When I heard about the basic plot outline of "The Killing Room", the first thing that popped into my head was... Saw. Think about it... strangers trapped in a room together, one one is allowed to leave the room, and they are forced to answer trivia questions that determine who is killed. On top of that, the room they are all trapped in is white... which was the color that the bathroom was in the original "Saw" where the two main characters were trapped. That being said, I didn't have very high hopes for this one.
I was wrong.
From the very beginning, I was immediately sucked into it, and stayed that way until the final frame. This movie doesn't feel like "Saw" at all. In fact, it's a thriller as opposed to a horror movie. There aren't any serial killers or torture contraptions. The whole situation is a controlled experiment called MK-Ultra (which was a CIA mind-control program that began in the 50's, but vanished after an investigation began... it's explained in the opening credits). The head of the operation is Dr. Phillips, played by character actor Peter Stormare. He was an excellent villan as always, made even more scary by his lack of sympathy for the "test subjects".
On that subject, I was surprised at how good the acting was. Usually, films that go straight to DVD have terrible acting, but the performances in this were phenomenal. Who knew that Nick Cannon was capable of such a powerful performance? The other strong point of the film was the music. Relying mostly on strings, composer Brian Tyler has created on of the most emotional and haunting scores I've heard in a while. Although it's repetitive, it created a mood that lasted through the entire run time.
I could go on... but I think it's safe to say that this is a must see for people who enjoy a good suspense thriller. It will have you hooked right when the opening credits begin. This chilling, gripping feature is my favorite of the genre so far this year.
My Rating: 8 out of 10
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