Room 6

A woman and her boyfriend get into a car accident. After the man is taken by ambulance to an unknown location, the woman (Christine Taylor) goes on a hunt to find him along with her new friend (Jerry O'Connell) -- along the way encountering demons for some reason.

I am sad to report that Christine Taylor makes for a very weak leading lady. I loved her in "Dodgeball" and "My Name is Earl", but for some reason she comes across as very flighty here (more in the first half than in the second). Is she not capable of drama? Is acting scared just not something she can do? I don't know, but I was let down. (I'm still jealous of Ben Stiller for having such a hot wife, though.) The early parts of the film are very tedious. There is lots of empty, repetitive dialogue (both in the opening hospital scene, and shortly after when Amy is getting picked up from school). The less each person says, the better the scenes are in this movie. Unfortunately, in the first ten minutes no one will shut up long enough to let the movie have a solid start. (The phrase "I'm awake" probably is said no less than twenty-five times in the first five minutes.) What I found also odd was that although the makeup was decent (the demons looked like demons), the special effects were not very impressive. Rather than use a trick syringe for an injection, for example, they slid the syringe under the sleeve of a patient. Maybe I'm picky and the average viewer wouldn't notice, but I felt cheated.

Now, the scenery was nice. The abandoned hospital, the ambulances, the demons. There is a scene with vampire lesbians (or something like that) which I thought was quite alright, although it was more of a tease than anything.

Somebody decided to cast Jerry O'Connell, and I'd like to know whom that was. In all fairness, Jerry was a better actor in this film than Christine Taylor. But he just calls to mind crappy films like "Tom Cats" and the show "Sliders". I like Sliders, but this guy is a cheesy actor. He's right up there with Brendan Fraser. His very presence makes a movie's suck factor increase. This one was no exception.

Horror icon Kane Hodder (better known as Jason Voorhees) shows up to be a demon bum. I enjoyed seeing Kane Hodder, but the part was not important and could have been played by pretty much anyone. (And really, if you're casting for a bum, get someone who's bum-looking, not a weightlifter.) I will give the Best Actress award in this film to the little girl named Melissa (played by Chloe Moretz). She actually had my full attention when she was on the screen, like everything she said or did was crucial. Excellent. Moretz is becoming what I would call "the Dakota Fanning of horror", because she seems to be the person you call when you need a little girl. (Moretz has so far also appeared in "Wicked Little Things" and "Amityville Horror".) My biggest problem with this movie, besides the poor acting and weak production value, was I was constantly asking myself: did any of this add up? Demons, lesbian vampires, a hospital that doesn't exist, ambulances that steal loved ones. The film makes some attempt to explain this, but that attempt is incredibly weak and I was left trying to piece things together. But I felt like I opened a 500-piece puzzle and 700 pieces fell out. What the heck? 2006 has offered some quality horror films. "Slither", "Feast" and "Saw 3" just to name some off the top of my head. "Room 6" is not one of them, so unless you spend most of your free time watching really crappy movies (like I obviously do), don't pick this one up.

I've watched a fair amount or horror movies and I know that a lot of them don't amount to much. Either they're not scary enough - sometimes to the point of being ridiculous and funny - or they're just lacking logic. What's the point of a complex and confusing story if the viewer never gets the answers? Also, there is a misconception that people watching horror movies (teenagers if you ask the studios) don't really care about cinematography, lighting etc. This is of course plain wrong. The classic horror movies are not scary only because of the visual effects etc but because of a skillful use of the mentioned qualities as well as music and tempo. Room 6 fails completely by these standards and is just a total waste of time (and money). There's no point to the story at all and it qualifies as one of the worst horror movies I have ever seen. It contains a beginning without intrigue (you're ready to switch off after 15 min), a middle with scary zombie looking people that appear here and there just to be scary, a lead character that spends most of the film running around screaming and an end that makes an embarrassing attempt to bring some logic to the story (and fails utterly). Why is it that studios invest in scripts like this one when there are so many talented young filmmakers out there with actual stories to tell?!? Don't watch this one - if you want to see something scary, just watch "The Ring" or something over again or better yet, a classic Hitchcock!

Overall this wasn't a horrible film, but wasn't overly impressive either. This film had some interesting parts and ideas to it. The demons were done quite nicely. It kinda reminded me of a badly made Stephen King made for TV movie. I enjoyed the actors in this film, though not real sure what Jerry O'Connell was thinking when he signed on to this movie, he's much better as a comic actor such as in "Kangaroo Jack". There was several scenes where i'm not quite sure what the director was thinking when he added them other then he just wanted to get some T&A included in the film. It wasn't overly scary, my 4 year old son watched it and didn't blink an eye if that tells you anything. It is however worth watching if your bored and have nothing else to do or watch, just don't have high expectations for the film and you'll enjoy it.

Plot

A schoolteacher with a phobia of hospitals finds herself searching for her boyfriend inside one while teaming up with a man suffering the same ordeal that she's in.

Cast

Christine Taylor leads, Jerry O'Connell supports, Chloë Grace Moretz comes along for the ride and we even get a short appearance from Kane "Jason Voorhees" Hodder.

Verdict

I boo-booed, see I'd already seen this years ago but when movie night rolled around I picked this as my choice as I didn't remember it. By the time I realized it was too late and I didn't want to turn the movie off as my other half was invested.

Alike the first time I called the "Twist" in the first 5 minutes and that's no exaggeration. And it's not just the predictability that's the problem, it's "That" twist the one which is in a frustrating number of horror films and leaves you feeling cheated at the end.

The journey? Incoherent, random sequences, nothing flowing, nothing making sense and both O'Connell and Taylor come across very much like they're phoning their performances in and just don't want to be there. I'd argue Moretz delivers the best performance in the movie and she's a child here.

Messy, unsatisfying, brings little to the table and insults you with its finale.

Rants

No spoilers here but the "Twist" that I speak of is what I like to call the Dallas effect. It's a slap in the face to the viewer, and should never be put to screen let alone the amount that it is. I'm not exaggerating when I say I've easily seen this trope 100+ times. Enough is enough, it's unforgivable at this stage.

Breakdown

Decent cast Kane Hodder is always appreciated Story is a mess Never feels like it gets going Twist is insulting and predictable.

Amy Roberts (Christine Taylor) has a fear of hospitals and nightmares of being awake for surgery. Her boyfriend Nick (Shane Brolly) tries to propose but Amy is in a rush to get to school. Her student Melissa Norman (Chloë Grace Moretz) also has creepy dreams, but according to Melissa, she's not strong enough to help. She and Nick get into a car accident with another driver Lucas (Jerry O'Connell). The paramedics take Nick to the hospital but doesn't tell her where. She can't seem to find Nick anywhere. Lucas can't find his sister either when other paramedics take her to the mysterious St. Rosemary's hospital.

It's a lot of shrill screaming from Christine Taylor. There are a couple of good interesting actors like Mary Pat Gleason, but there are too many amateurs in this. That's what happens when you give strippers actual lines to read. Quite frankly, Shane Brolly isn't good enough to lead his part of the movie. Jerry O'Connell is too standoffish. He is too obvious and the twist is telegraphed.

The biggest problem is that this production just doesn't have the money behind it. It is a big ambitious horror done on the cheap. The monster makeup isn't that good. It looks even worst in the daylight. I can almost see the bigger, more grander movie that the script alludes to. This movie just doesn't look well put together.