The Killing Room

Plot synopsis:
Four individuals sign up for a psychological research study only to discover that they are now subjects of a brutal, modern version of the Project MKULTRA indoctrination program. One by one, the subjects are brought into a large, white room, in which the tables and chairs have been bolted to the floor.
They are each given a questionnaire to fill out. In the meantime, a researcher enters the room, ostensibly to give an overview of the study. He indicates to the subjects—three men and a woman—that the study will take approximately eight hours to complete, at which time they will each be paid $250. Upon completing his introduction, the researcher shoots the female subject in the head with a gun and promptly leaves the room.
Over the next few hours, the remaining three male subjects will be subjected to additional physical and psychological brutality. Only one subject will survive the ordeal. This subject manages to escape into the building. The loudspeaker gives details of where the subject is in the building. It is then realized that the subject is going where he is supposed to be. He ends up in a room with two other males tied to their chairs. The loudspeaker then states that phase 2 is to begin.
It is revealed, during the last subject's escape attempt, that the goal of the covert program is to achieve in human civilians a phenomenon similar to apoptosis in cells (a comparison noted in the film), by developing "civilian weapons" akin to suicide bombers.

Tags: psychological, murder, flashback

Review:
Let me start by saying that a lot of what you're about to read may seem like spoilers, but all of the following plot information is given within the first 10 minutes of the movie.In this movie, the CIA's secret "MK-Ultra" mind-control experiments of the '70s (which really did occur) seem to still be in operation.
This is not "torture porn" though, and aside from a couple of run-of-the-mill gunshots, it actually doesn't involve much graphic violence at all.While there have been many "locked in a room together for a mysterious and violent experiment" movies, this one is different in that it's told primarily from the perspective of an observer: a doctor who is interviewing for a position at the organization.
It struck me as overly melodramatic, trying too hard to make it sound like a military operation.But for all its problems, this movie will surprise you in the end with its relevance.
The ending made this movie entirely worth watching (if not good), which I'm glad I did.
Part Psychological Drama/Suspense, part Mystery/Thriller, part Dark Morality Play, and the fourth component is what makes KILLING ROOM totally unique, makes it stand out head and shoulders above the pack!
I found it to be a very unique suspense/thriller.Not since THE CUBE have I seen such a truly unique, original movie like the KILLING ROOM.
In this review I shall not go deeply into the plot, as I believe that the viewer will benefit from knowing as little of the narrative as possible, seeing as the script offers many twists and turns to any film-goer looking for thrills, and the film delivers on its dark premise, and then some.While films where a group of characters are manipulated and tested upon in many a sadistic and calculated manner have been all the rage since the Saw series, (comparisons to the franchise wouldn't be completely unfounded) this movie has a somewhat different approach to all the torture porn of late by relying on mind-games to get its thrills.
While the idea that experiments like this are still being carried out to this day (the film is based upon real experiments conducted by the CIA in the 60's and 70's) is completely impossible, the script makes it feel completely possible.
It was only at the last few minutes that you truly understand what the hell you had to make of it all.One of the reviewers said it was a waste of time saying that is was for the most part filmed in one room and the low budget statement.
If you like mind-game movies, thriller and secret organization performing (brutal,but not sick-) mind game experiments (where people do die) you should watch this one..
Another film, based in one room, in which 4 people are eliminated to one, told from the perspective of a behavioural psychologist observing the experiment.
Without the gore of Saw we need good three dimensional relatable characters whereas The Killing Room presents us with cardboard victims on the assumption that for some unknown reason we will guess who's going to survive and indeed, care.
There is also, throughout the whole film, a Nasa space mission type of control room patter that is rather bogus.Muttering and whispering in a "wet" room sound wise is a big problem and when you have to struggle to hear what's being said in a movie that is mostly about the dialog,well you have to say, hey guys remix the movie or something.The problem continues off and on every once in awhile you'll feel like "rewinding" to re-hear a line but it still won't make sense, so just go with it.
Story has elements like those in LOST and I guess it's a bit like SAW only this time the reason for them being trapped is for some greater cause and the gore elements are not there.It does feel like a movie, despite being almost entirely set inside of several different rooms.
The remaining papers that weren't destroyed before the investigation revealed an environment ripe for the kind of abusive experimentation shown in the movie.The thing is, the people running MKULTRA really didn't know all that much about a lot of what they were studying, and they had virtually no real oversight and too much latitude, so even though not well intentioned lots of their experiments went nowhere.
There are also plenty of conspiracy theories floating around about it, including the idea that it was never truly shut down, but the facts as we know them are pretty crazy, with thousands of pages of evidence of a CIA-run covert psychological program gone off the rails - at least with Milgram they knew they had to draw a line somewhere, but not really for MKULTRA.You really don't need to make anything up, but what the film does with MKULTRA does make for an interesting premise.
