REVIEW: I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

 By Stephen Pytak

It's the middle of the night. And it's been about 11 hours since I walked into a theater in Lancaster, Pennsylvania to watch a curious little psychological horror film distributed by A24 called I Saw the TV Glow. 

A few minutes ago I woke up thinking about it, in particular the film's big mystery.

Is this a story about young people who are simply obsessed about an odd TV show which deals with the supernatural?

Or is their connection to The Pink Opaque something more, something tied to their mortal coil, their identities and their fates?

While the film serves up some interesting twists and turns, a haunting soundtrack and some cool special effects, the filmmakers are careful how they handle its central conceit. 

Honestly, no matter which side of the fence you end up falling on, you'll find the situation somewhat unsettling. 

I Saw the TV Glow is about two kids from the suburbs who suffer from isolation and loneliness. There's "Maddy," a high school freshman played by Brigette Lundy-Paine. And there's "Owen," a seventh grader played by Ian Foreman.

The story takes place over the course of  years. It starts in 1996. Once the character "Owen" is a freshman in 1998, he's played by another actor, Justice Smith.

To cope with their dull existences, they become obsessed with an odd TV show called The Pink Opaque. In fact, it's a random conversation they have about the show which becomes the foundation for their relationship.

Maddy is sitting on the floor of a hallway in their high school, leaning up against a Fruitopia vending machine reading The Pink Opaque episode guide, when Owen wanders by and sees the cover. His parents won't let him stay up long enough to watch the show. So he sneaks out to Maddy's place to catch an episode. And once he sees it, he can't get enough.

The Pink Opaque is about two teenage girls, "Isabel (played by Helena Howard)" and "Tara (played by Lindsay Jordan)." They meet at summer camp and find they share an unusual psychic connection. They end up in life or death battles with demons controlled by a moon god named "Mr. Melancholy." This moon god is obsessed with ripping the hearts out of children to create some sort of eternal night.

Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine in I Saw the TV Glow (2024). Copyright A24.

Owen and Maddy aren't a couple (at least not in the traditional sense). Early on in their friendship, she admits she's into girls. And when she asks him if he likes girls, he says "I think I like TV shows."

Their favorite show is cancelled at the end of its fifth season. And the last episode is a doozy.

Once it airs, Maddy disappears. And the police find her TV set burning in her backyard.

A decade later, Owen is still stuck in the neighborhood, working at a local movie theater. And in one of the film's more creepy scenes, Maddy reappears. 

This is the part which made me a fan of the film. I really love this concept, that someone who's obsessed with a odd TV show about the supernatural mysteriously disappears. And for years, she is presumed dead. Then one day, she shows up out of the blue, back from the void.

And why did Maddy return? 

That's a whole other level of interesting.

She asks Owen if he remembers the show they used to watch, The Pink Opaque.

And, of course he does.

Then she insists it's more than just a show. 

What is it exactly? Dunno. But what she hits Owen with next is really a mind-blower.

She claims that she and Owen are, somehow or other, the show's main characters. She is Tara. And he is Isabel.

Then she says there's a way for the show to continue, there's a way for them to make season six a reality.

In that terrifying last episode of The Pink Opaque, Isabel and Tara were defeated by Mr. Melancholy and buried.

To bring those characters back for another season, Maddy says she and Owen have to step into their shoes, so to speak. 

She said she orchestrated a deadly stunt. She had buried herself alive and, somehow, she managed to claw her way out, resurrecting Tara in the process.

And now it was Owen's turn to do the same, in order to assume his true identity, in order to bring Isabel back to life. 

It's not everyday that you find a film with such frightening and challenging themes. I never saw anything quite like this before to be honest.

So, Owen had to make a choice, to either go along with Maddy's wild idea, or to run for the hills. 

And his decision would haunt him for the rest of his life. 

What happens to him in the final act is open to interpretation. 

While not everyone is going to dig on that, I think everyone who sees the film will have a slightly different take. 

The ambiguity makes the film all the more unsettling. And that's one of the reasons I recommend it.

The film was directed by Jane Schoenbrun. The producers include actress Emma Stone. 

It's the second film I've seen this year in which the television was central to the plot. The other was Late Night with the Devil (2023) which I highly recommend. I Saw the TV Glow reminded me about another film in which the main character was obsessed with a TV show and was determined to film its next season. That was, Brigsby Bear (2017).

Fans of Cronenberg's Videodrome (1982) might get something out of I Saw the TV Glow (2024). 

Fans of Sleepaway Camp (1983) will no doubt get something out of it, and might be fascinated the way it deals with trans identity. By the way,  those words, "sleepaway camp," are used in the film a few times.

Fans of It Follows (2014) might like it too. It Follows takes place in a haunting suburb with something of an otherworldly vibe. These are films which show you how the suburbs can be really scary places. 

It Follows was about a being from another world taking out teenagers who are sexually active.

I Saw the TV Glow, on the other hand, is about very different kinds of teenagers, the repressed. And, obviously, their world is just as scary and dangerous.

RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 4