“Red Rooms” in cinemas now – Dagsavisen

—

5

FILM

“Red Rooms”

Director: Pascal Plante

Canada – 2023

—

Despite a massive media hysteria in the eighties (and steady press coverage since then) no one has found tangible evidence that so-called snuff films ever existed. Yes, if you dig deep on the internet you can find brutal murders filmed by Ukrainian serial killers, Muslim terrorists and Mexican drug cartels. Sexualized murders filmed for profit remain a myth perpetuated by gory horror films, but considering what exists in the darkest corners of the web, it unfortunately feels like only a matter of time before the myth becomes reality. However, “Red Rooms” is not a speculative horror film; but a psychological drama about our pop-cultural fixation on serial killers and the snuff myth, which shies away from gut-wrenching scenes – but still becomes deeply uncomfortable, disturbing and creepy.

To be honest, I have never come across director/screenwriter Pascal Plante until now, but he has been behind several films – including the award-winning swimming drama “Nadia, Butterfly” (2020). The French-Canadian festival hit “Red Room” should be an international breakthrough for both him and lead actor Juliette Gariépy, who makes a sensational effort as the enigmatic Kelly-Anne. A black-clad, grave beauty who sleeps in an alley, trooping up to the Quebec Supreme Court at dawn to attend the trial of serial killer Ludovic Chevalier (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos). Known in the press as “The Demon from Rosemomt”, who is on trial for the torture murders of three teenage girls. The murders are so sadistic that both the judge and prosecutor Yasmine Chedid (Natalie Tannous) warn the jury that this two-month trial will be a traumatic strain for them all. Not only because of the bestial crimes, but because everything was so thoroughly documented.

The mutilation murders were filmed and streamed live to a paying audience in so-called “Red Rooms” on the dark web, and two of these video recordings are part of the evidence. They contain acts so gross that I should not even describe them in print, and it feels like a merciful blessing that the footage of the murder of thirteen-year-old Camille has not been found. An even greater blessing that we are not forced to see what the jury does. But we hear fragments of the soundtrack in the distance: desperate screams and despairing cries, leading to one of the jurors fainting and having to be helped by paramedics.

Also read: Juliette Binoche: – Love is bigger than conflicts and sad things (+)

Kelly-Ann follows everything with watchful eyes, and sits on the audience bench every day with a handful of spectators. Several of them female “fans” of the defendant. The man who shuffles into a bulletproof box in the courtroom is not a charismatic Hannibal Lecter figure or a superficially attractive Ted Bundy, but an anonymous, awkward slob with a blank slate, nonchalantly cleaning his fingernails while the prosecutor describes the unimaginable atrocities he committed. The very personification of the banality of evil. On her way out of the courtroom, Kelly-Ann is surprised by a TV crew, who wonder what motivated her to attend the trial. She briefly claims that “I’m curious”, but we get the feeling that the truth is more complicated.

Whether Kelly-Anne is just driven by morbid curiosity, personal involvement or something even darker gnaws throughout the film, remaining diffuse until the bitter end. But she doesn’t fit in with the kind of misfit women who send love letters to serial killers in prison, and become sexually fixated on men who hate women. Kelly-Anne lives in a luxury apartment in a modern skyscraper in Montreal, works as a trendy photo model and earns a significant extra income from online poker. She believes that the key to success is finding the right players to exploit, and then enjoying the pleasure of watching them lose everything.

Also read: Boom tour with Coen brother (+)

The signs clearly point to Kelly-Anne being a high-functioning sociopath who lives in self-imposed “always online” isolation, but she is extremely difficult to read clearly. In contrast to Clementine (Laurie Babin), who also faithfully turns up in the courtroom every single day – while she intensely tells everyone who will listen that the serial killer Ludovic Chevalier is one hundred percent innocent, has such kind eyes and is the real victim here. She is hopelessly naive, heartbreakingly vulnerable, insistently seeking contact and would like to be friends with Kelly-Anne. Apparently homeless, Kelly-Anne reluctantly lets Clementine sleep over in her penthouse while the trial takes place. This unhealthy friendship takes an even more disturbing turn after Kelly-Anne reveals that she has already seen two of the murder videos, and is actively trying to get hold of the third.

Also read: Lots of absurd humor and impressive special effects (+)

You could certainly have created a really boring genre film from this starting point, but “Red Rooms” is something completely different. A tense, unpredictable and really well-acted indie thriller that does its utmost to depict everything with realism, from the routines of the courtroom to the way the dark web works in practice. Pascal Plante pokes at our collective fascination with serial murder, “true crime” and bestial crimes, while he exposes our own complicity in how such cases are often covered in the media. Where we hungrily throw ourselves over the next Netflix documentaries, while victims are reduced to abstractions and killers elevated to pop cultural symbols.

So far, fortunately, snuff movies and red murder rooms on the dark web are just urban myths, and “Red Rooms” is a completely fictional story. But it’s a cold shower to discover that the film is inspired by the very real trial of Australian Peter Scully, who committed unimaginably cruel acts filmed in so-called “hurtcore” videos distributed on the dark web. I suggest you definitely not google that matter further, unless you want to lose sleep at night and all faith in humanity. The theme alone will certainly cause some to shy away from “Red Rooms”, while it will probably attract audiences with expectations of something more speculative – but for those who can bear it, this is a strong sight that really deserves attention.

Also read: Assassin in the fog home (+)

Also read: Diana Ross is 80: She changed pop music, and the entire United States (+)