In Fabric
In Fabric

Surreal sensualist director Peter Strickland (The Duke of Burgundy) sets out to satirize consumerism through a hilarious horror device: an evil, sentient (?) red dress.

When a middle-aged woman (a subtle and appealing Marianne Jean-Baptiste) buys the cursed garment at a luxurious shop at the mall, things quickly starting going wrong in her life—the washing machine rebels, a rash develops on her chest, domestic animals turn hostile. With many hauntological flourishes, allusions to Italian giallo horror, and other mischief, Strickland transforms a British shopping center into a demonic temple staffed by robotic women who look like Victorians dressed for mourning and speak like neural-network-fed advertising copy mixed with overwrought poetry. Deliciously retro, nastily funny, but siding with those wrung out by the cycle of labor and consumption, In Fabric deserves a spot next to Sorry to Bother You in the hall of great anti-capitalist comedies.

In Fabric was originally screened at the Seattle International Film Festival in May. SIFF stages an encore presentation tomorrow evening as part of its Art House Theater Day celebration. Free admission for SIFF Members and free Full Tilt ice cream for the first 100 people through the door.