Room 6
Review by Peter Syslo

ROOM 6 (2005) is not a bad movie, but it is very derivative and it winds up being sort of a compilation of several different films. It is like a mix of GOTHIKA, THE SIXTH SENSE, THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, and SILENT HILL. It is pretty much a standard “ghost story” with a “spiritualistic” twist to it and although it does some different things with the material, it falls into that trap of the “surprise” ending. What I mean by that is, it is one of those films that, once the surprise is blown at the end, you really won’t go back and watch it again. Now, there are some films, like the sixth sense, that are still enjoyable to watch, even though the twist is revealed. But, ROOM 6 is a little light on substance and the best parts of it tend to be the beginning and the end.

ROOM 6 is written and directed by Mike Hurst and is co-written by Mark A. Altman. It stars Christine Taylor, Shane Brolly, Mary Pat Gleason, Chloe Moretz, and Jerry O’Connell. Also, for horror fans, there are cameos by Ellie Cornell (HALLOWEEN 4&5) and Kane Hodder (the later Jason Vorhees).

The movie is about a woman named Amy ( Taylor ) and her husband Nick (Brolly). They get into a car accident and Nick is taken to a hospital, by paramedics. The problem is, Amy doesn’t know which hospital he was taken to. She searches for Nick and she meets up with a man from the other car in the accident (O’Connell). All the while, a little girl (Moretz), who is one of Amy’s students, is trying to contact her to help Amy find Nick. Nick was actually taken to a bizarre hospital called St. Rosemary’s, where the care is somewhat unconventional. The film climaxes as Amy attempts to save Nick and she comes to terms with her own past, at the same time.

Like I said, it is derivative material, right down to the perceptive child who is in tune with the supernatural. However, the ending is a little different than what we have seen in the usual “haunting” stories. But one of the downfalls, besides the stale material, is that you see the ending coming, early on in the movie. After the first 20 minutes, you start to get the feel of what really is going on and after a while, I just wanted to jump to the end, to see what happened. As I said before, I liked the beginning and the end, but the middle portion of the movie just seemed like “filler” – a lot of the same things that we have seen in various other movies. For me, the scares were just not there, and the suspense was lost within the content and the repetitive scenes of “Where am I?” and “What is going on?”.

Regarding other details, the film looked good and the hospital atmosphere was creepy, especially Mary Pat Gleason as the charge nurse (she is one of the best parts of the movie). The make-up effects were okay, but they just didn’t hit me because they reminded me too much of Buffy the Vampire Slayer – no, I never liked the show, I’m one of those people. Overall, the acting was fair, with a few standouts: Christine Taylor was a good horror lead, although some of her startle responses seemed a bit “unnatural”, Mary Pat Gleason was awesome, Ellie Cornell was perfect as a slacker-mom (my favorite in the movie), and Chloe Moretz played a pretty good perceptive-child. Other than that, there are really only a few intense/original scenes in the film: one is the opening with Amy experiencing an “awar eness incident” while in surgery, and the other is when a group of nurses are drinking and bathing in blood from hypodermic needles (that’s no surprise – most nurses tend to be demons from hell – I’ve worked in healthcare).

Cutting to the chase: ROOM 6 is not bad, but it is not original, either. If you like haunting/ghost/spiritual thrillers then you might enjoy this one. The beginning and end are decent but the middle kind of drags, with only a few notable scenes. If you are looking for true scares, you might want to try something different; but then again, I am not a “ghost story” person (I like only a handful of these films).