The internet is a marvellous tool; it gives everyone access to the world at their fingertips, where you can find news, salacious gossip, trolls, recipes, and the occasional entertaining review.

But within it can also be found the dark web, where undesirable types can lurk in anonymity, and operate outside of the law.

French Canadian director Pascal Plante explores the theme of the dark web in this French-speaking psychological thriller.

On trial in a Quebec courtroom for a series of heinous crimes is Ludovic Chevalier (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos). He has been labelled the Demon of Rosemont for the violent deaths of three young teenage girls, which were streamed live on the dark web.

It is the type of macabre case that attracts all sorts, including Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy) and Clémentine (Laurie Babin), who meet sleeping outside of the court in order to get a seat inside the trial each day.

Clémentine is adamant that Ludovic is innocent, maintaining that all the evidence is bogus. Kelly-Anne is less forthcoming with her views, only prepared to divulge that she is fascinated by the case.

Kelly-Anne takes pity on Clémentine, who doesn’t have access to the type of wealth that she has, being both a successful model and a pro online poker player, so invites Clémentine to stay at her lush apartment.

The pair are two very different people, and yet share a passion for the goings on within the trial. But why are they both attracted to this possible killer?

Initially at least, director Plante presents his film as a courtroom drama. However, it’s the only time of the film that you can be sure of what type of film it is exactly, before it mutates, albeit slowly, into what can only be described as something else.

What’s clear is that the main protagonist is Kelly-Anne, although she maintains an air of secrecy for the most part. Perhaps the fact that she’s a whizz at poker is supposed to support the fact that she keeps her details and opinions very much close to your chest. It feels clumsy and clichéd here, especially as there’s very little to go by.

The director, who also wrote the script, then begins a bonding session between the two young women, which takes up a fair amount of the film’s two hour running time, without it really amounting to much, which is disappointing.

But this disappointment is to be surpassed with the his lacklustre finale, where Kelly-Anne finally reveals her hand in an unsatisfactory fashion. It’s a shame as the film is always building towards something, creating a modicum amount of curiosity and interest along the way, with a poor pay-off.

His main protagonist is certainly an interesting character, played well by Gariépy, but her back story, which is never revealed or even hinted at, would be of far more interest than what plays out here.

In closing then, Red Rooms is guilty of leading its audience on, in what is a certain case of fraud, disguising itself as a dark taut thriller, and clearly failing to deliver.