STRANGE DARLING

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

* The film is told in six chapters out of order.

The opening text states that between 2018 to 2020, there was a highly prolific serial killer

Chapter 3: “Can You Help Me, Please?”
The film starts in Oregon as a young blonde woman, “The Lady” (Willa Fitzgerald), is being pursued in her vehicle by a serial killer, “The Demon” (Kyle Gallner). He stops in his pickup truck and fires his rifle at her, causing her to crash her car and run away. She flees into the woods, where she tends to her wound (her ear has been removed) before continuing to hide out from the man.

The Lady continues to run while The Demon stalks her through the woods. She eventually comes upon the home of an older couple, Frederick and Genevieve (Ed Begley, Jr and Barbara Hershey), asking them for help.

Chapter 5: “Here, Kitty, Kitty…”
The Lady is now hiding inside a chest freezer. The Demon hunts for her inside the couple’s home. Frederick is lying dead in the kitchen while Genevieve is nowhere to be found. The Demon shoots at several chests and fails to kill her. He eventually comes upon the freezer and fires a shot into it, alerting him to The Lady’s presence when she starts screaming.

Chapter 1: “Mister Snuffles”
The film jumps back to the start of The Lady and The Demon’s encounter. They have met up for a one-night stand, where The Lady is asking him to engage in BDSM play with her. She is also seen with red hair instead. They park outside the motel, but first The Lady talks to The Demon about the dangers women risk by getting into this sort of thing. She also asks him if he is a serial killer, to which he laughs and denies it. The two start to make out and share beer and cigarettes.

The two get into the room, where The Lady has The Demon tie her to the bed and choke her. After a while, he tries to initiate sex, but she tells him no. The Demon gets aggressive, tying her back up and slapping her across the face while threatening her with violent sexual acts. The Lady appears to start crying and says the safe word (“Mister Snuffleupagus”). He starts to apologize, thinking he took it too far, until The Lady starts laughing and says she was enjoying it. Before they can continue, The Lady sees The Demon and gets a brief flash of something horrifying.

Chapter 4: “The Mountain People”
Frederick and Genevieve are shown living happily and enjoying a nice breakfast before The Lady comes banging on their door asking for help. They treat her ear wound before offering her some of their food. Genevieve goes to get medicine while Frederick attempts to call the police for help. The Lady pleads with him not to call the police, and moments later, Genevieve hears a commotion and Frederick yelling. She comes into the kitchen to find that The Lady has stabbed him in the chest and bludgeoned him with the phone. Frederick collapses dead, and The Lady makes Genevieve get her some supplies since she told The Lady that she and Frederick are doomsday preppers.

The Demon arrives at the couple’s home while Genevieve runs away into the woods. The Lady catches wind of him and jumps into the freezer.

Chapter 2: “The Electric Lady”
In the hotel room, The Lady and The Demon are seen making out and taking drugs. She takes out a bag of cocaine for them to snort. Soon, The Demon starts to feel unwell and tries to leave the room, only for him to go motionless and for The Lady to drag him back into the room. She tells him that she gave him ketamine. While he is sedated, The Lady carves “E.L.” into The Demon’s chest, revealing herself as a serial killer known as “The Electric Lady”. She goes through his belongings and finds a badge in there, meaning he’s a cop. Before she can deal the killing blow, The Demon grabs his gun and blows The Lady’s ear off.

The Lady begins to run away and makes it to a nearby motel. She runs into the clerk, Libby (Denise Grayson), and her assistant Tanya (Bianca Santos). When Libby tells Tanya to call the police, The Lady stabs Libby in the neck and orders Tanya to give up her car keys. This leads to the pursuit from earlier.

Chapter 6: “Who’s Gary Gilmore?”
After The Lady appears unconscious from getting punched in the face, The Demon proceeds to call for help, addressing himself as “R.C.” and asking for backup. The Lady regains consciousness and explains her motivations, having been inspired by killer Gary Gilmore and hoping to die like he did. She also tearfully tells The Demon that during their brief tryst, she was starting to feel a genuine love for him. As he gets up, The Lady grabs a can of bear spray and uses it on The Demon. As he stumbles around, she bites into his neck and tears out a chunk of flesh, ripping into his jugular and causing The Demon to bleed to death. The Lady then grabs his gun out of his pants leg.

The Demon’s cop friends, Pete (Steven Michael Quezada) and Gale (Madisen Beaty) arrive on the scene. The Lady tries to play victim, and Gale attempts to help her, while Pete is already suspicious of her motives. They bring The Lady with them to get her help.

On the road, the cops run into Genevieve, who is asking for help. Before she can identify The Lady in the back, she shoots Genevieve in the head before forcing Pete and Gale to give up their guns. Out of gratitude for Gale’s help, The Lady orders her to get out of the car. She then orders Pete to keep driving.

Epilogue
Pete pulls over on a quiet road after The Lady orders him to stop. He asks her why she kills, and she tells him that sometimes she doesn’t see humans, but she sees devils. She gets another flash like she did with The Demon, seeing a red devil figure before killing Pete. She then leaves the car.

The Lady flags down another driver (Sheri Foster) before trying to pull her victim act and asking for help. The driver gets The Lady into her car and begins to try and call for help. The Lady then looks at herself in the mirror and sees a brief devil flash, and a tearful look crosses her face. The Lady begins to get her gun out, but the driver shoots her first. She calls 911 and says she shot someone in self-defense and is bringing her in. The driver proceeds forward, and The Lady begins to slowly lose consciousness before dying in pain.

The film is told out of order, revealing the sequence of events that transpire after a one-night stand gone wrong.

The initial set-up seems to be that "The Demon" is a serial killer going after "The Lady". In reality, SHE is the serial killer known as "The Electric Lady", who kills when she sees "devils" in place of people. The Demon is actually a cop who pursues her after she attempts to make him one of her victims. The Lady kills a motel clerk and steals the car of another employee before The Demon chases after her.

The Lady ends up in the home of a hippie couple, Frederick and Genevieve. While they do help her, The Lady kills Frederick when he tries to call for help. Genevieve flees and The Demon catches up to The Lady, but she manages to kill him before his cop friends arrive to bring The Lady to a hospital, as she is pretending to be a victim. When Genevieve shows up again, The Lady kills her before forcing the cops to give up their guns. She lets the female officer go and kills the male officer after he pulls over.

The Lady finds another driver and tries to pull the same victim ploy to get her to help. She sees herself in the car mirror and gets a "devil" flash coming over her. She pulls out her gun (it's unclear if she was going to kill herself or the driver) and the driver shoots The Lady in self-defense. The driver proceeds to bring The Lady in while she slowly dies in the passenger seat.