Red Rooms (2023)

Red Rooms is an 8-part web-tv series that may be joined together as a movie in the future -- but right now, it is on YouTube in short, 10-minute episodes. It works very well this way as you can easily take a break and come back to it later. The premise is chilling: Five people who don't seem to be connected at first, are taken prisoner and forced to take part in a snuff film that's being filmed live for wealthy viewers on the dark webs. They each plead for their lives but are forced to admit bad thing things they have done, which of course, weakens their arguments. Viewers vote in to give their say on whether or not these evil people should live. There is a pedo priest, a sexually abusive Hollywood agent, a shady senator, a hitman for hire, and a wealthy power broker. Not many redeemable qualities to be found! The cast is really good. I was most impressed with Brooke Lewis Bellas (who is also a producer of the show) and David Alpay. They both showed an escalation as their character's lives were increasingly threatened. The power broker was good, too. The other actors were good but they started off hysterical and stayed that way till the end. I liked the way the rooms really were red which made the chambers where the victims were held look more menacing. The computer imagery was simple but did the job. The writing and directing from Joshua Butler, who's done a lot of TV (including The Vampire Diaries) keeps things moving along nicely. Recommended.