange Darling?

Yes, the serial killer gets caught at the end of Stranger Darling. But she doesn’t go down without a fight…

Miramax

The woman in question is ‘The Electric Lady,’ who the film’s prologue states was “the most prolific and unique American serial killer of the 21st century.”

During Chapter 6 – at the end of the movie – she’s handcuffed to a freezer, but manages to do what she failed to manage earlier in the movie. Which is to kill Gallner’s character, in this instance by biting his jugular and watching him bleed out.

She then plays the victim to the cops who arrive on the scene – a strategy that’s worked multiple times earlier in the movie – and ends up being set free before killing them both.

Battered, bloodied, and bruised, she stumbles up a dirt track, and hails down a passing truck. The woman driving pulls up, helps her into the vehicle, then sees her pulling a gun. In response, the driver draws a gun of her own, and shoots the Electric Lady.

As the film’s belated hero drives to town, we watch the killer finally get killed, her life draining away as color drains out of the picture, until the Electric Lady is dead.

Strange Darling’s post-credits scene explained

There’s a post-credits scene at the end of Strange Darling. Kind-of.

It occurs at the very end of the credits, and is audio-only, and spoken by actor Giovanni Ribisi, who doesn’t appear in the movie but is the film’s cinematographer.

Ribisi plays a radio DJ in the post-credits scene, who says the following: “From the high desert in the majestic American west, I bid you all good evening, or good morning, or good afternoon, wherever you may be across this great land of ours.”

He then name-checks his show, and introduces himself as Art Pallone, before the credits end.

Strange Darling is playing on US screens, while the European Premiere is at FrightFest on August 24, before hitting UK cinemas on September 20. For more scary stuff, check out our list of the best horror movies of all-time, plus why we think scary movies are the new summer blockbusters.