A Dress Can Kill in Entertainingly Demented ‘In Fabric’

Alci Rengifo

A wild premise can succeed if it basks in being crazy. “In Fabric” is a boldly absurd tale, told in the colors, and even sounds, of a bygone Italian genre known as “giallo,” where it doesn’t matter how implausible the premise is but with what enthusiasm it’s brought to life. Let us begin with the fact that this film’s key protagonist is a dress. It unleashes havoc with the aid of dark forces, but the spell is cast by the feverish technique of the movie itself. 

In 1980s London a lonely bank teller named Sheila (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) checks the classifieds for potential dates while dealing with a bored son, Vince (Jaygann Ayeh) and his weird girlfriend Gwen (Gwendoline Christie). Before going on a dinner with a prospect, Sheila is lured by a hypnotic TV ad into a department store where the enigmatic Miss Luckmoore (Fatma Mohamed) entices her to take home an attractive, red dress. The date is a bust but Sheila notices a strange burn or rash left on her shoulder by the dress. Soon after strange things begin to happen like washing machines going berserk, dog attacks leaving the dress unscathed and other escalating incidents. Sheila begins to suspect the dress may be giving off some malevolent force. 

Writer/director Peter Strickland makes “In Fabric” with the freedom of his own voice and a shameless love for giallo cinema.  In the tradition of directors like Dario Argento and Mario Bava, Strickland’s emphasis is on sensuous color and eerie ambiance. Certain shots of red nails, the dress itself floating in dark corners or fires consuming mannequins could be out of Argento’s 1977 classic “Suspiria.” Strickland is obsessed with capturing the era just right to the point of emphasizing how one would make a phone call 40 years ago. The lens of cinematographer Ari Wegner lovingly closes in on the details of a newspaper or shopping center. A hypnotic TV ad that lures characters to the red dress’s domain purposefully looks like creepy VHS, complete with vintage electronica that has its own dreamy oddness. Strickland will throw in still frames and cross-cuts all out of 70s B horror. Musical group Cavern Of Anti-Matter provide the score, which could very well be from 1985 in its synth waves of threatening techno. 

As an experimental homage to a past genre “In Fabric” would have been entertaining enough, but Strickland has no interest in merely geeking out. This is also a wicked satire about consumerism and appearances. With a swirl and repetitive images of clothed mannequins, the ads luring Sheila and others to the plot’s main shop function as a mockery of our obsessive shopping culture. Flashy advertisements and promos make us want to buy things we later realize we don’t really need. The date Sheila wears the dress for turns out to be a complete jerk, oblivious to her if not the world. Miss Luckmoore, decked like a courtesan or possible witch, speaks to customers in a hilariously bizarre, elegant tone, saying phrases like, “did the transaction validate your paradigm of consumerism?” Everyone who runs the store look taken out of a coven, including an enigmatic, grey-haired man who observes everything from afar like a warlock. Strickland never presents any detailed history or background of the dark forces at play, but visually we need little exposition. Sheila will be sitting in bed at night and the dress begins to violently shift back and forth in a closet, we then cut to a moment where Miss Luckmoore seems to be engaged in some kind of ritualistic head-bobbing which moves in rhythm with the dress. But isn’t this how consumerism works anyway, like some kind of black magic that keeps us spending? Later in the film an engaged couple will also come across the dress, with feisty fiancé Babs (Hayley Squires) being the only one lucid enough to realize Miss Luckmoore is a weirdo. 

In another nod to classic giallo tradition Strickland keeps the effects of “In Fabric” purely organic. There are no fancy digital tricks or over the top CGI sequences. It’s almost refreshing to see the film have fun just showing us the dress sliding down a bed, dropping from a ceiling or swirling inside an exploding washing machine because Strickland shoots it with such style. Scenes of suspense like car crashes on dark highways, where headlights suddenly reveal a lonely mannequin standing by the road, are more effective because of how real they feel. What counts is the experience in this kind of movie. 

The holidays may seem out of place to release a thriller about a cursed, murderous piece of clothing (even if its color scheme is appropriate for Christmas), but that’s almost part of this film’s brilliance. With everyone going on shopping binges for the season “In Fabric” is enjoyable subversion. It winks at a classic genre while celebrating the idea of making a point with demented beauty.

“In Fabric” opens Dec. 6 in select theaters.