Red Rooms (2023)

Pascal Plante directed Red Rooms (2023), a Canadian psychological thriller best known for its take on the underlying elements of crime, obsession, and the digital underbelly of the world. The film paints a sinister picture of a world haunted by true crime and the thin veil that balances humanity’s dark obsession with it.

🎥 Trailer Vibes

In the trailer, viewers are brought into a tense courtroom where Kelly-Anne, a young woman obsessed with a specific trial, is present. In the trial, a serial killer is being accused and the focus of the trailer is on Kelly-Anne’s fascination with the story filled with horror and courtroom drama. With her obsession, you begin to question if Kelly-Anne is actually losing herself to the morbid fantasies of the dark web. The imagery is frightening while still maintaining a sense of clarity supported by suspenseful music heightening the eerie tone of the film.

🌟 Cast Highlights

Juliette Gariépy as Kelly-Anne – A fashion model whose life becomes consumed by the high-profile trial, leading her down a path of dark fascination.

Maxwell McCabe-Lokos as Ludovic Chevalier – The mysterious defendant accused of grim acts that were streamed on the dark web.

Laurie Babin as Clémentine – Another person fascinated with the trial who gets in touch with Kelly-Anne and forms a bond with her.

Élisabeth Locas as Francine Beaulieu: The mother of one of Chevalier’s victims, embodying the grief and anguish central to the trial’s emotional core.

📖 Synopsis

The case of Chevalier, a man supposed to have murdered three teenage girls and streamed the footage in dark web “red rooms”, fills the courtrooms and streets of Montreal with morbid curiosity. Among the attendees is Kelly-Anne, a fashion model who obsessively follows the case which culminates into a double life. She spends her days in court, and her nights deep into the dark web in search for the gruesome videos that she believes are at the center of the trial. During one of the proceedings, she gets acquainted with Clémentine, another trial attendee who is just as enraptured by the trial. Kelly-Anne’s and Clémentine’s hunt for the videos is mired with immense amounts of ethical pondering which leads Kelly-Anne to the deepest and darkest parts of her mind and the internet. The boundaries between being a voyeur and a victim, obsessed and obsessed culminate in a chilling glimpse towards the shadows of the human mind.

Red Rooms has attracted praise for its disturbing depiction of obsession and the eerie as well as for Juliette Gariépy’s captivating performance as Kelly-Anne. Its nominations span over several film festivals, claiming Best Film in the 2023 Fantasia Film Festival among others.