The Review
This is a movie I never saw in theaters and I honestly don't know why I never got around to seeing it. The trailers looked fascinating and I thought it looked pretty good, maybe I was just prioritizing other movies at the time. I just saw this for the first time last night and I gotta say, this movie was really good! This isn't like other A24 horror films such as Hereditary, Midsommar, X, Pearl, Green Room, Talk to Me or anything like that, it's not fucked up, violent, gory or anything like that, it's a very atmospheric, weird and stylish horror film. There's no jump scares or scenes really at all that are trying really hard to scare you. It completely relies on the mood and the weirdness of everything going on for its horror. It's not just a good horror film, but its also a movie that does nostalgia right! The film is set in 1996 and it's a loving tribute to television back in that time, specifically shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark, Goosebumps and such. It successfully captures the feeling of nostalgia without pandering or feeling forced and desperate. I love how unapologetically odd it is too, there's tons of visual storytelling going on in this movie and the movie brings to the table lots of weird imagery that's both very creative and contributes a lot to the horror aspect. The cinematography is also fantastic, especially when it comes to style. You get your standard clean modern look which is good but you also get the 4x3 aspect ratio with the grainy box TV look like as if you are actually watching TV back in the 90s, it was all done brilliantly. The performances are wonderful too, and the characters were very well thought out! The two teenage friends the film focuses on have great chemistry with each other, and that's all thanks to a great screenplay and fantastic performances from Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine. I will say though that this isn't a film that will please everybody. This film doesn't provide clear answers to everything that goes on and leaves it up to you to interpret what it is, so if that's not your thing you will not enjoy it. I only had one issue with the film and that was some of the pacing. Very few A24 films actually have the tightest pacing and this film was no exception. There are scenes that do a bit too long, so this film could have been trimmed a bit to keep the pacing tighter.
Conclusion
So in the end I highly enjoyed I Saw the TV Glow, it was a very atmospheric, stylistically satisfying horror film with a intriguing story and tons of great, weird visuals! It was well acted, well written, all the works! If you are looking for a unique horror film that not only lacks those annoying jump scares and also uses nostalgia to its advantage, I think you'll really like it!
Grade: A
Film info:
MPAA rating: PG-13 (for violent content, some sexual material, thematic elements and teen drinking)
Studio: A24
Director: Jane Schoenbrun
Release date: May 17th, 2024
Run time: 100 min
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