Darlin' (2019) poster
2019 · horror · thriller · mystery · survival

Darlin'

Directed by Pollyanna McIntosh1h 41m2019
ElsewhereIMDb4.92kRT69%Metacritic49
  • heavy
  • brisk
  • extreme
  • cold
Movie DNA

Heavy, kinetic, extreme horror / thriller, inventive in texture. Nihilistic, mid-stakes, cold, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

Found at a Catholic hospital filthy and ferocious, feral teenager Darlin’ is whisked off to a care home run by The Bishop and his obedient nuns, where she’s to be rehabilitated into a "good girl" as an example of the miraculous work of the church. But Darlin’ holds a secret darker than the "sins" she is threatened with, and she is not traveling alone. The Woman who raised her, equally fierce and feral, is ever present in the shadows of Darlin’s psyche and is determined to come for her no matter who tries to get in her way.

Our read · Darlin' (2019) reads as a heavy, kinetic, inventive horror · thriller · mystery entry — extreme in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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The shape of Darlin'

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want a brutal feral-child horror sequel with religious horror and strong female feral lead.

ends unsettlingit will wreck youa rollercoastergrips by minute 10attention 4/5earns its length
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upgraphic violencenuditysuicide themechild peril

Skip it tonightYou are disturbed by child endangerment, suicide attempts or extreme violence.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
Nearest by DNA

Eight films that read most like this one.

Closeness in the twelve-axis space — how the film actually reads, not “people also liked.”

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