I Saw the TV Glow is a 2024 American coming-of-age psychological horror drama film written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun. It stars Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine as two troubled high school students whose connection to their favorite television show drives them to question their reality and identities. The supporting cast includes Helena Howard, Lindsey Jordan, Conner O'Malley, Emma Portner, Ian Foreman, Fred Durst, and Danielle Deadwyler.
Plot[]
In 1996, isolated teenagers Owen and Maddy bond over the young adult television show The Pink Opaque, which follows teenagers Isabel and Tara as they use their psychic connection to fight supervillain Mr. Melancholy, who has the power to warp time and reality. As the show airs past his designated bedtime, Owen often sneaks out to Maddy's house to watch it with her, and has her give him tapes of the show whenever he misses it. Maddy feels deeply connected to the show, claiming that it feels more real to her than real life.
Two years later, while watching The Pink Opaque with Owen, Maddy begins sobbing inexplicably. She later explains that she has resolved to run away to escape her abusive stepfather. She implores Owen to join her, but at the last minute, he finds himself unable to go through with it and stays. Later that month, Owen's mother Brenda dies of cancer, Maddy goes missing, and The Pink Opaque is canceled after five seasons.
In 2006, Owen still lives with his father Frank and works at a local movie theater. Maddy suddenly reappears one night and takes Owen to a bar where it's "safe" for them to talk. She rebuffs his pleas for her to contact the police, instead questioning what he remembers of The Pink Opaque and claiming to have spent the past eight years inside the show itself. At her urging, Owen rewatches the final episode, in which Mr. Melancholy buries Isabel and Tara alive before imprisoning them in a pocket universe known as the "Midnight Realm." After finishing the episode, Owen suffers a nervous breakdown and attempts to smash his head through the TV screen before Frank pulls him out.
The next night, Maddy explains to Owen that after running away, she continued to feel unsatisfied, so she paid a man to bury her alive; after suffocating, she awoke in The Pink Opaque as Tara. She explains that they are in fact in the Midnight Realm and that their true identities are that of Tara and Isabel respectively; their memories of their real lives have manifested as episodes of a TV show. Maddy then encourages Owen to allow her to bury him alive so that they may return to their reality. She leads him to a football field to be buried, but he fends her off and rushes home. He never sees her again, but remains haunted by her claims.
In 2010, Frank dies of a stroke and the movie theater Owen works at goes out of business; his boss transfers him to a family entertainment center. One night, he rewatches The Pink Opaque on a streaming service, but finds it to be more fatuous and juvenile than he remembers. Over the next several years, both his depression and asthma increasingly worsen.
In 2026, during a child's birthday party at work, Owen begins screaming that he is dying and begs for help, though nobody reacts. He locks himself in the bathroom and cuts his chest open with a box cutter, smiling when he sees a TV screen playing The Pink Opaque inside. He returns to work and timidly apologizes for his outburst.
Cast[]
TBA