The Killing Room

FIRST: Let us FOCUS on the Title's Content and Context: Perhaps the TITLE may sound gruesome... But Let me set the record straight regarding KILLING ROOM's AUDIO! Many reviewers complain about the sound. "Couldn't understand!", "Needed Captions!", they protest! Believe me, as an amateur expert, everything "Audio" here is exquisite; it just doesn't get any better! Is the dialog hard to follow? You bet it is! And this is EXACTLY what 32 year-old South African Director Jonathan Liebesman (Darkness Falls/Rings) wanted! Stress/Tension levels tend to go through the roof when you're under constant duress about having missed something crucial. Don't worry! I guarantee You won't!

KILLING ROOM does have similarities to most of the films it's compared to here. However, IMO it bears, by far, the greatest similitude to Spain's La HABITACION De FERMAT (FERMAT's ROOM). FOUR nothing-in-common strangers have responded to a Want Ad for "Test Subjects".

And, From the get-go, they're told that "They will be given $250 each, for their participation/ co-operation. One by one they will be eliminated from the experiment. However, they ALL will receive $250, irrespective of the order of their elimination!" What someone SHOULD have requested was: "Define ELIMINATION"!

Surprisingly well done ensemble acting, with Timothy Hutton, Chloe Sevigny and Peter Storemare the most noteworthy examples. If KILLING ROOM had not lost its iron grip on me for a few minutes about 3/4 through, I would have rewarded it with 10*...A real shame, that! Part Psychological Drama/Suspense, part Mystery/Thriller, part Dark Morality Play, and the fourth component is what makes KILLING ROOM totally unique, makes it stand out head and shoulders above the pack! Unfortunately, the simple act of revealing it would serve as a definite SPOILER!... So you'll just have to see KILLING ROOM for yourselves, won't you? 8*STARS*

..... ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA!

Any comments, questions or observations, in English o en ESPAÑOL, are most welcome!

I have to say, for a lower budget/independent psychological horror film, this one was probably one of the better ones I've seen. It's about four people who answer an ad to do some paid research. They are sent into a room, asked to fill out a questionnaire, and then greeted by the man running the 'test.' Without going into any detail, as soon as he explains what's going on, things change and begin to spiral out of control. Very intense and fascinating to watch. Nick Cannon isn't the greatest actor, but I thought he played his part very well in this. I also thought Chloe Sevigny was fantastic in her part, as well. This one is definitely worth a go. Rent it if you have a Netflix/Blockbuster Online account.

Watching "The Killing Room" is sort of a frustrating experience, because there seems to be a missed opportunity behind every corner. You just know there's a good movie in there somewhere, at times even several good movies, but whatever great material is buried in the mix just can't find a way to get to the surface. For instance: this film really had a fighting chance to be a dark, gripping, claustrophobic masterpiece. The four characters in the titular room are all well-written and competently acted (even by the surprisingly good Nick Cannon), their disputes are believable, their mysteries are interesting enough, but whatever atmosphere their scenes create is completely neutralised by the ridiculous number of scenes set outside the room. These are just so bland, so needlessly explanatory, one tends to wonder why they're even there. Why not just set the entire movie in just that one room, would have been way more effective and mysterious. "The Killing Room" is like this compelling magical illusion that the magician starts explaining while he's still performing it. It's not like this suddenly makes the illusion any less great, but it doesn't matter, it sucks out all the fun anyway. Furthermore, the twist ending is just kinda silly, if not just moronic. It's a thing you don't see coming, but when it does come it's still pretty "meh". This movie didn't work for me at all.

Although it isn't one of the top films I've yet seen I found this one worth watching. It is a sort of mind-game movie. It was only at the last few minutes that you truly understand what the hell you had to make of it all.

One of the reviewers said it was a waste of time saying that is was for the most part filmed in one room and the low budget statement. Well, let's watch 12 Angy Man, to my opinion one of the best movies ever, there is only one room where the entire movie plays out!

If you like mind-game movies, thriller and secret organization performing (brutal,but not sick-) mind game experiments (where people do die) you should watch this one.

Another film, based in one room, in which 4 people are eliminated to one, told from the perspective of a behavioural psychologist observing the experiment. The experimentees are promised $250 each for completing the 1 day 8 hour test but have no idea what the experiment is or who is behind it. The film starts out with a lot of promise - after the irony behind the traps in the Saw franchise the ingenuity bar has been set reasonably high already. Factor in the cult success of Cube and this film is branching into a cornered market. But then again that really is the problem: apart from 1 of 2 cheap jumps there is barely any glint of originality in either the script, performances or concept. The director has done OK with limited material yet even overlooking the often mumbled dialogue (really, why they whisper so much is utterly baffling) and the frequently massive jumps to conclusions that seem to be spontaneously materialising out of thin air, there is still nothing here to shout about. As other reviews point out, the walkie talkie commentary gets annoying quickly but thats not the biggest of the many flaws. Without the gore of Saw we need good three dimensional relatable characters whereas The Killing Room presents us with cardboard victims on the assumption that for some unknown reason we will guess who's going to survive and indeed, care. It's painfully obvious from the start who's going to win, what interested me was how the doctor would react to the unfolding events. Well, that plot line goes nowhere interesting - so that was a wasted mental effort on my part. The only positive from this film is that it's all over very quickly. There's a totally predictable twist ending and a wider social commentary element that falls flatter than Kansas.