RED ROOMS Trailer: Pascal Plante's Thriller Arrives in U.S. Theaters This September

A model becomes obsessed with a high-profile murder trial.

Red Rooms seamlessly weaves together elements from a spectrum of genres, including home invasion, but Plante intriguingly never ventures into the eponymous red room. Instead, he leans towards the arthouse style, substituting gore for psychological and social horror.

 

Plante's film serves as a riveting fusion of arthouse thriller that resonates in an era marked by morbid voyeurism and surveillance capitalism. The narrative begins with a dissection of the serial killer trope, evolving into a women-centric psychodrama. It challenges gender norms while adeptly channeling the essence of chamber social horror, all executed with a distinct flair.

Utopia released today the new theatrical trailer for Pascal Plante’s multi-award-winning feature RED ROOMS ahead of the film’s U.S. theatrical release, which kicks off on Friday, September 6 at the IFC Center in New York with Plante in attendance for opening weekend and a national rollout to follow.

 

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.  

 

Named after the highly disputed violent dark web spaces known as red rooms in online urban legends, RED ROOMS was inspired by the fans who inexplicably flock to serial killers throughout modern history and further motivated by the current state of cybersecurity and tech crimes. The film not only succeeds as one of the most chilling entries to the serial killer genre from the last decade —despite never revealing any of the explicit images that the film’s characters are forced to witness— with Plante creating a fictional killer that is a devastating product of our time, but excels as a cinematic portrayal of how modern civilization engages with technology while holding a mirror up to the loneliness and isolation that exists within the dark side of present-day society. 

 

The film was widely praised by critics since its premiere, with Deadline hailing it as “a disturbingly brilliant psychological horror,” and stating that “word-of-mouth cult status beckons.” Little White Lies joined on the praise, calling RED ROOMS “a striking and austere examination of the true-crime industrial complex that benefits from its formality and disturbingly removed protagonist.” Screen International called it “a tantalising combination of courtroom drama and unnerving psychological horror” while Collider, in their A-rated coverage, praised it as “one of the most disturbing psychological horror stories in cinema,” ending their review by asserting that it “defies expectations and keeps pulling the audience deeper into the dark abysm of human nature.” In their coverage from Fantasia, Mashable celebrated the festival’s esteemed opening night feature, writing that RED ROOMS “out-Finchers Fincher.”

 

RED ROOMS is Montreal filmmaker Pascal Plante’s third narrative feature, following the 2020 Cannes Film Festival selection NADIA, BUTTERFLY and 2018 Berlinale selection FAKE TATTOOS. The film features captivating performances from its three leads; Quebec actors Juliette Gariépy (Home Turf) and Laurie Babin (THE LITTLE GIRL WHO WAS TOO FOND OF MATCHES) alongside Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, the Canadian actor and filmmaker best known as the writer/director of Oscilloscope’s 2022 comedy STANLEYVILLE. 

 

The film world premiered at the 2023 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Crystal Globe Competition and enjoyed a robust festival run that included showing at the Fantasia International Film Festival, where it was the Opening Night Film, BFI London Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival, Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Overlook Film Festival, and more. RED ROOMS picked up numerous awards during its international film festival run, including sweeping the 2023 Fantasia Cheval Noir Competition and taking Best Performance (Juliette Gariépy), Best Screenplay, and Best Film, in addition to the Sandro Forte Award for Best Motion Picture Score (composed by Dominique Plante, Pascal’s brother). It was nominated for five Canadian Screen Awards and 13 Irises, Quebec’s highest award for artistic merit, with Gariépy taking the 2023 Revelation of the Year accolade for emerging talent and Babin taking Best Supporting Actress.

 

RED ROOMS is produced by Dominique Dussault for Nemesis Films. Cinematographer Vincent Biron (THE TWENTIETH CENTURY) artfully lensed the feature, Laura Nhem (THE TWENTIETH CENTURY) was production designer, and Jonah Malak edited.