Actress Pollyanna McIntosh played a character known only as The Woman, a member of a tribe of feral cannibals, in two deeply disturbing Jack Ketchum adaptations – 2009's OFFSPRING, which was directed by Andrew van den Houten, and Lucky McKee's 2011 film THE WOMAN. McIntosh has now continued the story of The Woman with her feature directorial debut DARLIN'.
Written by McIntosh, DARLIN' tells the following story:
Found at a Catholic hospital filthy and ferocious, feral teenager Darlin’ is whisked off to a care home run by The Bishop and his obedient nuns, where she’s to be rehabilitated into a "good girl" as an example of the miraculous work of the church. But Darlin’ holds a secret darker than the "sins" she is threatened with, and she is not traveling alone. The Woman who raised her, equally fierce and feral, is ever present in the shadows of Darlin’s psyche and is determined to come for her no matter who tries to get in her way.
The title character is played by Lauryn Canny. Also in the cast with Canny and McIntosh are Bryan Batt, Nora-Jane Noone, Cooper Andrews, Sabrina Gennarino, and Thomas Francis Murphy.
A Hood River Entertainment production, DARLIN' was produced by van den Houten, with McKee and the late Ketchum serving as executive producers.
McIntosh had this to say about the project:
I’m thrilled to present DARLIN’ at a time when audiences are showing their love for entertaining, visceral social issue horror and are hungry for female voices. With DARLIN’ I was blessed with a talented cast and crew, including our female leads, DP, location scout and editor, who all came to the project with such passion. It will be an honor to show their hard work, which made the movie the feast it is, and to introduce the enormous talent of young star Lauryn Canny to new audiences."
Van den Houten added:
When I first directed Pollyanna as The Woman in the Ketchum-adapted OFFSPRING, which I also produced, I knew we had found lightning in a bottle with her. So began the dream of a trilogy for the character to live through. I’m honored that The Woman herself, Pollyanna McIntosh, is the one who has written, directed and co-starred in this third chapter. Seeing this talented collaborator take the reins with so much confidence and vision has been a personal and professional joy."
MPI Media Group will be presenting DARLIN' to potential buyers at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.
It's really cool to see McIntosh take it upon herself to add another chapter in the story of The Woman, and I look forward to seeing if DARLIN' will be as troubling as its predecessors.