In other reviews I made I gone as far as ruining lots of plots but not this time because the urge of maintaining this piece of art calls for keeping the whole thing a satisfying surprise to the viewer.One final thing, I believe that this is the first movie that whoever will watch, would never give a bad feedback on it and I can't seem to think that anyone whether smart or not, sane or not, would not like it.
Some people are asked to complete some tests in a highly iffy government complex whilst an applicant for a position as assistant tester has their interview.I have seen similar things as this (The Experiment leaped to mind) but seeing it from the angle of tester and tested is an interesting twist.The film is well short, excellent performances with a strong production.
So for me to not have a very good time watching a movie like this indicates it wasn't very well made.
The movie spent too much time with the characters talking about pointless things and not enough talking about the important and interesting things.The sound-mixing in this film was also a real problem.
Other actors had the same problem at different stages too.There was a fun set-up for 'The Killing Room' that just never really reached its full potential for my liking.
I didn't find it psychologically thrilling, suspenseful or original at all.I kept waiting for something to happen, some revelation or surprise, but nope.Had the potential to be really good if they took it all the way but i feel like they only took it half- way, if that, perhaps i was expecting more brutality, orsomething, not that what happened wouldn't be horrible for the lab rats, but eh.
These take a bit of a leap of faith to get around, but the speed and overall enjoyment of the movie caused me to over look them for the most part.The movie does a good job of building tension, but we are introduced to a major piece of 'logic' for the Killing Room moments before the climax - maybe a bit of an easy way out there.The acting is solid.
This was a pretty good movie, one of the reasons being that it made me think again on the essence of enemies in anyones own life.At a certain point in the movie Dr. Phillips tells Emily Reilly something in the order of that there's always someone like him at the end of the enemy, doing similar experiments with a similar purpose.
When i first started watching this i really got into it but started to lose interest because of a few things - muttering (sometimes you could barely tell what they were saying), Lack of knowing what was REALLY going on that was worth the government to do this to people, Lack of 'twist'.This movie started off to seem like it was going to be smart with maybe a few twists, but it turned from that to 'who cares lets just get out of this room'.
I know their not making a sequel because it was such a low budget film and people have barely heard of it, let alone enjoyed it enough to sit through another one of these films.Regardless of how much i liked this film (unless it was just HORRIBLE) i would still like to see a sequel because it left it off in such a way that i think a sequel would be good for this movie for several reasons, because they could do so much more with this story and have a chance to make the next one better and attract more audience members.
And partly because i don't like being left in the dark about knowing whats ganna happen next.One thing i did notice with this film is that it was trying too hard to be like 'Saw', which is alright i don't have a problem with that because they made it into their own thing, but i think a lot of credit of this movie should go to 'Saw'.
Director seems impressed with saw series and tried to create similar one room kind of horror/thriller, but sorry to say it's an awful story and end leaves a really bad taste in the mouth.
The four characters in the titular room are all well-written and competently acted (even by the surprisingly good Nick Cannon), their disputes are believable, their mysteries are interesting enough, but whatever atmosphere their scenes create is completely neutralised by the ridiculous number of scenes set outside the room.
The story (about people in a room, which isn't much of spoiler considering the title) isn't that new, but it's made rather nicely.You will have a few twists and surprises along the way (plus a good ending).
You got everything from a Rambo, over awful look-away to a modern Josef Mengele.I can really say, I feel sick for those people, which think this is a good movie.
Such people would also think killing children in a movie makes it a good movie, cause it is shocking.Please to all, which would like to have a good sleep at night, DON'T LOOK THIS DISGUSTING PICE OF GARBAGE!!!greets.
For the first 80 odd minutes of this 90 odd minute film there's little to talk about, four people in a very bland white room, one gets killed with the majority of the rest of the time just spent on them talking with scenes of Dr. Phillip's & his scientist mates (we know they are scientist's because they wear long white laboratory coats even though there's no laboratories anywhere to be seen) watching them & as a counter balance to their coldness fresh young recruit Emily Reilly doesn't like what she see's, this goes on & on for what seems like hours.
At least in a film like Saw there traps & puzzles while here in The Killing Room there is nothing & it's incredibly dull & repetitive to watch.
The twist just doesn't work & the idea of using the subject of suicide bombers as a cheap twist is in bad taste, The Killing Room is a film with a twist that tries to have a point & meaning but comes across as not having a damned clue.
I suppose the 'now for phase 2' ending leaves things open for a sequel, I shudder the very thought.Event though 90% of The Killing Room is set in a single, plain white run of the mill room director Liebesman still manages to make this thing look ugly with a constantly twitching camera, fast edits & deliberately out of focus extreme close-up foregrounds obscuring the character's.
