I Saw the TV Glow (2024) 'Elevated Horror' may or may not be the right category for this one......
True, it's populated with monsters, most of them accomplished with impressive practical make-up effects.
But it's clear from the first frame that scaring us is far from what's on the mind of writer-director Jane Schoenbrun.
At a moody, measured slow pace, sometimes interrupted by startling visuals, the film focuses on two disaffected teens, each quietly afflicted by a miserable family life and their own gender upheavals.
7th grader Owen (Justice Smith) stumbles upon 9th grader Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), who's obsessed with 'The Pink Opaque', a young adult supernatural TV series. In the show, a clever knockoff of 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer', two teen girls with psychic powers hunt down monsters-of-the-week, especially their 'Big Bad' Mr. Melancholy, a literally moon-faced entity.
Maddy's realization she's gay has already made her an outcast in the suburban community, while the painfully shy, physically slight Owen can't yet figure out if he belongs with girls or boys. But together, they escape their individual agonies by immersing themselves in the Pink Opaque universe.
But the show has a far more serious grip on Maddy than Owen. Fleeing her cruel home life, she reappears years later, explaining to a stunned Owen that she's found a way to live inside the bizarre world of 'The Pink Opaque'. When she asks him to join her, the still timid, conflicted Owen can't bring himself to surrender his ties to the real world.
If any of you reading this feel like saying things like 'Huh?' or 'Say what now?'....well, welcome to 'I Saw the TV Glow'.....
Even if you've enjoyed the excursions into artistic, 'elevated' horror, might find this film testing your patience to its very limits. But for those willing to accept director Schoenbrun using the genre as a metaphor for the inner torment of gender transitioning, there's much eye-popping imagery and subtext to savor here.
What did BQ get out of it? Maybe this wasn't on the film's agenda, but in a way, it functions as a cautionary tale for Fanboys and Fangirls who use fantasy films and TV shows to escape what they view as their own life's deficiencies. (Take note of the scene where Owen re-watches 'The Pink Opaque', saddened by how crude and amateurish the series now looks to him...)
Having sat through enough tired, derivative horror films, we still found this one, odd, slow and obtuse as it is, brimming with fresh ideas and the cinematic chops to pull them off. And let's not end this without mentioning the two lead actors are beyond superb.
And chances are, you won't see a horror film this year as creatively off the beaten track as this one.....3 & 1/2 stars (***1/2).
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