The Killing Room

A Room Without a View
A movie as spare as the clinically white room in which most of the action takes place, THE KILLING ROOM is tightly wound and highly entertaining. Shot in a slightly monochromatic, gritty visual style the film introduces a room of strangers gathered together to participate in a medical experiment for cash--or so they think. What unfolds is part SAW, part THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, and just a tiny bit Jason Bourne and the video game PORTAL. Movies that focus on the 'what would you do to survive' motif are hardly new and usually fail because they are rehashes of old material or because they are simply too gross. THE KILLING ROOM is able to walk the fine line between ruthlessness and psychological tension coupled with a strange believability that really drives it all home.

The director Jonathan Liebesman has also wisely chosen to let the audience watch the action from both the killing room as well as from behind the scenes, all through the eyes of the very well acted Ms. Reilly...

Suspense, Mystery, Intrigue..
Let me start out saying I am reviewing the movie itself, and not the Blu-ray release. I have seen it in HD on HBO but have not yet seen the blu-ray (as it is not out yet).

This movie is an excellent suspense / thriller movie. Premise is that a small group of people are brought to a room for a "psychological research study". Basically under the guise that if they participate in the questionaire they will get paid. Things quickly go downhill from there, and soon become caught in an experiment that forces them to fight for survival The story isnt terribly original, but it is spun in such a way that it is definately worth watching. Also it is one of those stories that is best watched without knowing too much about it, as a large part of the movie is trying to figure out whats going on as they feed you little tid-bits of information throughout the movie.

Its not a big budget movie, so they keep things simple. This is not to say its low budget or low quality,...

(2.5 STARS) The Thriller Has Some Moments Despite Plot Holes
Four individuals are ushered into a small room, where they are told to fill in the questionnaire they are given. They are Crawford (Timothy Hutton), Kerry (Clea DuVall), Paul (Nick Cannon) and Tony (Shea Whigham). Obviously there are no connections between these people, except that they all have volunteered for the scientific or psychological researches conducted by some institute. But one terrible thing happens and they realize that what they are asked to do is something far more difficult than they expected, including their own survival. After all, the film's title is "The Killing Room."

The premise of the film might remind you of some of the recently-made thrillers (like "Cube" and "Das Experiment"). Part of the film's uniqueness, however, derives from its subplot (or main plot) about those who are observing the consequences of their researches. Chlo