In Fabric (2019)

In Fabric, scheduled for a limited United States theatrical release later in the year is from writer-director Peter Strickland and is a completely bonkers and wildly entertaining film about a seriously possessed dress that can sliver across the floor and under closed doors, as well as mysteriously hover in the air.  The origins on how the dress became so cursed is not revealed within the narrative except that it was worn by a former model during a freak zebra crossing accident. Sheila (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) is a recently single mother who purchases the dress for a special date that ends up being a dud and even worse, she inherits all the bad luck included with her purchase such as a body rash, a dog attack and nighttime premonitions that something just doesn’t seem right.  Strickland even throws in a faulty washing machine that works as a narrative device to connect three characters the dress is passed along to. Sheila is killed off in a surprising Hitchcockian plot twist revealing that she is not main character of the film and the narrative shifts to a washing machine repairman (Leo Bill) who wears the dress for his bachelor party before passing the demonic frock over to his fiancée (Carolina Catz).  No one seems to notice the otherworldly and bizarre nature of the department store called Dentley and Soper and the odd behavior of the employees and weirdly stylized mannequins.  The interior and exterior shots of the store were clearly filmed on a sound stage and help give a fake, off center visual style.  

The off centeredness is accentuated further with an audience displacement of time due to the mixture of the present-day setting combined with retro 1970’s (or 1980’s) department store sale advertisements on television, the look book models and the rapid retro fashion montage sequences that become hypnotic visual collage artwork on the screen. Further audience displacement is used with unspecific foreign language accents from the antagonists within Dentley and Soper.

Strickland sensually obsesses with fashion and texture to the point of fetish.  Specifically, during the scene involving a pair of fabric scissors cutting out the pages from the department store look book, the audience can hear the thick texture of the pages.  This visual design is what gives In Fabric such a unique quality that is nothing like anything else out there.  Mannequins are frequently used for a creep out effect, as well as an incredibly bizarre erotic scene that is the most unsettling moment that I have seen in quite some time.  

The narrative walks a fine line between horror and comedy as Strickland wisely understands it is the best thing to do with a premise about a cursed dress and the fact that he pulls it off so well is something that needs to be seen to be believed.  The theme of fashion and consumerism is a well-worn idea. However, the climax involving the downfall of the department store with its shoppers, as well as the brilliant electronic film score by Cavern of Anti-Matter indicates Strickland has unquestionably created a surrealist masterwork.   🎬🎬🎬🎬 (4 out of 4)