Darlin'

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.

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."

I enjoyed this movie. I thought it was an entertaining and almost "cute" sequel to The Woman. It wasn't quite as dark but close, yet had an element of humor and didn't take itself as seriously as the previous. The acting was hit or miss on this one. Wasn't great but wasn't too distracting either. I would recommend, especially if you have seen The Woman.

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...