User reviews

I've seen so many of these types of movies. Cube (also has 2 sequels) was one of the earlier good ones (where random people are stuck in various adjoining rooms with "puzzles to solve"). A more recent one that is better than Employer is Exam (2009) - rated 6.8 and with many great twists. Other similar movies involving people killing each other off in a "room" include: Devil 6.3 (2010) - people stuck in an elevator, The Killing Room 5.7(2009) - people in an scientific experiment, Unknown 6.5 (2006) - people stuck in a warehouse, Fermat's Room 6.6 (2007 - foreign language) - 4 mathematicians in a rm, The Method 7.3 (2005 - foreign language) - interview process Overall Cube (the first one) wins with 7.4 rating and oddly enough being the oldest (1997). Enjoy these movies if you like the genre.

Another story about a group of strangers locked together in an enclosed space, hoping for a way out. In here, these five are job applicants; in the last step to join a powerful corporation, only one can leave the room with the job... and their life.

I really like this kind of film; it is always such a psychologically heavy concept, often accompanied by interesting twists and thought- provoking mindgames...

Unfortunately, 'The Employer' fails in that aspect.

The movie is too short and moves too fast to create the necessary tension in the room scenes, and the characters/actors are so bad they are unable to create any interest in the viewer. And it is far from just the actors' faults (though they have their share on it): the characters are horribly conceived and developed, their actions not making sense and being overly ruthless/psychopathic to the point of being unbelievable/almost cartoonish.

This makes the twists almost pointless and their impact almost nonexistent. The psychological aspect the film needed ends forgotten and ignored.

Malcolm McDowell is the only one to do a good job, and his character is quite fun to watch (though equally bad). A sharp contrast to the otherwise terribleness.

In the end, this film is far too moronic and badly made. It can't even pass as a idiotic, semi-gory thriller, as the anti-capitalistic stance the film seems to defend (considering the way they portray the big corporations) show they tried to make this have some kind of half-assed message. In other words, they actually believed this could be good.

I give it a 4 just because I love this concept, which made me try to like it, but in the end it could very well receive a lower rating. Much better choices would be 'Exam', 'La habitación de Fermat', and even the 'Cube' franchise.

Well that was boring, halfway through I began fast forwarding through the rest.

The premise of people trapped in a room, is old. People trapped in a room for a job, has already been done too (can't remember the name of the movie though).

The production value is inexistent. My HDCam makes better pictures than what I've seen here. Acting is bad, lighting is awful, score is generic, nothing in this movie is new.

McDowell played 6 minutes in this movie, he probably just needed a morning to get the filming done. Well, lately he showed up in Z-Grade movies anyway. Seeing him casted is a strong indicator for a poor movie.

Please excuse my low quality review, but I just did it to balance the 10/10 fake reviews written by the PR guys.

Why does Malcolm McDowell keep doing these bad movies playing a cheesy cliché villain? He has acting chops and could do so much better. Most of the other actors are mediocre at best.

This movie is like a bad play with five actors stuck in one scene. This has been done so many times before and it has been proved to require outstanding talent to pull it off. The premise of this movie is just ridiculous. Even the special gore effects look really fake like a joke horror film. All I enjoyed in this movie was the good looks and body of Katerina Mikailenko.

This movie is the epitome of the idiotic Republican thinking (ruthless amoral selfish philosophy, and corporate scamming masquerading as "Capitalism") which has ruined this country. I just hope that its message was ridiculing and not extolling.

I just caught this movie and it was a powerful look at capitalism. The monologue by Malcolm McDowell at the end of the movie helps to deconstruct the basic ideals of the corporate world. Endure with this murderous tale filled with hopes of a peaceful escape, where the gore is aptly used for effect, stereotypes questioned and the interview process taken to a whole new level (while still being relateable to the actual job market). The variety of roles, the differing characteristics of the main five characters; all fitted in with flashbacks to show "how they got there?" and the overlooking McDowell.

With Billy Zane at the end, the use of music, good interview questions which foreshadow the coming violence and the simplicity of the characters and their lives help to fill out the 90 minutes extremely well. Watch it at night to help set the atmosphere, and for some reason reminded me of "Cube".

