The Killing Room

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.

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.

In this review I shall not go deeply into the plot, as I believe that the viewer will benefit from knowing as little of the narrative as possible, seeing as the script offers many twists and turns to any film-goer looking for thrills, and the film delivers on its dark premise, and then some.

While films where a group of characters are manipulated and tested upon in many a sadistic and calculated manner have been all the rage since the Saw series, (comparisons to the franchise wouldn't be completely unfounded) this movie has a somewhat different approach to all the torture porn of late by relying on mind-games to get its thrills. Thanks to the swift pace, taut direction and believable cast, this is pulled off tremendously well.

The plot concerns under-the-radar experiments by a government-tied group (the purpose of which not revealed to the viewer until later) on a group of random volunteers. It starts off innocently enough when they are asked to fill out a form of questions, but things take a sudden turn for the sinister, and the group starts acting upon instinct. However they are constantly being scrutinised by a team of psychologists, and through conversations with the leader of the project and a talented new employee, we learn that their every move is anticipated and prepared for. This creates a sense of impending doom, and brilliantly we, the viewer, feel like we are observing them along with their captors.

The performances are incredibly strong and plausible, and as we learn more about the characters and their motives, the suspense and drama feels all the more engaging. While the idea that experiments like this are still being carried out to this day (the film is based upon real experiments conducted by the CIA in the 60's and 70's) is completely impossible, the script makes it feel completely possible. The whole film twists and turns sharply, making for some genuine bite-your-nails, edge-of-your-seat stuff, something which has been missing from thrillers lately.

For fans of this sort of fare, I wholeheartedly recommend this as what is going to be one of the best thrillers of this year. Hell, even if you don't like the genre usually, I think that you should give this a watch. The film will grip you throughout the entirety of its running time until it twists the knife one last time and leaves on a brilliantly sinister note.

This movie is so good, and was one if the first "trapped" or "game play" horror films that really stuck with me. Very underrated but more than worth watching.

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.