Few horror films made a bigger splash on the festival circuit last year than Pascal Plante‘s “Red Rooms.” After a world premiere at Karlovy Vary, Plante’s third feature screened at Fantasia International, BFI London Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival, Overlook Film Festival, collecting several awards along the way (including a sweep at Fantasia International). No wonder US horror fans couldn’t wait to screen this one.
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But as 2024 began, “Red Rooms” didn’t have a scheduled theatrical release. It didn’t receive a streaming release either (although Canadian Apple TV+ subscribers could find it in the streamer’s catalog), prompting many to wonder if Plante’s film would ever reach US audiences at all. Well, good news: the “Red Rooms” US theatrical roll-out begins at NYC’s IFC Center this September, with more dates/theaters to be announced soon.
Not familiar with “Red Rooms”? The psychological thriller stars Quebecois actress Juliette Gariépy as a young woman who grows increasingly obsessed with the trial of a murderer. Read on for an official synopsis, courtesy of Utopia:
The acclaimed psychological cyber-thriller, which writer/director Plante called “true-crime meets genre cinema,” follows Kelly-Anne, a young woman who wakes up every morning to wait outside the courtroom to secure a seat at the high-profile trial of Ludovic Chevalier, a man charged with the murder of three teenage girls, with the gruesome videos of two of the crimes surfacing for sale online on the dark web. She finds herself bonding with a fellow voyeur, momentarily breaking her out of her loneliness, while also witnessing the emotional decline of the victims’ families. As the proceedings continue, it becomes increasingly difficult for Kelly-Anne to maintain the psychological and physical balance between her normal life and her morbid fixation with the accused killer, with her obsession reaching new lengths when the final piece of evidence reveals itself within reach.
Along with Gariépy, “Red Rooms” also stars Laurie Babin and Maxwell McCabe-Lokos. Charlotte Aubin, Guy Thauvette, Pierre Chagnon, and Elisabeth Locas also star.
Plante writes and directs “Red Rooms,” as he did on his previous two features, 2018’s “Fake Tattoos” and 2020’s “Nadia, Butterfly.” Dominique Dussault produces the film through Nemesis Films.
After its festival run last year, “Red Rooms” picked up 5 noms at the Canadian Screen Awards and 13 at the Irises; Quebec’s highest award for artists. Gariépy also won the 2023 Relevation Of The Year award there, with Babin winning Best Supporting Actress. In short, this film is a phenomenon in Canada, so expect word of mouth on it to catch on fast with US audiences this Fall.
“Red Rooms” get its name from one of the internet’s most highly disputed urban legends: alleged dark web spaces that show violence and depravity in real-time. That makes Plante’s film a cyber-thriller, a skewering of true-crime obsessives, and a new slant on the serial killer sub-genre. So is the hype around this film real? Find out when “Red Rooms” hits IFC Center in NYC on September 6, with more dates/theaters to follow. Watch the trailer for the film below.
