Movie Review – Red Rooms

While we may reject ghosts, ghouls, and other fascinating creatures as figments of our imaginations, it is more difficult to let go of the uneasy notion that the most dangerous monsters out there are people. Red Rooms (Les Chambres Rouges), Pascal Plante’s latest film, is a great examination of the morbid curiosity that we all have from time to time, and how it may become a dangerous obsession for certain people. harmful for themselves when their behavior puts them in danger, and harmful for others when this preoccupation turns aggressive. While Red Rooms has a lot to say about the oddest things that catch people’s attention, it’s also one of the most terrifying psychological horror stories in cinema.

Red Rooms Trailer

The plot of Red Rooms centers around Ludovic Chevalier’s (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos) trial. Ludovic is accused of being the Demon of Rosemont, a heinous serial murderer who abducted, tortured, sexually molested, and murdered three minors while documenting the ordeal in horrifying live-show spectacles. His claimed offenses are heinous, which, of course, implies that the trial itself takes center stage in the media. However, while Ludovic’s trial serves as the film’s starting point, the film’s main focus is on Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy), a young lady who attends every public session of the proceedings. Kelly-Anne is a loner who makes a fortune modeling and playing online poker, money she uses to build her flat into a digital fortress from which she can securely roam the internet’s darkest corners. Kelly-Anne has acquired a particular interest in the case as Ludovic’s alleged atrocities were aired through famous red rooms on the dark web, where affluent individuals pay to watch the innocent suffer and die.

While Kelly-Anne has no connection to the Demon of Rosemont’s killings, she tries everything she can to stay near Ludovic’s trial. At first, Red Rooms wonders whether she has a perverse fascination with the murderer, but at every turn of the plot, we are perplexed, wondering why Kelly-Anne is subjecting herself to public attention simply to be near to the case. Her behavior is irregular and secretive, and Red Room keeps the spectator wondering about her motives until the credits roll. We are drawn to Gariépy as she dives deeper into the dark recesses of the internet, thanks to her mesmerizing performance.

Red Rooms exposes how exposed we all are in the online era by combining sequences from the trial with Kelly-Anne’s online inquiry. She readily obtains personal information about the victims’ families and, using simple search tools discovers information that the police had kept hidden from inquisitive eyes. Kelly-Anne’s technological prowess also allows her to navigate the dark web and learn more about the Demon of Rosemont’s misdeeds. It all adds to the film’s paranoid mood, as we see how vulnerable we are as a result of our usage of modern technologies. And, given that Red Rooms also delves into the ultimate horrors that may occur in virtual worlds, we can’t help but feel intimidated by an unknown menace. On that topic, it’s worth noting how persistent the film can be in leading its audience on a trip of utter misery.

People paying big money to see or inflict pain on others is not a new concept. Horror has a long heritage of fantasizing about the upper elite as nasty individuals, from films like Hostel to modern successes like Escape Room. These films, on the other hand, rely heavily on ultraviolence and blatant acts of torture, which can, paradoxically, reduce the emotional effect of each scene. We know a movie is always make-believe, no matter how realistic a death appears on the screen, and there’s always a subconscious portion of our brain attempting to differentiate fiction from reality.

Red Rooms, on the other hand, just indicates its savagery, tempting the dark endeavors that take place in our world’s secret recesses. The film takes its time explaining to the spectator the horrifying notion of red rooms, emphasizing how genuine snuff movies may be. As a result, even if we can’t see what’s going on, we are aware of the horrible anguish some victims go through to please the morbid imaginations of others. However, because the human mind has a bad propensity of filling in holes on its own, Red Rooms provides enough room for our imagination to finish the gruesome image.

A healthy human brain may be easily destabilized. The sound of the saw, the screams of a little girl, and the knowledge that her death involves things like genital mutilation are all enough to send us into a tailspin. Red Rooms understands how this works, which is why each shot is veiled in mystery, deliberately constructed to make you squirm. From Vincent Biron’s photography to Dominique Plante’s soundtrack, every component in Red Rooms contributes to an atmosphere of total dread that lasts the whole length of the film.

There is no breathing room in Red Rooms, and even simple events, such as someone turning their head, might become a fresh cause of dread. It’s an astounding achievement, especially given that the film contains no scenes of murder. Instead, the courtroom descriptions, the hazy images offered as evidence, and the individuals’ reactions when confronted with the terrible films at the heart of the case are more than enough to scare us to our core. It’s unusual to feel the suspense build inside a theatre to the point that everyone is holding their breath, but Red Room is a one-of-a-kind film that defies expectations and draws the audience further into the dark abyss of human nature.

Rating: A