...And starring the room as itself.

Rating: 7/10 (5 June 2008)

Bitter,cynical and faithless novelist Mike Enslin(John Cusack,getting all the opportunity in the world to use his acting chops here)ignores any implorements or entreaties to avoid the titular room--made mostly by the consummate professional manager(Samuel L.Jackson,not yelling once!)--which menaces an otherwise rustic and charming New York City hotel. From the mere viewing of the trailer,you can tell that said novelist is about to have his mind forcibly changed.
An effective,if perhaps forced and puzzling,thriller that has much of the earmarks of a Stephen King tome,which makes sense since this is based off a short story by the horror master. Director Mikael Hafstrom is not shy about using physical special effects(As opposed to CGI) to make the terror as tangible as possible. The buffering support plot lines--Enslin's crumbled marriage to Lily(MAry McCormack),which was sped along by the terminal illness of their only child(Jasmine Jessica Anthony),and his broken relationship with his dad(Len Cariou)--does add depth to the story,but(and I hope to not give anything away here)doesn't give much satisfaction to the payoff. Also,the show(And perhaps this is the fault of the source material)gives SO much personality to the room(hence the summary line)that the side trips into Enslin's psyche seem to be little more than sacrificial offering for the rest of the film.
As said before,effective(read=creepy and scary to precision)but somewhat unsatisfying. Outside of Cusack and to a lesser degree McCormack,this is not much of a showcase for the actors involved,and the pattern of this movie's denouement will no doubt leave a viewer or two scratching their heads. This is pretty much(save the nice windscreen effect)a renter.