Review by Peter Syslo
BREATHING ROOM (2008 - Canada ) is an upcoming DVD release from Anchor Bay (www.anchorbayentertainment.com) and as you can expect, the video and the audio components of the DVD are of the highest quality. While I wasn't really "bowled over" by the film, it did have its positive aspects and I did enjoy it in a general sense. I like the "woke up trapped in a room" type of film because I find that I tend to place myself in some of those situations, while I am watching - it is easy to become emotionally involved (I think that is one of the main reasons for the popularity of these films). However, I didn't find myself that emot ionally involved in this picture - it wasn't bad, but it just needed "more".
BREATHING ROOM is written, directed, and filmed by John Suits and Gabriel Cowan. The film stars Ailsa Marshall, Michael McLafferty, David Higlen, Brad Culver, Kim Estes, Keith Foster, Stevens Gaston, Austin Highsmith, Terri Marsteiner, Jeff Atik, Eve Sigall, and Sara Tomko.
The movie is about a group of strangers who are trapped in a large room; they have been brought together, for no apparent reason, and they are trying to figure out who put them there and why. The newest person to arrive in the room is Fourteen (Ailsa Marshall) and she appears to be a reluctant, "survivor-type" because she is able to understand some subtleties of the situation. Basically, the group is being controlled by an outside presence and various clues are left in the room, which give some of the group members an edge. Doesn't sound bad, right? Here's the catch: when the controller/host (Keith Foster) announces "lights out", the lights do go out and one of the people in the room is killed in a mysterious fashion. This danger drives the film and it becomes a "whodunit" as group members try to understand the situation and find a way out of it.
This film wasn't bad, but sometimes I think that it is tricky to pull-off a movie that mainly takes place in a single room. This movie reminds me of a recent French film, AQUARIUM; it is very similar and my main criticism is the same: BREATHING ROOM just needed a little more "color" to make it a little more interesting. I do like these "puzzle" or "mathematical" type of films, like the CUBE movies, and the SAW films; I generally find them interesting and entertaining, but it can be difficult to sustain the entertainment, throughout. I just feel that BREATHING ROOM could have used a few more kills, that you witnessed (most of the killing is done in the dark or off camera), and it could have used more "emotion" in order to heighten the danger.
Regarding the "emotion" part of my previous statement, I feel that some of the characters could have been a little more unique and/or distinct from one another; I did like Five (David Higlen) - he was the most interesting. With an ensemble cast like this, I felt that maybe the attributes of each character could have been more discernable. For instance, Five was an average guy who was the customer service type, who was a little creepy, but was also very perceptive. Fourteen was the silent, beautiful, reluctant-hero, "inner strength" kind of female. Aside from those two, most of the other characters blended together and I feel that if each were more unique, it would have made the film more compelling (because a lot of the movement of a film, like this one, comes from the cast interaction - these characters needed more "color", as well as the overall film).
Speaking to the positive elements of the film, I felt that the basic premise and the twist-ending were both good - they weren't 100% "airtight", but they were good. Overall, the acting was decent - most of the performances were convincing, but no one performance really stood out, except maybe for David Higlen as Five and Keith Foster as the host. Regretfully, Ailsa Marshall didn't seem to inspire me with her portrayal of the reluctant heroine - I though she was good, but I really didn't feel much for her and I didn't really clamor for her to survive (I had "middle-of-the-road" feelings about her).
Cutting to the chase: BREATHING ROOM was okay. I feel that the premise and twist ending were basically good, but the film needed a little more "color" and "shock" to it, to make things a little more interesting. Plus, the characters just needed to be a little more distinct from one another because some of the dialogue/interaction does tend to get a little tedious. Aside from that, the cinematography was great - the film looked beautiful and the sound quality was excellent. The effects were very well done, although you mostly saw the "aftermath-of-the-kill" make-up effects. Also, the overall atmosphere of the film was fairly effective - it felt claustrophobic and grim, but the sense of danger could have been a little stronger. If you like the SAW films, the CUBE films, or any other "woke up trapped in a room" type of film, then you may like it. I give it a 4/10.