Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews

Director Christrian Volckman
Screenplay Christian Volckman, Eric Forestier
Starring Olga Kurylenko, Kevin Janssens, Joshua Wilson, John Flanders, Francis Chapman

Shudder’s The Room is an unfortunately, yet accurately named story that revolves around a singularity inside of a house that is discovered after the new home owners move in and are in the process of settling down. The uniqueness of this space lay in its ability to make wishes come true for the people who, while inside the room, make those wishes. There are caveats, of course. There is also a history of murder in the house, with the murderer, a John Doe, who lives in the sanitarium nearby. These factors weigh heavily on the third act.

Kurylenko and and Janssens are Kate and Matt. They purchase the home in upstate New York. It’s a bit run down, but they want to renovate. While doing so, they find a room that has been locked off from the rest of the house. Why this wasn’t brought up in the purchase process is unclear, but it doesn’t matter to the couple after they discover the special properties of the room. They begin to make a bunch of superflous wishes, all of which come true.

Then, after trying for a child again, the pain of previous attempts brings Kate into the room where she makes an astonishing wish. The result of the wish fufilled will have disasterous consequences.

The strength of The Room is not necessarily the acting of the cast. There are many actors here who are competent, if unmemorable outside of Kurylenko. The script is concisce enough to follow its own rules and still be interesting through the second and third act. If you want to see something that makes one think and instills just a bit of fear, one could to worse.

What we get is more proof that Shudder is making the most of their moderately budgeted but effective imagined stories. This is not necessarily something that would succeed on the big screen. It is definitely something worth watching after dark on a weekend.

(***1/2 out of ******)