6/10 - got across what it set out to do with interesting shifts and entertaining, didn't try to do too much and built the characters slowly (but the interviewing flashbacks reveal future actions later in the movie).

This is the kind of movie I usually do not like. All the action in a closed frame, only dialogue, right, there are also four crimes, boring. But, the quality of the actors' play, I mean the five job candidates, all very natural, they pick up the film. Plus, Malcolm McDowell, "deadly serious" and very special talented. It is a little slow and predictable, even hard to believe that Keith Caverns (Michael DeLorenzo) can strangle with a tie the giant Mike Drake (Matthew Willig) or that Billie Lewis then kills Keith Caverns with her shoe heel. Except that, everything is like in life, I have seen with my own eyes such characters, in real life, in different working places, capable of anything for a job.

Just watch the trailer. I watched this movie when it first came out on DVD. The movie was so horrible I snapped the DVD in half. The acting, the lighting, the suspense, all terrible. What a waste of money to make. Whoever rated this a 10/10 had to be paid a whole lot of money.

I was quite enthusiastic of watching this movie when I learned of it. The plot reminded me heavily of a similar movie titled Exam. Thus, I was expecting a similarly thrilling emotional and psychological ride. I did not receive it.

While the movie was entertaining to watch, I could not be helped but be irritated by some of the most illogical actions the characters took given their seemingly high intelligence. Overall, I could pretty much guess what would happen next and the ending was very very disappointing. I could think of at least three different endings that would have been much more intriguing, plot-twisting and unexpected.

To sum up, entertaining for while it runs on the screen, but nothing mind-blowing and leaves you rather frustrated at the end.

If you want to listen to some interesting interview questions probably discarded by Google and Amazon HR professionals, then Malcolm McDowell is your man. He is always entertaining, but the writing here is a bit uneven, so he repeats himself a lot in this film.

This a very rare miss by David Dastmalchian, who is the best actor of his generation. But he can only play the cards he is dealt with; and those cards in this script are limited.

This scenario has already been done with Cube, and vaguely similar to Saw, but without the newness of the situation in Cube. I like Zane's performance as well, but it was cut short (no pun intended). The film is actually fairly predictable, and for that reason, I had to give it a 5.

Malcolm McDowell is widely known primarily for just two things, one being 'A clockwork orange' and the other being his unmistakable voice - practically the auditory equivalent of a sneer - that makes him perfect for particular roles, and villains above all. It's regrettable that in the latter part of his career McDowell has become rather pigeon-holed in that regard, being the go-to choice for anyone making a movie who is in need of an antagonist, with the result that the actor has found himself cast in a lot of schlock in, well, the past couple decades. That's not to say that Frank Merle's 'The employer' is totally rotten, but even from the very start it's very clearly a mixed bag, and it just doesn't have enough strength to pick itself up. I guess there are worse things you could watch, but nor is there any specific reason to check it out.

The writing wavers on a needlepoint of being blunt and unsubtle, yet carrying tinges of cleverness and nuance at some points and in some ways. Merle's direction, unfortunately, operates on a spectrum between heavy-handed and overcooked, and meek and undercooked. There are good ideas here, but even the characters are kind of stock material, templates that haven't been especially built upon in a meaningful way; illustrating the point, we can easily guess at the turn to come in how one is portrayed just because of how they are not given much focus early on - with the ultimate outcome of the competition being just as predictable. With the material being so weak, or at least not special, and Merle's direction hovering between insufficient and outright deficient, the cast struggle to make a mark. We know what McDowell is capable of at his best, and David Dastmalchian; I'm not familiar with Paige Howard, Michael DeLorenzo, Matthew Willig, or Katerina Mikailenko, but each illustrate a glimmer of skill (not served well by the feature) that tells me I'd like them elsewhere. Yet that's all we get from the cast here - a glimmer - and that's all 'The employer' at large really has to offer.

The stunts and effects are swell, sure, and I appreciate the production design, costume design, hair, and makeup. Though treated somewhat gawkily, there are obvious themes about the ruthlessness of capitalism and its most active participants; the scenario is barely an exaggeration at all as Merle correctly informs us, words unspoken, that the entirety of the economic system is evil and corrupt. And the foundation is here for what could have been a vibrant, exciting thriller. However, between the writing and direction? Well, to put it in Merle's own terms, 'The employer' could have been a vicious shark, but when all is said and done it's really just a meal, and at that one that is not really appetizing, let alone satisfying. It's not bad. It's just mostly much too meager to make itself count, and given the ideas underlying the premise, that's maybe even worse than if it had failed outright. Oh well.

