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.
