The internet’s last frontier is the “Dark Web,” that part of the internet that is so privacy-focused in regards to location and identity that it’s often associated with criminal activities. Sure, the dark web is a useful tool for people in autocratic countries that restrict internet freedom, and of course, hackers love it, but it’s also rumored that you can have free-range access to every sick and deprived activity imaginable. The thing is, no one really knows because it’s a lot like Fight Club, you have to be a part of it to really know what it’s about. Canadian director Pascal Plante’s latest film Red Rooms seems to be a film that explores the Dark Web, but it turns out it is about an even darker side of the human psyche.
Red Rooms begins in a courtroom where the trial for accused serial killer Ludovic Chevalier (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos), nicknamed “The Demon of Rosemont” is standing trial for the kidnapping, sexual assault, dismemberment, and murder of three young teenage girls. As the prosecutor (Natalie Tannous) begins her opening statement, she explains to the jury the heinous nature of the crime, but also reveals that she will bring in expert witnesses who can explain the nature of the Dark Web and how he was able to commit a “red room” murder: an urban myth where murders are live-streamed can be watched by anonymous voyeurs who pay for the privilege to see the murders via cryptocurrency.
At first Red Rooms seems like it’s going to be a standard courtroom drama film. After the prosecutor makes her opening statement, Chevalier’s defense attorney (Pierre Chagnon) makes his opening statement proclaiming Chevalier’s innocence and that he’s being railroaded by an overzealous police force and prosecutor who planted evidence or perhaps he’s the victim of a hacker who planted all the evidence on his computer (which can happen). At first, the film feels like an elongated episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, but then the film pivots from the large story about a serial killer and his prosecution, to a story about a Dark Web user and a serial killer groupie who both are infatuated with the case for very different reasons.
Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy) is an aspiring model. And as much as she wants to make it big in the modeling world, her passion is hacking and navigating the Dark Web. She has a huge apartment high up in the sky where she has amassed a fortune in bitcoin (the Dark Web’s favorite currency) playing online poker. She is drawn to the trial and attends every day as a guest. During the trial she meets Clémentine (Laurie Babin), who is seemingly in love with Chevalier and believes he’s 100% innocent. She says almost everything the defense attorney says, just a great deal more passionate about Chevalier’s innocence. She even calls into a Canadian talk show live cursing them out for saying Chevalier is guilty. Clémentine’s almost deranged in her obsession with Chevalier. Somehow, she and Kelly-Anne bond over the trial despite their polar opposite motives and Red Rooms moves away from a murder trial and an examination of the Dark Web to an exploration of people who are fascinated with murder and the murderers.
Towards the end of the second act of Red Rooms, we finally get to understand Kelly-Anne more, and the audience gets to see why she’s so weirdly cold and detached from the world as her online exploration reveals that she seems to know more about the trail than even law enforcement does. This is where the film can prove a little frustrating for the audience. For a film that begins by saying it will explain the Dark Web to the audience, it ceases its explanation and rather shows you. And what transpires may go over non-techies heads and a great deal of internet jargon and fancy screenshots then move the story forward. The final act isn’t as engaging as the rest of the film, and this is primarily due to the abrupt nature of the Red Rooms’ ending, which could have used another 15-20 minutes of exploration.
Despite the film’s ending Red Rooms excels in the two main performances. Juliette Gariépy as Kelly-Anne is frightening in the film. Her cold demeanor as she’s watching the trial (and director Pascal Plante and great sound editing to drone everything out and focus on her eerie presence) is almost as chilling as the description of the crimes. Speaking of the crimes, it’s an interesting choice to not show the actual crimes, we just see people’s reactions to the carnage when they watch it on screen. Kelly-Anne’s obsession with the case means, of course, she’s a fan of snuff films, or is she? Is she Mr. Robot, navigating the Dark web as a cyber-Batman, or is she just as sick and demented as the Demon of Rosemont? In contrast to Kelly-Anne’s cold disposition, Laurie Babin as Clémentine is great as the erratic and serial killer-obsessed fan of Chevalier. It’s clear she’s a lost soul and attached and attracted to the wrong thing at her stage in life. There is a moment of clarity for her character in Red Rooms and Babin’s acting at that moment is very genuine and helps her character’s arc complete itself. Lastly, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos as Chevalier is also chilling. For the most part, the actor just sits in a secure box during his trial and doesn’t say anything. His eyes and composure do his talking for him. But there is a moment in the third act where he interacts with one of our leads his response is chilling, a great performance that has little to no dialogue.
Red Rooms is an interesting psychological thriller that is really about the psyche of damaged people unassociated with the actual crime. Its exploration of what draws people to darkness is a better use of the film than actually focusing on the heinous acts of the serial killer. While it may pique audience members’ interest in the Dark Web, its intention of examining the “dark web” of people’s psyche is a better narrative use of the film.
Red Rooms is now playing in theaters.
