Film Review: DARKROOM (2013)

The road to recovery has never been as menacing as it is for Michelle (Kaylee DeFer) in the film Darkroom (2013).  Michelle has just gotten a new job recommended by her counselor after having been in rehab recovering from a past trauma.  Upon taking the new job she soon discovers that she’s the prisoner of three psychotic siblings who will teach her how to repent for her past sins even if it kills her. 

Michelle is forced to undergo intense questioning and torturing before she realizes she is but one of many other women who are also subjected to the siblings’ idea of religious purging and she must find a way to escape before she becomes their next victim.

Written by Britt Napier the film is designed as a lower budget version of Saw (2004) mixed with a little bit of The People Under the Stairs (1991) but is neither as graphic or horrifying or fun and entertaining as those two films (respectfully).  What the film does have going for it is Elisabeth Rohm who plays one of the siblings.  It’s refreshing to see her in a villainous role as I’m so used to seeing her in the hero and good-girl and she does her character well.

The film tries hard to make a point of having the Michelle character overcome her own person and internal demons by externalizing them by trying to save herself and a friend from the torture but it comes at the costs of logic as there is no real logic to some of the character’s motivations as audiences will perceive them as idiotic.  DeFer is a very capable actress who gives Michelle enough of an edge to allow you to oversee the film’s shortcomings.

Film Review: THE CORRIDOR (2010)

Death can cause childhood trauma that can stay with a person until that person either overcomes it or it consumes them.  This is what happens when a group of high school friends get together for a retreat in order to help one of them get over the unusual death of his mother which left him briefly in a hospital.  Once at this cabin in the middle of nowhere the men discover something unnatural just within the woods – an almost invisible corridor.  In The Corridor (2010) these four friends discover an anomaly in the woods that causes minute changes in their physiology.  It starts to drive them unstable and they are willing to do whatever it takes to keep the corridor a secret from outsiders but time is running out as the corridor grows larger consuming everything in its path.

 

The people trapped in the cabin with an exterior force on the other side of the door is something made infamous through The Evil Dead (1981) and for which has been often copied time and time again.  Although this is the set up for this film it detours significantly as this corridor is harmless until the four friends decide to keep it for themselves and then things start to take a turn for the worse as each turn on others and themselves leading to a bloody ending.

The film holds its own as a film about the mental breakdown of the characters and the effects of true friendship against all odds.  For some it may go too extreme in the third act as there is a lot of bloodshed but fans of horror will not be disappointed.  If anything, horror fans will be dismayed with the type of film this is as it starts off as a drama then goes into sci-fi territory before ending on a very gory horror note.  For those looking for something a little different this might be right up your alley.