An extremely repetitive, bland & dull film with a ridiculous twist that didn't work The Killing Room is also lacking in tension & suspense as my major emotion while watching it was boredom.
Also I don't know if it was just my copy but a lot of the dialogue sounded muffled as the three volunteers whispered to each other in increasingly panicked tones, I actually found it quite hard to understand what was being said on many occasions.Filmed in late 2007 The Killing Room wasn't released anywhere until 2009 & it's easy to see why there were no takers for over a year, not a very good film & not a particularly easy sell as nothing really happens in it.
Timothy Hutton once won an Oscar while Peter Stormare is better than this.The Killing Room is a terrible psychological thriller that tries to be clever & shocking & emotive, it fails.
What they don't know is that the experiment concerns the breaking point of of people and that there is a very good chance none of them will ever get out of the room alive.
At the same time the doctor running the experiment is looking to certify a new assistant.Okay thriller works, I think, more because its oblique, rather than because things make complete sense.
There's been a host of films with the plot of "people trapped in a room", regarding human lab rats run through a series of experiments, until one survivor remains.
Really, "The Killing Room" is no different, except in this movie we get an understanding as to who is behind the experiments.
While we discover as the movie continues just why these terrible acts are taking place by Americans to Americans, in such a cold-blooded fashion that it sours your stomach, and the fact that those committing such deeds have an agenda which differs from those of other films of it's ilk like "House of 9" or "Cube", there are also striking similarities which I feel will leave many a viewer feeling rather ho-hum over the whole deal.
During this time we learn a very little background of the organization, that the test is taking place in what is called A Killing Room, and the relationship to the MKULTRA program.
A white female (portrayed by the criminally under-used Clea DuVall -HBO's Carnivale-), a neurotic white male, a black male, and a calm white male ex-con ("We have a potential leader" squawks the two-way when he enters the scene for the first time.").The first kill (I assume that is not a spoiler given the title of the movie) is sudden, brutal, and takes the viewer completely by surprise.
And, as it turns out, here, the people running the experiment know who is really the top contender within a minute of their being in the room.The film of The Killing Room is a series of really tense scenes that have characters in a room figuring out what to do juxtaposed with people up in an observation room; one of them, Chloe Sevigny, plays a newcomer who may join the organization - if she has the right stuff for it.
Things like the blood that they spread on the wall so as to read the names of former people in the room; the questions and the answers that the men have to figure out and stick their answers to (or not); the non-pattern of the numbers counting down without consistency.And the performances meet up to the standards needed: it's not a Saw movie full of horrid melodrama and twists, and Timothy Hutton and (surprisingly) Nick Cannon meet up to what is required of them, and then some.
It may resemble it a bit like other movies (even if they were created after 2008) like "Hunger" in 2009 or "The Experiment" in 2010, but the film is gripping and unpredictable— except, of course, you could try to analyze the back cover, and I'll tell you up front, some people will see clues others will not.
Timothy Hutton's acting is normal good (from "Ordinary People" to "The Dark Half" to even TNT's "Leverage") and is just as good in "The Killing Room." It looks like it would be awful, but the film was truly terrific; I recommend this title..
Is that good movie when you don't get the idea of the film?
Everything in this movie seems to have you on edge, especially the scenes where it feels like the characters might go against each other in a dramatic way, instead of helping each other out or trying to get through it.
Much like the movie Exam, The Killing Room focuses on a room, and the four people who are situated in said room.The four think that they are there for some medical type research, and begin to fill in the mandatory paperwork.But after a sinister encounter with the person overlooking the whole scheme, turns a routine day in a literal fight for life.With every question given, one of the four will be killed off.
The guy want to sacrifice in the end, not because he want do die to the country, it's because he's a coward and cannot take the experiment anymore.The tests are ridiculous, if they respond right or wrong doesn't matter, the winner was chosen in start of the movie.And I think there's a part 2 of this film, but very annoying, this director does the Saw movie??
There's been a couple of movies with the plot of people trapped in a room lately EXAM is the other one and there both awful.
i think there cashing in on the saw movies popularity but failing to deliver.they start OK but the ending's suck, in this one the Ame of the experiment is to make a suicide bomber like we need'em we've got actual bombers like jets and stuff like that.there's no reason to waste so much time and money on there training maybe if they where assassins like in the born movies but you can only use these guys once it's ridiculous.just go watch saw again or even cube would be better then this..
**SPOILERS** Totally off the wall and utterly ridicules movie involving this super secret MK-Ultra like mind controlled project in finding out,through a battery of inane and silly questions, who among us, the American people, is best qualified to be a future patriotic suicide bomber for their country.
Locked in a room like rats in a cage the four are subjected to extreme mental as well as physical torture by Phillips & Co. that leads three of them to end up dead by the time the movie is over.