All killer, no filler: The Overlook Film Festival presents some of the best horror films of 2024

I've been following director Jane Schoenbrun since the release of her debut film We're All Going to the World's Fair in 2021 and was thrilled for her and the world at large after her second feature was announced to be distributed through A24. A true trophy for filmmakers. Getting the chance to see it early at this festival felt like a creative vitamin boost. Like it might have added years to my life. And I'm excited to see who will agree, since these people will fall into the category of “my people” and everyone else. . . won't.

As I was leaving the screening last night, shaken to my core, I heard a woman behind me say, “I'm not sure about that.” And I had to physically stop myself from spinning around and screaming, “Well then.” you an idiot!” Her comment mixed with exclamations of “What??” Some viewers tell me throughout the film that the heady, LGBTQIA+-to-max nature of this film will be a hard pill to swallow for some. Then you choke on it. I say. This is literally one of the best films I have ever seen in my life.

This is how Schoenbrun himself describes the film's premise: “It's about two lonely teenagers who find each other through their shared love of a strange, somehow scary, somehow sweet TV show.” [called ‘The Pink Opaque.’] They get together every week to watch the film, but when their obsession spirals out of control, their entire sense of reality is called into question.” And yes, that's a perfect blanket summary, but there's a whole world of words to live within on the screen (preferably a large one) in order to understand it. And even then it is more likely to be felt than understood.

While Maddy wishes her life would be more like The Pink Opaque and does so, Owen struggles with his gender identity and the tension between choosing his authentic self and the “easier” path of the humdrum suburban life in which he works a children's adventure center who makes his family home his own after the death of his mother (Danielle Deadwyler) and his dirty father, played by the sinister Fred Durst. In one scene, a now older Owen, who still has the same job he has done most of his life, has a breakdown when he and his younger-looking colleagues are supposed to sing “Happy Birthday” to a child. “I'm dying!” Owen screams, running to the bathroom to calm himself down by cutting himself in the chest and letting the light from The Pink Opaque escape. Afterwards, we see him walking across the floor of the Adventure Center. As he passes by, he tells customers, “I'm sorry.” And in a memorable shot near the end of the film, “There is still time” is written in neon chalk on the street. A reminder to all of us not to live in fear and die in fear of being who we are.