Red Rooms: Zeugin des Bösen

Well, this certainly takes the cake for most disturbing movie of the year. This year definitely had it's share of trauma-inducing moments between The Substance, Kinds of Kindness, The Beast, and more, but none are as committed to the tone and the message as cripplingly as Red Rooms. There are a handful of notable films that cover the topic of snuff from the last 40 years, but none of them have ever taken this approach: focusing on the sickos who participate in the purchasing and consumption of such abominable media, rather than focusing on the sickos who create it. I'd have to say that outside of maybe The Beast, this was the most intrigued I felt while watching a 2024 film. It also made me feel the most passionate about needing to understand every detail of what I just watched when it was over.

While the striking lead actress Juliette Gariepy may not give the performance of a lifetime as her character Kelly-Anne, she does manage to confuse the viewer enough to scare them, again and again throughout the film. This is an upper-tier case of "Are they a good guy or a bad guy?! I cannot figure out their intentions for the life of me!"

Red Rooms is a meticulously balanced French-Canadian psychological horror movie that will creep its way under your skin without you noticing, and when its over, it's highly likely you will feel as if you just watched something that is genuinely cursed, and maybe a little too real.