A single line — paraphrased by countless pornos but said verbatim at a key turn in “Strange Darling” — unlocks the heart of JT Mollner’s razor-sharp psychosexual thriller.

“I’ve never put it THERE before,” says someone in a scene that shouldn’t be described.

This horror movie is the best kept secret to come out of Fantastic Fest 2023. Until now, almost everything the public has heard about this magnificent slasher deconstruction was an intentional and ingenious misdirect. From its opaque title to its overly slick poster, this blood-soaked Trojan horse is rarely what you would expect. That’s true even and especially when it’s riffing on iconic tropes.

An excruciating chase film, a terrifying puzzle-box whodunit, and a testament to romanticizing even the darkest cinema in glowing 35mm, “Strange Darling” is an outright triumph. That much you can know now, although the following review treads very carefully to avoid spoilers.

Audiences going in with the least knowledge of what you could call a gut-wrenching date night will have the best crack at enjoying this movie in theaters — but there’s more than plot to recommend Magenta Light Studios’ jaw-dropping first feature. Yes, writer/director Mollner’s exacting script is a lean, mean vivisection of humanity’s never-ending hunt for a serial killer. Told nonlinearly, with chapter names signposting its story out of order, “Strange Darling” plays like an even more volatile “Pulp Fiction,” cocaine included.

But it’s also proof that actor Giovanni Ribisi has been hiding out as one of Hollywood’s greatest living cinematographers — a fact laid to bare in some of the most beautiful murders this side of Dario Argento’s “Deep Red.” The main cast further asserts themselves as top talent in the kaleidoscopic world of meta-performance. After a brief black-and-white vignette sets the stage with an instantaneous jump-scare, you’ll meet “The Lady” (Willa Fitzgerald) and “The Demon” (Kyle Gallner) in an opening sequence that feels ripped from the throat of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

Sprinting across an Oregon field in ruby-red scrubs — eyes wide like a deer, pallid skin bouncing in slow-motion — the enigmatic bleach blonde has crimson oozing from her ear. What happened there? The Lady is followed by a blitzkrieg in scarlet plaid, but we won’t see The Demon reach maximum fury until the high-octane car chase that follows. (It’s a brief but rip-roaring scene that might just make contemporary audiences understand why some of the earliest movie-goers once feared a train bursting through the big screen.) No, here The Lady is alone, credits in the foreground and the melodious “Love Hurts” floating somewhere overhead. It’s the first in an endless cascade of clashes designed for second-guessing.

The Demon might not catch up to her yet, but you’ll still feel the breath trapped in your throat as the seething actors and red-on-red shades emanate an angry delirium. Mollner begins his six-parter smack-dab in the middle with “CHAPTER 3: CAN YOU HELP ME? PLEASE?” but the filmmaker clues the audience in on a couple of other things before that. A tightly written crawl says the nightmare you’re about to witness is based on a true story (it’s not) and that it chronicles the last days of an especially sadistic murderer (that part is true…technically).

“Strange Darling” can do straightforward brutality with the best of them. And yet, throughout the film, the actors’ playful portrayal — dipping in and out of an ever-shifting dynamic that seems too complicated to write down, let alone embody — recalls something like Mia Goth’s dazzling performance in “Pearl.” Fitzgerald tests her endurance in some delicately drawn-out one-shots, while Gallner makes his bid for small-time scream king armed with a shotgun and an assuredness that feels like its own assault. Comparisons between “Strange Darling” and most other modern horror movies should stop there, if only because the timelessness these singular characters capture can make even great genre efforts look trite.

Before saying anything of his nightmarish story, Mollner makes a point of including another slate: “SHOT ENTIRELY ON 35MM FILM.” That self-indulgent choice in a horror movie might make some cinephiles scoff, but Ribisi earns the recognition. This isn’t Mollner’s first rodeo — the writer/director made “Outlaws and Angels” before this — and he knows what he’s got. As the tension builds past what even the characters can take, their director wants your eyes open enough to admire what his director of photography has achieved. The lighting and relighting of a single wig in this film deserves its own featurette.

