In Fabric (2018)

(On Cable TV, October 2020) Some horror movies delight in establishing normalcy before showing us the intrusion of the supernatural, but In Fabric clearly heads out the other way: In showing us how a middle-aged woman prepares for a date by buying a red dress, it misses no opportunity to make even the mundane feel creepy and foreboding. I was reminded early on of Berberian Sound Studio’s British-giallo feel, which made complete sense once I discovered that both movies share writer-director Peter Strickland. While In Fabric is not fully realized, at least it’s somewhat more satisfying than Strickland’s earlier movie. It does remain messy: In its hurry to be as weird as it could, In Fabric spreads itself thin in confounding flourishes. It may be about an evil red dress. It may be about a department store staffed by servants of hell. Heck, it may even be about two bank executives who clearly aren’t on the same plane of reality as its characters. It’s first about a middle-aged woman, but then it’s about a milquetoast new groom. In other words, In Fabric is rather about moment-to-moment sensation than overarching plot, which may make a few rational-minded viewers crazy with unfulfilled narrative. As with Berberian Sound Studio, don’t expect much resolution. Don’t expect much overarching coherency. Certainly, do not expect conventional screenwriting: In following one character then another in an attempt to illustrate the actions of an evil red dress, In Fabric falls in between the two chairs on either telling us a story about a person or telling us a story about an object—the in-between feels misguided, limited by budget and time, or simply amateurish. There are tons of wasted opportunities left on the table, In Fabric only realizes a fraction of its potential. I still liked it (mildly) for the sum of a few individual scenes. Marianne Jean-Baptiste is quite good in a kind of role that one seldom sees in movies, while Leo Bill plays the oppressed milquetoast with passive dignity. I just wish that the film would make just a bit more narrative sense, with enough scaffolding to keep up the vignettes that are obviously matter more to Strickland.