Red Rooms (2023) review – A patient and cold exploration of hybristophilia and the Dark Web

Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are checking out a movie that hit the festival circuit in 2023 before seeing a mainstream release in early 2024 – Red Rooms (Les Chambres Rouges).

A fascinating idea for a horror movie

Red Rooms follows the story of a young woman who develops an obsession with the trial of a man accused of murder. Attending the courtroom every day, Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy) begins to realise that she is in too deep when her everyday life starts to fall apart.

Writer and director Pascal Plante came up with the idea for this movie in a very unique manner. He was fascinated by the groupies that tend to form around convicted killers such as Chris Watts and Ted Bundy. He wondered what made them tick, and what was the motivation for their obsession.

Deciding to bring the concept into the modern age via the medium of online crime, he put together Red Rooms. Needless to say, it is a movie that feels rather unique. There aren’t too many stories focused around this particular subject.

Another Dark Web themed horror movie

There have been a lot of horror movies based on the dark web in recent years. It’s a pretty popular topic, especially with younger people who seem a little confused as to what exactly the dark web is. Sure, illicit stuff happens there, but certainly not at the level people imagine. It’s mostly a collection of admin pages, and below-surface-level stuff.

Younger people who seem a little confused as to what exactly the dark web is. Sure, illicit stuff happens there, but certainly not at the level people imagine. It’s mostly a collection of admin pages, and below-surface-level stuff.

Red Rooms keys in on a couple of those particular dark web concepts; namely the idea of anonymity, and the idea of the red rooms themselves. Red Rooms are, supposedly, live streams featuring kidnapped people. Viewers can bid on what happens to the person and, ultimately, decide their fate. This is something that has long been believed to exist on the dark web, but is probably mostly fiction.

Red Rooms basically weaves a very traditional tale but through a modern lens. A murderer shared material online believing himself to be anonymous. Detectives found him via his digital footprint, and a trial is set to prove his guilt. The case, itself, isn’t the focus of the movie, however; it is our protagonist’s obsession with the case.

A disturbing exploration into hybristophilia

Red Rooms taps into the phenomenon of hybristophilia. In other words, the supposed killer here has a few fangirls. Whether Kelly-Anne is one of those fangirls, or not, is left unclear until the end. She is a stoic and disconnected character who holds her cards close to her chest. But she is, most definitely, obsessed with the case.

“Red Rooms taps into the phenomenon of hybristophilia… Why do people become obsessed with the macabre, and what is the impact on their everyday lives?”

To the point in fact, where it is impacting her everyday life. Red Rooms follows her as she attends the trial daily, plays online poker to fund her life, works out, and attends her modelling job.

It all sounds pretty dull and, almost, like it shouldn’t work, but it really does. Kelly-Anne is a fascinating character and brilliantly portrayed by Juliette Gariépy. She has a rather atypical personality; she’s a poker dynamo, a tech whiz, and is deeply involved in the dark web herself. She doesn’t feel like your usual horror movie protagonist, and you never quite know what her motivations are.

It’s utterly compelling

Red Rooms acts as a character study of Kelly-Anne, while also acting as an exploration into the human psyche. Why do people become obsessed with the macabre, and what is the impact on their everyday lives? Kelly-Anne is damaging herself with her fixation on the case. Brief moments of exposition hint as to her motivation but it is, ultimately, left unclear.

A secondary character, Clementine (Laurie Babin), is introduced to offer a contrasting, altogether more traditional take on the events. But Kelly-Anne remains the focus. It’s fascinating stuff, and the slow, deliberate pace never gets in the way of what is a genuinely compelling story.

“Kelly-Anne is a fascinating character and brilliantly portrayed by Juliette Gariépy. She doesn’t feel like your usual horror movie protagonist.”

It helps that Red Rooms is utterly gorgeous, opting for a 4:3 aspect ratio that offers the movie something of a Sunday-night crime drama appearance. The clever use of slow focusing, static shots, and a very deliberate and patient style of cinematography afford the movie a very unique and enjoyable aesthetic.

A very minor complaint

One thing I find hard to ignore when it comes to Red Rooms is how thin the narrative actually is. This could have been a short, really. There is a lot of padding, and most of the plot points are stretched to breaking. Those expecting a well-formulated story with depth and nuance will probably be left disappointed. This is a character study in a very slow form with no rush to get anywhere. With that in mind, it’s not particularly satisfying.

The whole tech genius, web sleuth, hacker thing is pretty fantastical and very overdone, as well. Red Rooms dives into the whole world of the dark web, cryptocurrency, and hacking in a way that feels a bit remedial and just a little immature. It feels as though parts of the script were written by a 17-year-old who spends too much time listening to dark web “let’s reads” and digging into the doldrums of Reddit to find their true-crime stories.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.

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