Editor Christopher Bell proves equally essential, assertively reorienting audience perspective with an almost comic relentlessness. Bell’s scalpel-like cuts are meant to screw with your head. That may prove too challenging for some viewers, who will already be high on a supply of arresting violence and original tracks by alt-rock musician Z-Berg. And yet, the dreamy core of “Strange Darling” will push real genre fans forward — finding revelatory relief in comedy so black it could make even a non-smoker want a cigarette.

When The Lady encounters an older couple living in an idyllic cabin in the woods, Barbara Hershey and Ed Begley Jr. complete the cast. She’ll struggle to decide if they’re friend or foe, but it’s the rock-solid actors’ relationship with each other that will be talked about when “Strange Darling” is in the rearview. Genevieve and Frederick are introduced in a scene that silently shows them making breakfast. Jam. Syrup. Sausages. Pancakes. Four sticks of butter… with whipped cream on top?! Their intimacy — built on the back of a gross-out recipe that could only be discovered by people who are totally and alarmingly in love — gifts Hershey what may prove to be the best acting beat of her career.

Electric and unforgettable, “Strange Darling” lives up to its maddening moniker. In a summer movie season that’s been middling at best, this is a must-see — a feat of filmmaking so extraordinary you’ll wonder if it could ever truly be spoiled. You’ve met this man and this woman. You know these tropes and their horrors. But in this exceptionally slippery film, somehow never once losing its traction, you’ve never seen “it” put “THERE” before.

Grade: A

From Miramax, Spooky Pictures, and Magenta Light Studios, “Strange Darling” is in theaters August 23.

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NEW YORK (OSV News) – Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan can be credited with a certain degree of originality in the crafting of his thriller “Trap.” And, though the film as a whole turns out to be an odd mix of interesting plot twists and yawning improbabilities, there’s little on screen that would bar older teens from reaching into this cinematic grab bag.

Can a brutal serial killer successfully double as a suburban family man? As far as seemingly devoted dad Cooper (Josh Hartnett) is concerned, the answer is yes. Among those buying into his act is his typical-teen daughter, Riley (Ariel Donoghue).

To reward Riley for an outstanding report card, Cooper brings her to a concert by her favorite pop star, Lady Raven (Saleka Night Shyamalan). As Riley enthuses over the music, Cooper notices that an unusual number of police officers seem to be present at the event.

He eventually discovers that the authorities, led by profiler Dr. Josephine Grant (Hayley Mills), had obtained a clue indicating he would be there and now have him completely surrounded. Time for some quick thinking.

Is the idea that a psychopath could carry on healthy loving relationships such as Cooper has with Riley, his wife Rachel (Alison Pill) and his young son Logan (Lochlan Miller) intriguing or merely absurd? Certainly the origin story of Cooper’s madness – he’s haunted by visions of his overbearing mother (Marcia Bennett) — is straight out of Freud’s bargain basement.

So the proceedings come across as more than a bit muddled. And the concert scenes go on too long as well. But the action is restrained, objectionable elements are few and, to the extent that any message is conveyed, it’s that decent people can be almost as resourceful as a homicidal maniac.

The film contains mature themes, brief harsh violence, a few gory images, a couple of instances each of profanity and crass talk, numerous milder oaths and a single rough term. The OSV News classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Air Fryers are one of the most appreciated and streamlined cooking inventions in modern history. Not since the George Foreman grill have we seen so many people swear by a new kitchen trend. But what if the Air Fryer became an instrument of destruction with bad intentions? That’s the question we answer in Air Fryer Slaughter, the newest cult horror comedy by MMH Productions.

That’s about all we’ve got when it comes to plot, but there’s still plenty that will satisfy fans of Troma-style horror. Air Fryer Slaughter has an impressive array of violence on display, that results in a showcase for the SFX department. Eyes are poked out, faces melted, and body parts fly as our bulky antagonist moves impressively from place to place. Air Fryer is framed much like Freddy Krueger, with puns and quips to go with his trail of dead bodies.

But Air Fryer isn’t just a mechanical maniac, he’s also a viewer to a television reel that hosts a lot of cameos from indie horror standouts. Destruction must also be hard work, because Air Fryer goes on a few sexual quests as well, adding some nudity and laughs to our list of classic horror tropes.

Air Fryer Slaughter is shot on video and seems to leave the door open for sequels and spinoffs in a shared world of schlocky cult horror. Fans of this sub-genre will certainly find this as a worthy addition. It’s available now on DVD.