In Fabric

A unique and enjoyable blend of archly self-aware giallo and Gilliam-esque bureaucratic/social satire. Perhaps slightly overdone and overlong, but such an original homage that it can be forgiven for eventually losing the thread.

One of those movies you live in for two hours instead of bothering to decipher it. Strickland, once again, does entirely his own thing, and it's even more off-kilter and esoteric than ever. And a lot funnier. Jean-Baptiste's convincing performance grounds a film that is so stylistically superior that it could get away with being about almost anything, really. Case in point: the plot is centered around a haunted dress, something which would be too ridiculous in the hands of most other directors.

A nutso good time that feels very much like Roger Corman rushed out a haunted dress movie after hearing about The Phantom Thread. Very arthouse and very Death Bed: The Bed That Eats.

A delightful little Giallo themed arthouse comedy. Watch sober.

Arthouse satire clearly made by a man tired of going cloth shopping with his wife. More goofy than I expected from Strickland but stylistically wonderful as always.

One of the best scores I've ever heard but I was going from "*sighs* *unzips pants*" to being confused to the point of alienation. This is my first Peter Strickland film so from what I've heard his other films might not be so different from this.

From the opening vibes I thought I was going to enjoy this a lot more than I did. The satire works I guess, for the most part, but the horror doesn't. I didn't find it especially funny but it did do a good job of poking fun at the ridiculousness of retail and whatnot. Sometimes it tried too hard, other times it nailed the atmosphere perfectly. A good film, but disappointing.

About a 10 minute youtube-clips worth of silly comedy dragged into mediocre arthouse infinity by Strickland at his laziest. He pulls off the decadent department store scenes fairly well because that seems to be in his wheelhouse, but the rest is as goofy as it is clichéd. And slow. If you want to watch spoofy, sumptuous and ridiculous arthouse fare that works, just watch The Fourth Man again.

Everything already possesses us, so why not our wardrobe too.

Very Strickland art horror parody that engages with its sensual aesthetics (especially sound design) and works hard to evade your expectations or interpretations at every turn. Probably frustrating for some people which only adds to the amusement of some others.

I can't decide if In Fabric is pretentious or just dumb. The blend of horror and comedy never worked for me, offering mild tension via a synth-esque soundtrack and the occasional wry dialogue exchange. For 2 long hours, I was subjected to oddball side-characters with almost zero agency to the plot and a Dress that's more sensitive than a Guardian reader. Jean-Baptiste delivers a good performance, but the film doesn't achieve anything by way of convincing commentary nor entertainment.

Video review: https://youtu.be/Yyae6Bz_eew I was loving In Fabric early on. My enjoyment became more sporadic as further plot developments unfolded. Stylistically speaking, In Fabric is wonderful. A pitch-perfect Dario Argento tribute while still having its own voice. Story-wise, I feel the need to ruminate on this one a bit. My gut reaction is a dislike for the way certain plot elements were handled but I would like to give Peter Strickland the benefit of the doubt.

Invigorating mind fuck finds Strickland wallowing in a perverse and esoteric bent that would put Lynch to shame; while there is a clear (and harsh) critique of consumerism folded in, this is really an "experience" movie, grounded by a stunning Jean-Baptiste and a hilariously sinister Mohamed. While the second half arguably loses a little steam (with Bill and Squires lesser substitutes for MJB), the supporting players step up, especially Barratt and Oram's venal bank managers.

Curious movie. I kind of wish they'd either made it more or less episodic; I'd gladly watch an entire Netflix season of Death Dress: The Dress That Kills, but when we only get two stories, it feels a bit disjointed. That said, it's fun, appropriately dream-logic weird, and has some really neat performances.

I really wanted to like this as I've enjoyed Strickland's previous films. I felt right at home from the gialloesque credits sequence and Cavern of Anti-Matter's soundtrack. I enjoyed the mood and especially MJ-B's acting, but I though they made a big mistake with splitting the film into two stories as the 1st one was a lot stronger and did a better job at walking the thin line between comedy and horror. I might give this a re-watch with revised expectations; but I doubt my view will change.

Has a strong 1970's vibe, very stylish, slightly fetishistic and open to interpretation.

At the moment I'm getting strong Assayas/Argento sensibilities from this film, which is a fascinating tonal marriage actually (to speak reductively and thus to illustrate). I think Strickland could have directed with more of Argento's obsessive focus to temper the open-endedness of diegesis, which is still a facet I like. The way the dress pushes the story is bold, and generally successful. Spiritually a more satisfying Argento tribute to rinse a bit of the taste of Suspiria.

Kind of a variation on L’ARGENT but instead of money it’s a dress. Lots of effort has been expended, it’s filled with style, is often quite amusing, has ideas and themes (even ones I’m interested in), but for some reason I find that I don’t have much to say about it. Strange.

Quite a bit going on in Strickland's jambalaya, and a lot of it doesn't exactly conclude on a thematic level. Yet I'm still struck by most of it, attracted to the film's quirky and successful blending of the esoteric folk horror with the commercialisation of fashion. The concept of the dress being passed between victims is familiar enough, though can't help but feel this should've been done in threes, not twos, so had more of a triptych structure, y'know

Hard to keep momentum when, halfway through the film, the compelling lead character is replaced by the most boring man to ever exist. Still great though.

A woman buys a haunted dress from a department store staffed by witches. Tonally highly uneven, veering between horror, pastiche, and sitcom pilot. Strickland never seems to know quite what to do with his ideas - but that is forgivable when his ideas are so numerous and interesting. I preferred 'Berberian Sound Studio' though.

Some good ideas here and there, I suppose -- consumerism as generic, but timeless ghost --, and the first half looks promising. Too bad the second one feels lost in so many half-baked stuff that never takes off. Good finale, though.

Killer dress. A few beautiful scenes and memoirs, i.e. changing room and last few minutes. Failing at being funny or haunting.

Not awful, but over 90% critics score in RT? I must be missing something...

Truly weird!

Loved it!

It's a movie about a killer dress.

only huggable malleable dermatologists need apply. https://i.ibb.co/Tkdgvsy/unnamed-10.jpg

Really enjoyed it, despite there not really being a story, character arcs, or worked-out ideas. It really shines through its individual scenes. A couple are great, none are boring and some are very memorable. The vibe is amazing too, like an old-school fever dream. A lot of weird shit happens, but somehow it never feels out of place; you just accept that this is how this world operates. It's not a great story, but as a purely cinematic experience, it succeeds wonderfully.

Unbelievably overrated. A metascore of 83; they did it the other way, I mean they probably should have written 38.

The Argento-style, garishly colorful tone of social satire put me in mind of The Love Witch, but here the target is consumerism. The film creates a flawlessly kitschy world, and the ending descent into the "abode of production" is chilling and delicious. Fatma Mohamed's portrayal of the supernatural department store clerk left me craving gifs of all her lines with which to confuse my friends.

Read as a consumerist critique, but I think that, when it's commenting on it (i.e on the sense of attachment to--and desire for--material things), it's more in relation to it offering an escape from humdrum reality and life's disappointments. This is especially the case with Jean-Baptiste's character, and the section with her is the stongest because of it. Strickland has a certain talent for blending images with sound, but In Fabric only really works in fits and starts. A director to watch.

Saw this like a month ago and can't remember virtually anything about it.