[imagesource:utopia]

The official trailer for the French-language psychological thriller Red Rooms is here, offering a dark look at society’s obsession with true crime.

Pascal Plante’s multi-award-winning feature, alternatively titled Les Chambres Rouges, centres on a girl obsessed with a man charged with abducting and murdering teenage girls, creating snuff films to broadcast on the dark web.

Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy) is the young woman who obsessively attends the trial of serial killer Ludovic Chevalier (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos), accused of the gruesome murders. However, she isn’t the only young woman fixated on the case, befriending fellow spectator Clementine (Laurie Babin) when attending the proceedings. Kelly-Anne is extreme though, using her computer skills to dive into the internet’s underbelly, searching for more details about the case as she compulsively hacks her way toward the truth.

The film explores her macabre interest in the case, highlighting her interactions with other regulars in the courtroom and examining the psychological impact it all has on her. As the trial unfolds, Kelly-Anne becomes increasingly obsessed, causing the boundaries between her reality and fixation to blur.

Critics have lauded Red Rooms since its premiere, with Deadline calling it “a disturbingly brilliant psychological horror,” predicting a cult status, while Little White Lies praised it as “a striking and austere examination of the true-crime industrial complex.”

Screen International highlighted its blend of courtroom drama and psychological horror while Collider praised it as “one of the most disturbing psychological horror stories in cinema,” commending its unexpected depth and intensity:

“It’s rare to feel the tension built inside a theater to the point where everyone is holding their breath, but Red Room is a unique movie that defies expectations and keeps pulling the audience deeper into the dark abysm of human nature.”

Give the trailer a watch:

The film debuted at the 2023 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and has since been showcased at several renowned festivals, such as the Fantasia International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, and Busan International Film Festival. It has garnered numerous awards, including a sweep at the 2023 Fantasia Cheval Noir Competition and recognition for Best Performance (Juliette Gariépy), Best Screenplay, Best Film, and Best Motion Picture Score. Additionally, Red Rooms received five nominations at the Canadian Screen Awards and 13 Irises, with top honours awarded to Gariépy and Babin.

As Red Rooms gears up for its US theatrical release, it promises to continue captivating and unsettling audiences, serving as a profound commentary on the darkest fascinations of modern society.

Red Rooms arrives in theatres on September 6.

[source:collider]