Very twisted neat little spin on things.

Wife & I enjoyed this, start to finish had us wondering.

I will not spoil it, yes there are better movies but many many worse, worth a watch in our opinion.

A few similar movies with same / similar storyline but this is still interesting, yep do not want to spoil it.

I found out about "The Employer" from a friend's recommendation. And I'm glad I did! As the film begins, I am pleased to see Malcolm McDowell's cold, calculating dialogue – I became a fan of his from his work on HBO's "Entourage." I enjoy his almost sinister and cut-throat portrayal of a powerful executive in that series. In "The Employer", there is nothing 'almost' sinister about his character… he truly is a villainous madman! I later did some research and found that McDowell stars in the infamous Stanley Kubrick film "A Clockwork Orange." (I didn't know that! Pretty impressive.)

The story unfolds as five job applicants wake up in a locked vault, after being drugged. They piece together that they all are vying for a "life-changing" job at the Carcharias Corporation. We soon find out that their supposed last interview is actually set up as a kind of death match by McDowell's character, The Employer.

What I like about this film is that it uses character dialogue and flashbacks to tell the story. It's interesting to learn how each individual ends up in their current predicament. I also personally like the character 'Billie.' She's a tough, hot, sexy, ass-kicking brunette! Actually, I find that all the characters have something to offer, even the sociopathic 'Keith.' It's like each character reminds you of a part of yourself - that you either recognize or are in denial of, haha.

Plus, the thrills, surprises, and violence in the story are what you come to expect out of a movie of this genre - supported with a cameo by none other than Billy Zane! Enjoy!

"The Employer" is a psychological thriller. It's about five total strangers locked in a room together. They find out they are candidates up for the same position at the Carcharias Corp. "The Employer" is a thriller and full of suspense. The only way out of this final interview is if you are the last one to survive. It seems fear turns you into a killer rather quickly. All five candidates have different character qualities about them, some more ruthless than others. The scary thing is you can see yourself in these characters. And wonder could this ever happen to you. Yes it could, but hopefully you are lucky enough to slip by freaky companies like this one. I found myself rooting for a couple of characters in the film. You will too. You are rooting for them to win the position (which means you are rooting for them to be the last one alive). After watching this movie, I don't think I want to land any job interviews!

The Employer is a highly professional production, with great actors, good lighting and even a decent script. It's the story that's a little lame. We've seen it before, in Cube, in Saw and several others. In this movie, however, there's less intrigue, less tension, and none of the mechanical sophistication that makes Cube and Saw movies such a delight. I did enjoy it, true, as it has just enough suspense in its horrible premise to keep the viewer interested, but I'd recommend other movies before this one. Mind you, there are are so many movies of this ilk now that it would have to be considered a genre, like zombie, vampire or teen slasher movies. So, perhaps I do recommend it, particularly if you are a lover of this new genre. If that's the case then The Employer will be important viewing, as it it best illustrates what can be done on a bare minimum.

Merle does an excellent job of synthesizing both drama and suspense to create one of the most interesting movies I've seen in a very long time. We're lead to believe that its characters don't meet by chance, there's a real reason behind the sinister plot that encourages a vicious, dramatic performance.

We're lulled in slowly, as we discover the real reason the characters are there, what they were doing the night before, and the lengths they would go to acquire their position in the company. A lot of movies out there try to deal with the concept of Darwinism and natural selection, surely, but what happens when the business world adopts that mentality? Hasn't it already adopted that worldview? Success and profit mean everything, by whatever means necessary.

The Employer is a fascinating story of human psychology, ethics and the latent animalism that lurks within us all. Seemingly ordinary people whose one goal right now is to become millionaires are put side-by-side to uncover one of the most startling revelations--if that were me, I'd have done what they did. We watch as a spectators, but we're really watching ourselves--this is exactly what we would do if we were forced in these circumstances.

What're you waiting for? If you think Tom Cruise's Collateral had the natural selection argument, wait till you see The Employer.

Let's get hired!