Title Research: Darlin' (2019)

There are four titles displayed in the opening scene of Darlin'. They are as followed:  

Studio: MPI Media Group

Production Company: Hood River Entertainment

Actors/Actresses: Lauryn Canny, Bryan Batt, Nora-Jane Noone, Cooper Andrews, Pollyanna McIntosh, John Spud McConnell, Geraldine Singer, Maddie Nichols, Mackenzie Michelle Graham, Jeff Pope, Eugenie Bondurant, Sabrina Gennarino, and Thomas Francis Murphy.

Movie Name: Darlin' 

The opening scene mainly depicts a forest where it is snowing. We see an ungroomed woman and an equally ungroomed child, who are wearing very little clothing and walking through the forest barefoot. We can then see a trail of blood, and one of them bends down to pick up what appears to be a golf club near the trail. This leads us to believe that they killed someone or something and then dragged it away. It then switches to nighttime in the forest and the scene still focuses on the pair walking, more specifically, it shows their feet. As they walk, we see mushrooms sprouting up from where they've stepped. 

As we watch the opening scene, we notice the characteristics of both horror and thriller films. There is a sense of intensity and the feeling that something bad is about to happen. The beastly manner in which the actors are presented and their nonchalant response to the harsh weather and ground conditions led us to believe that they would turn around their makeup would be a jump scare. The music contributes to our belief about the genre because it's eerily calm. The dark lighting and the setting solidified the fact that it would be a horror film because this is the typical location and time that horror films are usually set in. The mushrooms sprouting up after each step is most likely what prompts the viewers to continue watching the movie. It begins a bit uneventful but adding this mysterious aspect makes the viewers wonder what just happened and why, and so they stay to find out. 

There were some uses of technology that caught our attention. When the names of the actors were shown, the background would fade slightly to emphasize the names. The names were also written in an elegant cursive font despite the actors looking far from elegant. We see an over-the-shoulder shot of the two women staring at what appears to be a town across the lake. Paired with the music, it creates the sense that these women felt lonely and wanted to integrate into society and leave the woods. We can assume that they will try to do so, but society won't be so accepting because of their appearance, and this might cause them to go on an angry killing spree.