I Saw The TV Glow

2024

Directed by: Jane Schoenbrun

Starring: Justice Smith, Jack Haven, Fred Durst!?

MINOR SPOILERS ARE COVERED LIKE THIS --> SPOILER!

This was an absolutely horrific experience and I mean that as a compliment. I've never had a movie with almost no gore strike such terror in me. That's how you know it succeeds as truly psychological horror.

The movie's a bit hard to describe and best to go in blind anyway so I won't go too much into the plot besides saying you follow the character of Owen (Justice Smith), growing up alongside a childhood TV show called The Pink Opaque. And, I gotta say the visual design of this movie is so stellar. I love the intentional coloring of every scene, contrasting the drab settings with splashes of bright neon colors. And they so perfectly capture the vibe of cheesy 90's "young adult" TV shows, both authentically and in the way that our young minds imagined them to be way better than we thought. As someone pretty much raised by television, this aspect of the film really spoke to me and I feel was portrayed beautifully.

I definitely felt some inspiration from early YouTube creepypastas. The VHS tapes. The distortions. The whole scene with the "final episode." I'd be shocked if those old Internet legends and short films weren't an influence. I'd love to see more horror media tackle Gen Z/Millenial nostalgia like this.

As for the story, yeah, it's really on the nose. Some might say too on the nose, but I kind of like that. Especially for a film with such overt queer themes. It feels sometimes like the movie is talking directly to its audience which works in a meta way paralleling Owen's experience with The Pink Opaque. I think you get out of the film what you put in. There's not really any jumpscares or blood and guts, but I'd still absolutely call it horror, just a more subtle kind. Many points of this movie made me genuinely want to throw up including its very strong ending.

If a horror movie involving themes of queer identity and fragmented memories interests you at all, even a little bit, I'd recommend this movie. Maybe you won't like it, but I think if you do like it, you'll really like it. I forsee this movie sticking in my head for a long time.

FULL SPOILERS AHEAD! PLEASE DON'T RUIN IT FOR YOURSELF!

I'm not doing any recap, I'm just assuming if you're reading this, you saw the movie. I had to bury the lead in the non-spoiler section but from now on I'm referring to Justice Smith's character as Isabel. The film is obviously a trans allegory, but also I interpreted the literal plot to be that Isabel is trapped as Owen in this "midnight realm" that is suffocating her. The show is real and everything Tara is saying is true. What a fascinating idea. I'm always down for an abstract movie, but I love it extra when you can still piece together a coherent plot with clues.

We're in spoiler mode, so I'm just gonna say the parts that specifically made me sick to my stomach. First, it was the reveal at the Double Lunch where everything started clicking together and we saw missing flashbacks. Then of course, the "final episode" where Isabel's "dad," who suspiciously looks a lot like Fred Durst, pulls her out of the TV. And finally, holy crap that ending.

I cannot overstate how bad that Happy Birthday scene rocked my shit. So many fears all combined into one terrible moment. The speeding up of the birthday song. The aggressiveness of the singing. And then the awful silence during the breakdown. As if the midnight realm knew that giving any sort of reaction to her suffering, any acknowledgement, even negative, would validate her feelings as real. But they can't let that happen; so it gave her nothing, waited for her to move on, and continued as usual. It truly set in the horror of a world designed to crush you.

Lots of horror movies have spooked me, maybe made me watch my back for a night. But that's a kind of existential dread that sticks with you. So even if it's not the cleanest movie ever and could've used more scenes to explore this concept, I have to give it a Platinum rating just for the pure dread I got from so many parts. Good job! I'll probably have to rewatch this soon, and I both am and am not looking forward to it!

Certified Platinum /10