We hear a link between music, chaos and quantum theory being suggested as Turn It Up! (2026) gets underway: someone is explaining to us, via a voiceover of sorts, that just the right kind of noise could, quite literally, open (interdimensional) doors. This is just before – in a fun, pace-setting title sequence – we meet a band. They could be any band. They’re on the road, and we see them undergoing all of the annoyances that come with the lifestyle, as well as noting the close bonds which form along the way. In particular, frontwoman AC (Justine Nelson) seems to be off her game. She mentions tinnitus, but there’s clearly more to it; but never mind, this is the end of the tour, almost time to go back to the real-life jobs which pay for all this (the point being made that touring is not lucrative – for most bands at least). She gets past her misgivings, and her strange physical symptoms, because the show must go on.
The band heads to the last scheduled venue. This place is ancient and deserted: weirdly, the sound desk is already set up, with signs indicating that it’s not to be altered. In effect, the vibes are off, but ever the professionals, the band carries on getting ready to play. Needless to say, perhaps, but this not a normal set. The timeline gets a little choppy here, but to sum up, the band does play – but to no audience, almost as if they are possessed. AC sees something strange whilst at the venue, and it seems like something, not a creature or a person exactly, but more of an otherworldly vibe, follows her home. She starts to see and hear things more regularly. It’s a memorable gig, then, but for all the wrong reasons…
Suspicions are further raised when more gig offers start to come in. Gigs, at real venues, where there may be an audience. More unusual still, one ‘Miss Vee’ (Liv Collins), a renowned manager, gets in touch and seems to take a real interest in their music. This is weird. The band, suddenly, seems to be on the up: but how? Is it something to do with their brand-new song, the one they’ve nicknamed ‘The Odyssey’? Is someone, somewhere taking an interest in their music for nefarious reasons?
Breaking away from the far more usual heavy metal/Satan connection usually present in horror cinema – fun though that is – Turn It Up! does things differently. Here we have an indie rock band, not a metal band, with a link to a different dimension rather than anything to do with Ol’ Scratch (though in some respects, this different dimension operates in a fairly hellish way). You could argue that the film is a riff – yep, noted – on the idea of the Devil’s Tritone, something more usually affiliated with metal, given that we have a specific musical sequence with mysterious supernatural power – but there’s more at play here, too. In the modern world, alongside everything else which is going on, both in the film and more broadly than that, perhaps it’s inevitable that we also end up tackling the exploitation of small bands, because that’s exactly what we see here. There’s an imbalance of power, to say the very least. But there’s pushback – some heartfelt, some hilariously inept – and even if there’s a bit of a surfeit of Bad Science in some spots, there’s really so much to enjoy and admire overall in this bold, economical little indie movie.
Alongside the strong performances and very funny script, there’s a strong sense of visual flair throughout. With some animations added to the film in places, the use of split-screen, high contrast, great colourisation and blended fantasy sequences, this team has wrung everything possible out of a no doubt modest budget. It’s great to see practical SFX in here too, adding a little horror to what is, overall, more of a sci-fi flick, and offering some crowd-pleasing sequences which are almost certain to land, especially at a festival screening.
Light in tone, but still trippy and pithy with points to make, Turn It Up! is a fantastical spin on how bands get exploited, but it’s also just a great, entertaining fantasy with real character arcs and fun ideas. It’s sure to find its audience: it’s a refreshing, ambitious little gem.
Turn It Up! (2026) premieres at the Tribeca 2026 Film Festival on June 4th, screening again on June 5th and June 7th.