THE KILLING ROOM

Well, this little Sundance official selection wondered across my desk in a purely work capacity a couple of days ago. Although its Sundance recommendation and the presences of Oscar® winning actor Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People) and Oscar® nominee Chloe Sevigny(Boys Don't Cry) were both quite comforting, the subject matter aroused no real anticipation in me. That was neither here nor there though, so to speak, so I sat down and watched like a good little worker. I had to admit in the end that it actually was a good example of its genre, albeit slightly disturbing and not for the faint of heart, so that is why you are reading about it now, today.
Our film opens in a government facility. Psychological tests are being conducted and a young possible recruit is watching a recording of an experiment. Four common or garden American citizens have applied. The pay is good and they hope to go through a few tests and be out of it in a couple of hours. The room they are put in (locked into, in fact) is rather Spartan. The tables and chairs have been bolted down – which is odd but it’s ok. The usual questionnaires are handed out, a doctor comes in. He seems pleasant enough, collects the questionnaires, makes a few pleasantries… Then he shoots one of the participants in the head and leaves the room, locking the others inside… Panic ensues – but the real experiment is under way – and this is no average government experiment… The agency is looking for something very rare… And they will go to every imaginable length to find it…
Well, as you can see this is the typical McCarthy era type “evil government agency doing unimaginable things for “the good of the people” “plot. And one doesn’t have to be a genius to figure out, even without watching the film, that this is a “post 9-11” plot. (This is not something I surmised by the way, it’s openly stated in the film – you’ll see what I mean if you watch it). And if you cannot take films with intense psychological pressure (and what can I tell you, some aren’t masochistic like me!) don’t even go near this one. It is, however, an excellent example of a dystopia (of sorts – claims to be based on actual events by the way, although I’m not familiar enough with these experiments to be able to claim anything). The pressure and discomfort is pushed up relentlessly, notch by notch. The experiment is measuring the breaking point of the participants – but I promise you the film will do something to measure yours too. It is true, a good story is essential to a good film. But this example goes to show, that even if you have rather a “tired” story on your hands, good directing and good acting can do a lot to make what you have into a quite palatable meal… A good psychological alternative for a Saturday-night slasher…