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Why to watch
- 'I Saw the TV Glow' shows the sinister side of obsessive fandom
- When: I Saw the TV Glow is in theaters May 17.
- What to know: Set in the ‘90s, the psychological-horror flick stars Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine as two alienated teenagers who bond over their shared obsession of a TV show, The Pink Opaque.
- When the show mysteriously goes off the air, the teens’ lives take a turn for the dark and twisty, and their realities begin to spiral out of control.
- Director Jane Schoenbrun, who uses they/them pronouns, told Polygon that the film was inspired by their Buffy the Vampire Slayer obsession growing up.
- Why I'll be watching: The movie explores what happens when fandom goes too far.
- — Neia Balao, entertainment reporter
- May 15, 2024
People also ask
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May 1, 2024 · “I Saw the TV Glow” mostly takes place during Owen’s older teenage years, when arresting questions of identity, sexuality, and personhood often occur with urgency. A transformative Justice Smith takes the reins of Owen, playing this outcast with the wounded rawness of a permanent scar.
With a distinctive visual aesthetic that enhances its emotionally resonant narrative, I Saw the TV Glow further establishes writer-director Jane Schoenbrun as a rising talent. Read...
- (134)
- Jane Schoenbrun
- PG-13
- Justice Smith
May 2, 2024 · Teenage malaise, untreated, can sour into an adult psychic prison; the TV is just one way that we escape. I Saw the TV Glow Rated PG-13 for some really trippy stuff. Running time: 1 hour 40...
6 days ago · Watching this scene back again from writer-director Jane Schoenbrun’s one-of-a-kind horror film “ I Saw the TV Glow ,” I found myself utterly mesmerized. As was the case in Schoenbrun’s ...
- Astonishingly beautiful and vulnerable art-horror from the director of We're All Going to the World's Fair
- The Best Horror Movie of 2023
- What's your favorite YA horror TV series?
- Verdict
By Katie Rife
Posted: Jan 20, 2024 4:00 pm
This review is based on a screening at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
Jane Schoenbrun’s debut narrative feature, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, premiered at Sundance in 2021 – an edition of the film festival held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that it’s an immersive journey into creepypasta culture, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair actually benefited from debuting in that format. For their second feature, I Saw the TV Glow, Schoenbrun has teamed with A24 – an indie juggernaut that’s become a brand unto itself – to expand the scope of their vision. The money is well spent: This is a film that needs to be seen on the largest screen possible.
The content is hazy and ephemeral as well, following two decades in the life of Owen (Ian Foreman and Justice Smith). When we first meet Owen in 1996, he’s a lonely kid who finds an unlikely ally in Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), a slightly older outcast at his high school. The pair connect over their shared love for the TV series The Pink Opaque, a teen horror anthology about two girls, Tara (Lindsey Jordan) and Isabel (Helena Howard), who use their psychic bond to fight supernatural evil. “Clips” from the “series” – basically a hybrid of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Goosebumps – are woven into the film, switching from radiant HD to grainy VHS with a touch of Lumière Brothers-style stop motion. They’re surreal and comedic and occasionally terrifying, and enhance the feeling that we’re watching a dream, or maybe a half-remembered episode of TV from 20 years ago.
Maddy and The Pink Opaque become an escape for Owen as his family life turns dark. His father (Fred Durst) doesn’t get it – “Isn’t that a show for girls?,” he asks when Owen asks to stay up late to watch it – and his mother (Danielle Deadwyler) is preoccupied. So Owen starts spending Saturday nights sleeping over in Maddy’s basement, watching the show (“10:30-11 Saturdays on the Young Adult Network,” characters repeat like a mantra) and slowly opening up to one another. Maddy speaks in sullen, angry bursts and rarely makes eye contact. Owen sucks on his inhaler and hesitates to give an opinion on anything. Both leads give heart-rending performances, but Lundy-Paine’s is especially moving, with a clear personal connection between actor and material.
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Goosebumps (1995)
Goosebumps (2023)
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
The Midnight Club
Other. Tell us in the comments.
I Saw the TV Glow is an earnest personal statement wrapped in a surreal art-horror movie, a labor of love whose originality and astonishing beauty establish writer-director Jane Schoenbrun as a major cinematic talent. Schoenbrun envelops a tale of two lonely teenagers – and the director's own feelings about gender – in an ephemeral haze that transf...
- Katie Rife
May 3, 2024 · It is a passionate, terrifying, physical manifestation of a movie. It reaches inside your imagination and stirs it around, making new connections between familiar concepts. It’s not just great,...
Jan 19, 2024 · ‘I Saw the TV Glow’ Review: Jane Schoenbrun’s Eerie Ode to Adolescent Television Obsessions. Two misfit teens bond over an uncannily formative '90s fantasy series in a strikingly styled...
