Kelly-Anne is obsessed with the high-profile case of a serial killer, and reality blurs with her morbid fantasies. She goes down a dark path to get the missing video of the murder of a young girl to whom Kelly-Anne bears a disturbing resemblance.
Remember the illicit website Silk Roads? The famous early example of Dark Web trafficking, primarily in narcotics but, inspired other less morally-minded websites to traffic in weaponry, assassinations, and much darker things. These are just the websites that were caught. Since then, people have wondered: What other sites are still out there? It’s a question fraught with moral peril because even to try and look endangers your sanity, the exact question at the center of “Red Rooms,” a legal courtroom faux-true-crime thriller that examines more the people obsessed with killers than the killers themselves. “Red Rooms” centers itself on obsession, techno-sleuthing, and the Dark Web’s evilest corners to depict a fraught descent into shell shock and maybe even twisted romance.
First, “Red Rooms” does not inherently depict violence. The movie clearly states in the opening arguments of the court case that to watch the videos of these killings would be to endanger your very soul and to lose a piece of yourself forever. This movie is NOT about a serial killer being brought to justice, per se, but about the people inspired by this killer. As if a serial killer wasn’t enough for modern society, some attach themselves to this killer, proclaiming undying love and affection. Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, and Jeffrey Dahmer are all among America’s most notorious killers, with followers, even women, marrying the killers in prison. These people, primarily women, are the subjects of this movie, so anyone looking for a taut, horror-esque serial killer will be sorely disappointed. They will, however, be inspired to see such a unique depiction of a shocking and terrifying idea.
To anchor this idea, Juliette Gariepy plays Kelly-Anne, our stone-cold protagonist. Her character’s cold demeanor thaws throughout this film with each twist and turn in the courtroom drama, leaving us guessing until the end. She uses silence and stillness like a weapon, conveying minute terror or subtle shock. Her frigid demeanor towards the trial borders on sociopathic until she meets Clementine (played by Laurie Babin.) A much more downtrodden Clementine looks like the exact opposite of Kelly-Anne. Where Kelly-Anne is a well-earning model who always looks perfect, Clementine rants and raves about her lover, the killer; despite her unkempt appearance and apparent lack of funds, she is desperation incarnate and brings to life the very real women who idolize killers.
The movie utilizes these two women to perfectly illustrate the conditions in which a person falls in love with a figure, albeit a torturous murderer. The slow-building bond between the two – Kelly-Anne’s silent confidence inspires Clementine’s own unhinged behavior to new heights – makes for the best parts of this movie. Clementine’s unabated love for killed Ludovico Chevalier plays well to the news cameras, whereas Kelly-Anne’s slyly amassing cryptocurrency wealth through online poker and preparing for an auction of the killer’s final video. With the two women twirling around each other, the story picks apart who has the stronger bond with this unknown man.
One of the smartest moves surrounding this film is never to show the killer’s videos. The movie is not interested in detailing the killings, shocking the audience with violence, or even revealing some turn in the courtroom drama if only we can finish watching a torture video. More brilliantly, this film lets us imagine the details of the gruesome video, playing out its audio in a closed courtroom Clementine tries to peek into. As a perfect nod to the brutality on display, a medic interrupts Clem’s efforts by wheeling a stretcher in for a jury member who collapsed. With just enough haunting audio and harsh screams, we might also collapse, given the context provided for us.
This is a film that’s delicate in its depictions. The women at the core of this drama undergo mockery, disappointment, and self-doubt, and while the film never allows us to empathize with the killer, it does create enough remorse to understand what motivates these women. The camera moves slowly, methodically, all over the courtroom in a twenty-minute opening one-take where the prosecution and defense lay out the entirety of the case for the viewer. It’s an inspired choice, and the kind of perfectly level cinematography adds to the ominous depiction of the trial. As Kelly-Anne’s world unravels, her ground unsteadies, the camera wobbles more and more. The close-ups of computer screens illustrate to us how procedurally simple it is to gain access to someone’s email and, thus, their house. With such profound grounding in reality, the film builds to its dramatic conclusion, pivoting away from the trial entirely to focus on the protagonist.
I found myself deeply unsettled by this movie. The way Kelly-Anne easily navigates the dark web to fund herself and gather horrifying videos feels eerily real. While the main buildup between Kelly-Anne and Clementine takes the front half (and indeed provides the most interesting parts of the movie), the back half unwinds a little bit to get out of the psychology and deliver a little more plot. All told it creeped me the hell out without having to show a single bone breaking. I find that a powerful method of filmmaking indeed. Check this out if you like a good slow-burn procedural with a psychological twist.
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