Remember that creepy TV show you used to watch as a kid? No, we aren’t talking about Unsolved Mysteries, even though the host was absolutely terrifying. We are thinking more along the lines of Tales from the Crypt, Are you Afraid of the Dark?, and other kids’ TV shows. Those frightening anthologies put us into the shoes of rotating protagonists as they fought against some malevolent force. Even though it made us want to keep the light on at night, we assured ourselves that those stories were fictional. But sometimes, we can’t help but wonder if they were true? What if those scary TV tales could creep into our reality in some form? That’s what I Saw The TV Glow, an upcoming A24 film directed by Jane Schoenbrun, explores in its moody and peculiar first trailer.
We have no idea what’s really going on in this clip. But we are digging the overall vibes. There’s something very Stranger Things about it, specifically with the idea that there’s a world beneath our world that threatens to leak into our reality. The teens themselves are mildly brooding, sorta introspective, and perhaps a bit chaotic, much like the crew on Euphoria. (Minus the gratuitous drugs and sex, of course.)
And that monster we get glimpses of in The Pink Opaque? It’s giving low-budget, B-movie goodness. In fact, this story loosely feels like Candle Cove, a creepypasta horror story about a very disturbing kids’ TV show that many people remember watching in the 1970s. The kicker is it actually didn’t exist. Of course, this story isn’t exactly like it, but we dig what I Saw The TV Glow is doing in its trailer.
Here’s a synopsis of the film:
Teenager Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious late-night TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.
Hmmm, I don’t think Owen is an “ordinary” teen. I Saw The TV Glow’s poster is a simple yet effective homage to The Exorcist. It’s Owen sitting in front of a TV that appears to just have static but, from his perspective, is probably playing something sinister. (Random thought: Have today’s kids ever seen a TV with just static on it?)
The film stars Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Ian Foreman, and Helena Howard, Fred Durst, and Danielle Deadwyler.
What Is the Release Date for I Saw The TV Glow?
I Saw The TV Glow will hit theaters on May 3.