1/5 Dont waste your time
  by E. Errickson (3rd rock from the Sun)
Thats 90 minutes of my life I wont get back, dont waste your time on this movie

1/5 The Killing Room, sucked the life out of the viewer.
  by Mrs L Bug
Once you get past the Doctor's mumbling, the first 30 minutes sets up as an unusual film. Then it gets flat out boring. It goes nowhere. Spend your time and money on something else. I'd like to give it NO STAR at all. I'm "horrified" I wasted my time.

3/5 tedious thriller
  by Michael Butts (Martinsburg, WV USA)
DARKLY DISTURBING FILM THAT BECOMES TEDIOUS IN ITS DELIBERATE PACING. IT'S NOT BORING..I FOUND MYSELF INVOLVED. IT'S OBVIOUS FROM THE BEGINNING THAT IT'S SOME KIND OF COVERT GOVERNMENT EXPERIMENT. FOR WHAT PURPOSE IS A LITTLE LESS OBVIOUS.
DISCUSSING MORE WOULD INVOLVE TOO MANY SPOILERS. WHILE ASSUREDLY PROVOCATIVE, I CAN'T SAY IT'S ENTERTAINING. THE ACTING OVERALL IS DECENT BUT NICK CANNON'S A WEAK LINK. CHLOE SEVIGNY, TIMOTHY HUTTON AND SHEA WIGHAM COME OUT ON TOP.
THE TERROR OF SECRET EXPERIMENTATION IS PRESENTED FEARFULLY BUT BSOME OF IT JUST DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.


5/5 Loved It
  by Edward L. Roy
I've watched this film twice on my cable In-Demand HD.

Point blank: it is a fantastic, highly-entertaining film from several standpoints. Engrossing and hard-to-predict plot, some superb acting, great ending, relevance (War on Terror aspect).

Sure it has some holes...[MEGA SPOILER]
- What if one of the "candidates" needed to use the bathroom during the elimination? I assume there are no bathroom breaks.
- Why does America need suicide bombers when it has hi-tech, long-range guided missles??

Overall though, highly recommended. I WILL purchase a DVD.


4/5 A Room Without a View
  by Nathan Beauchamp (Oak Park, IL USA)
A movie as spare as the clinically white room in which most of the action takes place, THE KILLING ROOM is tightly wound and highly entertaining. Shot in a slightly monochromatic, gritty visual style the film introduces a room of strangers gathered together to participate in a medical experiment for cash--or so they think. What unfolds is part SAW, part THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, and just a tiny bit Jason Bourne and the video game PORTAL. Movies that focus on the 'what would you do to survive' motif are hardly new and usually fail because they are rehashes of old material or because they are simply too gross. THE KILLING ROOM is able to walk the fine line between ruthlessness and psychological tension coupled with a strange believability that really drives it all home.

The director Jonathan Liebesman has also wisely chosen to let the audience watch the action from both the killing room as well as from behind the scenes, all through the eyes of the very well acted Ms. Reilly (Chloë Sevigny). Ms. Reilly (without giving away too much of the plot) is introduced very early on as interviewing for a position with a government agency that tests the bounds of human psychology. The stress of this interview and its effects on her as well as her very subtle facial expressions are convincing. I found her character to be the most interesting in this sparsely populated movie.

There are several nicely constructed scenes that are well acted. In particular are the interactions between Ms. Reilly and Dr. Phillips her interviewer early in the film. There is a quiet menace lurking in the dialogue that is frequently more palpably frightening than the main action taking place below them behind bullet-proof glass. Other excellent moments include the final reveal--which delivers an unexpected surprise, one that I did not see coming.

There are a few key weaknesses to the film. Chief among them are the overuse of narrative voice masquerading as radio traffic. Much is told instead of shown through these, and by the end of the film I was quite tired of anonymous video game voices filing in the gaps. Another weak area is in some of the predictability of the plot. However, that is offset by the fantastic reveal at the end of the film which as I said, is quite unexpected.

Overall THE KILLING ROOM succeeds because it doesn't bite off more than it can chew. The set is very controlled and basic, the characters are left as cardboard cut-outs (which in a film like this is virtue) and the entire film is handled in a removed and emotionless fashion that is perfect for making the main points of the film. The film style is stylized documentary with frequent hand camera shots mixed with menacing angle shots and close ups that keep the viewer both engaged and properly distanced throughout. Liebesman has cut the film to a short 93 minutes; just the right length for his subject matter.

3.5/5 Stars. Well made, boldly ruthless, and delivers a well done final reveal.