Breathing Room (2008/I)

Directors:

John Suits
Gabriel Cowan (co-director)

Writers:

Gabriel Cowan (writer)
John Suits (writer)

Release Date:

30 September 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Let the games begin.

Plot:

Thrown naked into a desolate room with thirteen strangers, Tonya discovers that she is the final contestant in a deadly game...

Plot Keywords:

Room | Collar | Game | Clue | Corpse

Cast

Ailsa Marshall	...	Fourteen (Tonya)
Michael McLafferty	...	Eight (Lee) / Twelve Corpse
David Higlen	...	Five (Harry)
Brad Culver	...	Six
Kim Estes	...	Ten (Henry)
Keith Foster	...	Host
Stevens Gaston	...	Thirteen
Austin Highsmith	...	Eleven
Terri Marsteiner	...	Three
Jeff Atik	...	One (Charlie)
Eve Sigall	...	Four (Rothie)
Sara Tomko	...	Nine
Bryce Gerlach	...	Two (Operator)
Steve Cembrinski	...	Zero (Robert) / Scientist
Brandon Stacy	...	Two (New Room)

Also Known As:

A Room to Breathe (Canada: English title) (working title)
El cuarto del miedo (Argentina) (DVD title) [es]
Jigsaw: Rule of Death (Japan: English title) (DVD title) [en]
L'exutoire (France) (TV title) [fr]
No Exit (Germany) (DVD title) [de]
No Exit - Verloren zwischen Albtraum und Wirklichkeit (Germany) [de]

Runtime:

USA:89 min | USA:89 min (DVD)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo | Stereo (original release)

Certification:

Australia:MA (2008) | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Argentina:16 | Germany:18 | Singapore:NC-16

Filming Locations:

Azusa, California, USA

Company:

New Artists Alliance

Quotes:

[first lines]
Fourteen: [crawling in the dark, distressed breathing, scream, falls naked into lit room]
Six: Shit! Now we're talkin'. I think she's the last one boss.
Eight: You're going to be okay. We'll get you some clothes.
Fourteen: What's going on?

Boring, Unoriginal, Pointless and Disappointing

A group of fourteen strangers wearing electronic necklaces are locked in a large room without any previous explanation. Sooner they are informed by a man in a monitor that they are participating of a deadly game, where the prize of the winner would be his or her own life, but they should follow certain rules to stay alive. Further, the man tells that there is one rapist, one murdered and one pedophile among them. Under the leadership of Lee (Michael McLafferty), the contestants try to resolve their own suspicions to survive.

After the original 1997 "Cube", there are many rip-offs of strangers locked in an environment participating of a sick game, like for example the franchise "Saw"; or "House of 9" or the 2006 "Unknown"; therefore, "Breathing Room" is unoriginal. Unfortunately "Breathing Room" is not even a "good rip-off" because the story is boring and annoying in some moments; and the unexplained conclusion of the scientific experiment the team was submitted is pointless and disappointing. Who are the scientists? What is the objective of the sadistic experiment? Why those persons have been selected to participate? The viewer has no answer for these simple questions; therefore the story and the screenplay absolutely fail. In the awesome 2001 "Das Experiment", there is a previous explanation for teaming-up the guinea pigs. However the acting is great and the actors and actresses are able to transmit their claustrophobic tension and pain to the viewers. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "O Quarto do Inferno" ("The Hell's Room")