10/12 ForReel Score | 4.5/5 Stars

Ever since I saw Jane Schoenbrun’s We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, I knew they were a director with promise. Despite my lukewarm feelings on their directorial debut, I could feel Schoenbrun’s potential bleeding through the screen. Their use of lighting, sound design, and pastel visual aesthetics demonstrated a deep knowledge of the evocative nature of the horror genre. Schoenbrun is not a “horror filmmaker” per se, as their ability to blend genres transcends beyond the horror genre's limited conventions. Now, that potential I had seen in We’re All Going To The Worlds Fair has come to fruition with their sophomore feature, I Saw the TV Glow. This darkly cerebral psychological thriller/horror/drama spellbound me from beginning to end and only reaffirms Schoebrun as a filmmaker to pay attention to in the coming years.

The film's opening shot thrusts you into the bizarre suburban world that Schoenbrun so expertly captures. As the camera steadily tracks down a quiet, suburban street, multicolored chalk is scribbled across the pavement, signifying Schoenbrun’s signature style and knack for pastel pinks and greens. It’s exciting to watch an up-and-coming filmmaker blossom into an auteur, as Schoenbrun’s themes of queer identity and obsessive media consumption reach a new peak with I Saw the TV Glow, and with it is a new step in the evolution of queer horror. I Saw the TV Glow focuses on impressions and imprints of the media we watch and how it morphs us into different versions of ourselves. Identification with media is a two-way road that comes with positives and negatives. Media identification, especially in the 21st century, allows queer youth to feel seen and heard, as the media they consume helps with shaping their personalities and identities. On the other hand, media identification is a slippery slope, as love for a piece of media can descend into maniacally obsessive fan culture.

The core premise of I Saw the TV Glow revolves around Owen (Justice Smith, also present at Sundance for his leading role in American Society of Magical Negroes) and Maddie (Brigette Lundy-Paine), two queer high-schoolers who connect through the mutual love of a fictional 90’s TV show, The Pink Opaque, a show about two psychologically connected teenagers who fight bizarre monsters. The show-within-the-movie is inspired by shows from Schoenbrun’s childhood, such as Goosebumps and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with a twist from Schoenbrun’s mesmerizing visual aesthetics. The film spans from Owen’s childhood to adulthood, first played by newcomer Ian Foreman before he grows up, while Justice Smith takes the reigns through Owen’s teenage and adult years. The character progression is reminiscent of Ari Aster’s Beau is Afraid with a queer flair, as Owen cross-dresses in multiple dreamlike scenes, as well as donning pink wardrobing to signify his inner femininity. Furthermore, Owen is cross-dressing as his favorite character from The Pink Opaque, illustrating how the character has made an impression on his queer identity.

Owen’s overbearing father talks down to Owen for watching The Pink Opaque, criticizing him for liking a show “for girls.” This brief exchange between father and son lays the groundwork for the inner conflict within Owen, as his father looks down upon any glimpse of femininity. This disdain for Owen’s queerness results in Owen repressing his feminine identity, which causes him much more harm than good. The harsh reality within this scene is that some parents are unsupportive of their children’s queerness, resulting in intense psychological turmoil within the child. When one can’t be themselves in reality, they turn to fictional escapism to see and feel themselves represented and validated.

The film takes a dark turn as Owen continuously represses his queerness, culminating in a somewhat confusing yet spine-chilling finale, preventing any form of catharsis. While I was, at first, jarred by that lack of catharsis, pleading with the film not to cut to the credits, I realized that the lack of catharsis is the point. When queerness is repressed, there is no emotional catharsis. The repression just digs deeper and deeper into one’s soul.

Justice Smith’s performance as Owen is heartbreaking, tender, awkward, and confused as he tries to navigate his identity crisis after the cancellation of his favorite show. Smith’s ability to channel the inner struggles of queer youth is incredibly subtle and tragic as we watch this awkward and repressed boy grow into a hollow shell of a man, a man who desperately does not want to conform to heteronormativity, and a man who might not want to be a man at all. He represses his trans identity in his youth, and the self-destructive nature of that repression takes a severe toll on the little boy we saw at the beginning of the film.

I Saw the TV Glow isn’t just a movie about queerness, it’s about how silencing queerness causes more harm than good. After seeing Smith in films like Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Detective Pikachu, and Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves, I was worried that he would be stuck doing franchise and blockbuster work for most of his career. Fortunately, Schoenbrun taps into Smith’s own queer identity and crafts a career-best performance from an actor whose career could only benefit from a change of pace.

I Saw the TV Glow is surely going to be polarizing upon its theatrical release, as the sheer originality and ambiguity of the film will definitely please some audiences while alienating others. I believe this film will especially connect with Gen-Z horror fans, and queer horror fans will especially love this film. Watching Schoenbrun evolve and grow as a filmmaker is as exciting as it is intriguing, and I’m sure to be seated for their next feature, whenever that may be.

Sundance 2024 | Movie Review: "I Saw The TV Glow"; Jane Schoenbrun Hits Their Stride, Justice Smith Shines