From the very first scene with the Bishop I knew his whole character arc & I was not wrong in even my earliest predictions. The Bishop character & the whole religion/church/sisters home antics are painfully stereotypical and shallow, almost tiring. In the end it's hard to say what message exactly the director what for us to receive. 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. The problems with "Darlin''' start with the plot & characters. Acting's very decent, I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the lead actress. 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".
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. "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. No hard spoilers ahead, just a lot of description. 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".