Strange things Start with an impossible choice. A woman is alone in a remote country house when she hears a knock on the door.There, a strange man with panic in his eyes declared that she must Let him in. He claimed to have seen someone sneaking into her home and told her she was not safe. She didn’t bring her cell phone. Are the squeaks upstairs an intruder? Or just an old house to settle into? Dare she stay inside with unknown threats? Or hang out with a disheveled stranger whose presence is as shocking as his appearance?
Writer-director Damian McCarthy hooks the audience from the start with this gruesome scene. But then he underwent a complete transformation. Instead of following this poor woman named Dani (Caroline Bracken) through a night filled with terror and threats, he jumps ahead a full year later to her sister Darcy (also played by Bracken). plays), a blind psychic who owns a strange shop and is on a quest to find out exactly what happened that horrific night. (Spoiler: nothing good comes of it.)
This insouciant jump in time throws the viewer off balance, like a roller coaster that suddenly careens to one side, with unsettling precision.As he did in his superb directorial debut in 2021 warnMcCarthy doesn’t follow horror movie clichés. And so a gory scene turns into a tale of ghosts, witchcraft, murder investigations and brutal revenge. Atmospheric and unpredictable, Strange things It is a rare treasure.
what is Strange things about?
The plot centers around Darcy’s intrusion into his sister’s renovated home, and Danny’s new life with nervous widower Ted (Gwilynn Lee) and his new girlfriend Yana (Caroline Menton) . On the first anniversary of Danny’s death, Darcy makes a surprise visit and brings an unusual family heirloom.As in warn, A creepy handmade figure plays a central role in McCarthy’s haunted house story. There was a festering toy rabbit playing cymbals. (Eagle-eyed viewers may spot it in Darcy’s store!) Strange thingsthis creepy artifact is a full-sized man carved from wood, his mouth open in a silent scream.
Understandably, Ted wasn’t keen on keeping this weird thing. But he has to work at a mental hospital, so he awkwardly excuses himself, leaving his flustered girlfriend home alone with Darcy and her crazy gadget. It doesn’t take long before disturbing things start happening around the house. Is Danny’s ghost haunting this place? Is Darcy toying with the surviving couple out of a twisted sense of revenge for being taken away so quickly?Is it a wooden man? real Moving by yourself?Since magic and mental illness are part of the story, anything is possible, which is what makes Strange things So exciting.
Damian McCarthy builds an ever-expanding horror universe Strange things.
nod warn On top of that, the stranger at the door is Orrin Burr (Tag Murphy), a guy with prosthetic eyes whose tragic backstory is revealed in McCarthy’s short How Orrin Lost His Eyes 》 expand in. Aside from crossovers of props and characters that may not be explicitly bound, McCarthy is brewing a mind-bending, sinister brand of horror so rotten you can almost smell the rot.Just like poor Danny, hero warn (played by Jonathan French) return pop up in Strange things) is also placed in a strange position at the beginning of the film: a seemingly odd but desperately needed job offer. So what is the set of shackles between wages?
exist Strange, Danny’s home is not a ruin, but an old historic house that is being lovingly renovated. The collision of the rough stone wall and the modern paintings nailed to it demonstrates not only the contrast between old and new, but also the collision of Dani’s past with the present of her young, giggly replacement, Yana. McCarthy cleverly emphasizes this dynamic in his use of color. Cool colors such as blue-gray stone or Yana’s shiny navy shirt present a seemingly civilized world of power and order. But splashes of bright red blood or bright yellow in the puppy tent where Danny once slept stand out, driving home how jarring random acts of violence can be in this supposedly reasonable world. There’s a grace in the weirdness, even in the design of the wooden puppet, stuffed with blood, hair and family photos. He is both gorgeous and terrifying. Visibly still, yet so lifelike, your body will most likely shudder with the anticipatory fear of a rough bite as Yana irreverently thrusts her hand into his open mouth!
Each twisting turn flows smoothly, a credit not only to McCarthy’s skill at honing his tone but also to the performances of the entire cast, who deliver performances that are grounded yet full of intensity. Bracken does double duty, transitioning gracefully from breezy Danny to dubious Darcy, her body tightening and her bright smile tightening into a pointed one. Lee brings a brusque rage as the widower, and he plays Ted like a smug principal who’s tired of telling kids there’s no monster under the bed. Murphy and French bring layers of fear and panic to small but pivotal roles, while Menton projects a sophisticated arrogance that makes her a sharp foil to the scheming Darcy. All in all, it’s a fascinating cast of characters fighting against each other.
Strange things is a savage original.
Incredibly, McCarthy incorporates many elements of the horror genre. The remote setting and spooky possibilities tend toward haunted house territory. But Darcy’s wooden figure was made by a witch (or so she said), twisting the plot into black magic. Danny’s footage is as full of isolation, intrusion and bloody aftermath as a terrorist attack. The central conflict between the soon-to-be newlyweds and Darcy then gets to the heart of folk horror, in which educated city dwellers come to the countryside to mock believers (Darcy) and superstitions that turn against them.However Strange things It doesn’t feel like a pastiche. Instead, McCarthy takes each of these elements and uses them as tones in his unique horror palette. He blends them together beautifully and harrowingly, captivating us with their mystery and making us howl with their darkest revelations.
watch Strange things, I was worried that the movie wouldn’t be able to maintain this ferocious momentum. That’s not to say the film has a frenetic pace, but it strides forward in its stride. When McCarthy sets a familiar pace, he knows you know what’s coming next. A woman alone in a large, spooky house would be attacked. A sister-in-law would never want to come over at the most inopportune time. McCarthy pivots to these beats so quickly, leaving us no room to breathe or predict where the story will turn next.
Other filmmakers might have made us wade through a trilogy before weaving all of his stories into one 98-minute film. Soon, the focus is no longer on who killed Danny, but on how Darcy’s quest for understanding will play out for anyone remotely involved. I’m happy to report that the ending is both disgusting and satisfying. Not just because of the way this plot unfolds, but also because of how McCarthy takes his time delivering the final beat that delivers the big hit, after racing us through timelines and subgenres.
In short, Strange things marvelous.
Strange things Under Censorship at SXSW 2024 Premiere.