Way too ambiguous to be enjoyed...

A frequent complaint of mine when it comes to horror genre or thriller movies of late. Even if it is a solid film throughout, if the ending is so open ended the whole of hat proceeded falls through it then to me it's an abysmal failure.

Ambiguity, as you say, can be a good thing but if it smacks of laziness or lack of imagination on the writer\film makers part then no. Of late I have been subjected more and more to films where I have to fill in the blanks and feel it is a sign of brain drain rather than a cinematic choice. Or perhaps lack of imagination or ability to end a story dressed as a cinematic choice.

I am right now 22 minutes into this, whcih I thought would be a very enjoyable movie as I like the lead actress and have seen her in one of the directors other films "Pod" (as well as "Jug Head" which also starred Sean Young) but am bored stiff. Sure obviously something is up with the girl, and the house is no doubt haunted but... so far *yawn*

Agree. I expected sooo much more. I got nothing! I'm pissed

1) Usually when a woman is that traumatize it's abuse involved and implied her doctor was the abuser. As to if this was a psychiatrist she might have been sent to as child or if her father was a doctor who abused her as a child.

2)She killed the first name you saw. After being haunted in her dreams by the man she killed her mind made him her abuser so she could justify her reason for killing him.

3)I don't think the house was haunted. I think because of it's size and being alone in general, if you're in a strange place and not use to the "normal" noises in your home you imaging ghost and her unstable mind played into the rest. Also one locked door peeks curiosity and implied hints of deaths, ghost, and devil worship feed that imaginations. I think the director used the lighting and flashes so we can imagine her breaking psychosis. If there was anything sinister it was the home owner that keep hiring they same type of woman to house sit. Like she is doing some sick mind experiment. Maybe she got off on seeing if it would make them stronger or break them.

4)The black woman from the way she was dressed was the housekeeper and probable had her own key. A house that size don't dust itself and it was very clean. It appeared to be the late 50's or early sixties giving the hairstyles, clothing. Also the director using a black and white filter.

I'm glad someone pointed out Amer. Amer worked for me. As did The Color of Your Body's Tears. As did Repulsion. As did Last Year at Marienbad. I'm no stranger to art house or horror films, but for some reason Darling just didn't click. I wanted to like it so much too. It wasn't the narrative that bothered me. It was the production. The acting was amateurish, the sound design was what could be best described as "gratuitous" (Give the damn thing moments to breathe!), and the visuals and scenarios were a pastiche of cliches. But perhaps...

Perhaps that's it. Perhaps my most significant problem is with its aggressive focus on "homage." There's no new ground being covered here, no taking the trappings of this sort of film into new territory, no subversion. It's just bits and pieces of previous, more successful films. It's cut and paste, and nothing more. With that being said, I think the problem isn't that it's ambitious. The problem is that it lacks any ambition whatsoever. It's the equivalent of fan-fiction.

I think it's worth at least sitting through once. But it feels more akin to an experiment, the way the Psycho remake did, than it does to a proper stand alone narrative film.

1. dr. abbott was her doctor (for problems unknown). he, presumably, cured her, allowing her to go out and secure employment. for this reason, i believe she basically likes him. as you recall, she listed "abbott" as a reference, and her boss told her on the phone that she was able to get ahold of him, so...

2. that guy was neither abbott or sullivan. i believe that the person that originally conjured the devil was perhaps raped by a man named henry sullivan, long ago; this rape is re-enacted in the scene (not sure if this is a dream or what) where darling is in bed and her victim enters her room and accosts her. i believe darling was possessed, first by the "spirit" of the devil-conjurer, and made to kill a random under the delusion that it was sullivan, then by the devil itself, who caused darling to believe she killed her doctor, who she presumably liked. so the murder she committed was even more abhorant to her. but the actual victim was nobody; even in the credits, he is just "the man".

3. the house was haunted/infected by demons. when darling busted down that door, the entity within was loosed to take over completely and cause her suicide.

4. the black lady was probably the housekeeper or cleaner; she would have a key, although why she didnt use it immediately is beyond me.

this is all merely my opinion, but i think things in the film support it.




"...if only you could see what I've seen with your eyes!" Roy Batty