The Disappointments Room (2016)

It's hard not to glean the critique of a film when the title is so self explanatory. Thus is The Disappointments Room, a film which played for a week at my local theater & quickly disappeared. The usually reliable of late DJ Caruso manned this tired tale of gentrified investment in the country only for the otherworldly to have a say about it. These types of films are so hard to do, it amazes me how many are attempted. Kate Beckinsale & her husband (who looks like a cross between Robert Carradine & Andrew Garfield) w/cute moppet in tow engage in the usual 'get out!' shenanigans until the eye rolling conclusion wherein the real horror is the theft of time this scareless flick has perpetuated on me.

Was drawn into seeing 'The Disappointments Room', with as said for many films seen recently a cool poster/cover, an intriguing if not exactly novel premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive. 'The Disappointments Room', simply put, turned out to be a terrible film and waste of potential with next to no redeeming values and so much done catastrophically wrong. One of the worst films seen in a while, which is saying a lot for somebody who on the most part has been encouraged by their film/television watching and has more often than that been quite generous. Decent idea, horrendous execution.Lets start with one positive. The scenery is atmospheric, if wasted by the schlocky way the film is shot and particularly edited.However, the story does feel over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their irritating and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrate. Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The acting is also terrible, expected better from Kate Beckinsale whose performance is overwrought and anaemic, and the effects are ropy at best.Dialogue can be stilted and rambling while the pace is uneven, dragging in a lot of the first half, which goes on forever and fails to get going, and never is it exciting. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness and the lack of tension and suspense. Too many elements are introduced, and then dropped, barely explored or don't go anywhere, sometimes even all three.A lot of the film completely fails to make sense, both in underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations. There is a real sense that a lot more scenes were filmed and then dropped which explains the choppiness and lack of coherence. The threat is poorly used and poses very little threat. The film completely peters out with one of the most abrupt climaxes/endings seen for any film in a while.Overall, terrible, disappointment is a very apt word to sum it up. 1/10 Bethany Cox

So throughout the whole movie, I was kinda understanding of why it was getting poor reviews. Mostly because of its' unoriginality. But I maintained hope. THEN.. EFFING THEN... The End. WTF Like what? Am I supposed to be satisfied with that? Looking back now as I'm writing this, I guess maybe by the mom killing the man and the dog, the little girls' ghost was set free?? But still. Very disappointing. Was given all the right tools to be a much better movie, even with the unoriginality, it still could have been an enjoyable film.

I viewed the Disappointment's room this week and was glad I did not give in to the horrid reviews it received. This film may not be anything close to the Shining(some scenes are homages to it of course) but it is nowhere near deserving of the bashing It's gotten.As I understand this was a real thing in where a prominent family would lock a disfigured or disabled child away to avoid embarrassment and this was explained by HGTV's reality home remodeling show . The suspense was there throughout and I was not bored by this at all as in watching it I wanted to know the origin of the hostile poltergeist. There are jump scares but also some sequences that insight actual terror like a child being mauled by an animal. Kate Beckinsale carries the film as it's lead and the little boy's(her son in film) perilous situations had me holding my breath at times. I realize I am in the minority in not hating this film but it was a good watch for me at least .