Breathing Room

14 strangers suddenly wake up and find themselves locked away in a room with no exit. They are apparently part of an elaborate game, where you must solve the riddles else you keel over and die. And all this on a budget probably even smaller than that of Cube...

You can not help but compare. And the comparison does this movie no favours. Acting is nowhere as good, execution is comparatively poor and their is no excuse for the sound guy being on Prozac during the shoot. That said a couple of actors give good, if flawed performances: David Higlen as Harry, Michael McLafferty as Lee and Brad Culver as Six.

The action moves at a pedestrian pace and the suspense is an illusion, that fleets away after a glimmer. Its not all bad, but really tiresome in the end and wouldn't want to repeat this experience. But well... at least it wasn't a Saw ripoff... so its not all bad.

While this movie wasn't truly as abysmal as many reviewers have previously stated, it wasn't really a great movie. The overall plot had serious potential, but could have used a bit more development. It was just seriously lacking in some places. I won't even comment about "Saw" or "Cube" rips offs like so many have done. Movies take ideas from other movies every day. How many times has the doomsday scenario been done? Some did it well, some did not.

If you go into this movie with the mindset that it's going to be somewhere along the same lines as "Saw", "Cube", and all the other movies that use this premise, you'll be one step ahead. You must also realize that it isn't going to deliver as well as those movies. The premise is fairly vague and the ending doesn't offer much in the way of closure or even comprehension of what just transpired.

The acting was actually quite good, with minimal exceptions. After seeing it, you'll be able to draw your own conclusions as to whom those exceptions might be.

I wouldn't say run out and rent this movie ASAP, but if you have a chance to watch it (and don't have much else better to do), it should offer a little bit of entertainment.It is your choice.

Tonya (Ailsa Marshall) is dumped naked into a room with thirteen strangers. She is player fourteen in a sadistic game where only the survivors win. With each player given clues and tools to survive, who will be left? And who is behind this? Not everyone tells the truth, so can the players trust each other to keep themselves civil? You're going to see review after review comparing this film to "Saw", and some comparing it to "Battle Royale"... still others referencing lesser known films. And, it's true, there's a "Saw" vibe here and a "Battle Royale" vibe... but don't let that dissuade you. There is nothing new about survival horror and it won't go away any time soon. And, if done correctly, that's not a bad thing.

I've also seen certain comments concerning the low budget and overabundance of white light. I don't deny these aspects, but in complete honesty they didn't bother me one bit. As long as your film has an interesting story -- and this one does -- and isn't a complete shambles, you have me hook, line and sinker. My only issue with this film was that I had a very strong suspicion of the ending from the very beginning. I was even more convinced after a big clue was dropped in the interview scene.

Fans of "Saw" will like this, as will people who like puzzles, so long as they keep an open mind and don't judge it strictly on its low budget and similarities to other films. I was thoroughly engaged by the interesting characters, destruction of film stereotypes, and ultimately the very clever writing inherent in the picture. Allegedly this film was thrown together roughly overnight, but it doesn't show.

The film begins with a naked woman entering a room of strangers with in a warehouse type of setting. The strangers approach her and begin asking questions about who she is and what does she know about why she is here and what it's all about. The rest of the film involves learning about each other and little more about the "puzzle" of why they are here.

The premise is that there is game being played with the characters' lives. There are rules. If you break the rules, you die.

The plot is simple, but the interactions of the "players" is what keeps it interesting. Each "player" is unique and may or may not have something to hide.

I found the story interesting, but contrived. Some of the characters were a bit over-the-top for my taste, but most of them conveyed the fear, anger, and despair quite convincingly. The end of the film was a disappointment to me for reasons I won't divulge here.

I credit the producers for developing a good character study with very little investment. Good cinema doesn't always have to cost millions.

If you like a bare bones type production about human behavior in stressful conditions, then I recommend this to you.

Early on in the movie we learn that there are a bunch of people kidnapped and locked in a room. The 'host' is playing a 'game' with them, and it's the 'contestants' job to figure out whats going on. This movie kind of reminded me of the movie Saw(alone with its sequels). The problem is that the Saw movies teach a lesson in a way because if the individual is smart enough/deserves/wants to live, then they end up living. This isn't really like that. Although the contestants really did nothing wrong, only 1, at most, will survive. The contestants don't really stand a chance from the beginning.

The suspense was fairly good - which is the main reason i gave it a 5. Its not a film you'll fall asleep while watching and certainly interesting to watch. Acting was alright. However a big problem was the ending. The ending was not something I predicted, however, it made me feel unfulfilled and shows the stupidity of this 'game'. There was also not much of a climax - it always felt like they were building to something. It felt like they should have had a bigger climax before the ending. And then the ending comes, and it wasn't that shocking.

Overall, good concept, early and middle parts of the movie were good, but the ending was weak. 5/10