Chatroom (2010)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

One person can have a lot of influence on others. You usually don't believe when people say it, because c'mon – it's just one person and not even an adult, but a teenager! What the hell can he do?? Apparently, a lot.I guess it has to be fair to say, that I have never ever participated in any of the chatrooms. Yes, maybe it is weird to say that for a 20th century person, buuuut… I always was different. Or weird. Call it how you want it. But I am not the subject I wanted to talk about today.We all have problems. Just a few people are living happily without any concerns and those people are not the main characters of this movie. Movie starts of how William creates a chatroom for Chelsea teens (with an exclamation mark!) where they can discuss whatever they want. That ends up discussing about what they hate. And William decides to help these poor teens with their problems. Sounds nice, doesn't it? Well, it would if William didn't have his own motive – to actually sabotage their lives. He wants to be in control, that is why in the beginning he is shown making dolls (like a junior puppeteer). Maybe it's because his parents want to be in control of his life.Well I can't say I particularly liked this movie, but it does show that all of us have different views of life and we want different things in life. Of course, sometimes psychopaths appear and ruin the beautiful picture. Maybe this movie was just created for the message of "Be careful kids, on the Internet". It could be shown in class. But for me, it was a good way of showing how one person can work through others psychology and make them do things they never thought they would.

I really like this movie. I would consider it one of my top picks in the indie genre. Very abnormal and was filmed in a really interesting way in regards to differentiating between the online chatrooms and reality. I have seen this movie a few times and every time I watch it I notice something new and interesting about the story line, or the film techniques used. The acting in some scenes are a little under par which killed some moments but I would definitely suggest watching this movie at least once. You have to watch it with an open mind and give it a chance in order to appreciate it.It is a psychological thriller that kept me on my toes the whole time but rarely did I jump or scream. The movie depicts the dangers and true reality of online chatrooms and how easily identity and trust can be manipulated for the benefit of others.

As soon as I finished watching this movie, I made an IMDb account so I could write this review. The movie Chatroom takes place almost entirely online, with the setting being shown in a very unique way on-screen. As the teens log in, we see the internet become personified as a hotel-like place, each door leading to a different room (some locked, some public). The hallways to the rooms are filled with a variety of people, including pedophiles, barely clothed women, men in suits, small children, teens, and every day normal people. The internet is a very diverse place and chatrooms are used by many. Luckily, not all are used in the way it was in this feature.The main character, Will (a seemingly normal, though troubled teen) creates a chatroom and allows only the 4 other characters in to talk to him. Towards the middle of the movie it begins to come to light that Will's intentions for the room are not positive at all. He aims to hurt some of the others, and attempts to convince another to commit suicide. Even though the ending was rather predictable for a movie of this type, I still enjoyed it very much. What made me want to write my ideas on the movie was a review I saw on Netflix about how terrible of a movie this was. I'll be honest, if you're looking for something to keep you on the edge of your seat, this may not be it. However, it's definitely honest. Between 12 and about 17, I frequented chatrooms nearly every night. This movie almost portrays my experience to a t. I was a lonely kid, and I found friends who I thought I could trust and confide in. I came across my fair share of pedophiles and generally bad people. I've seen people bully relentlessly and even tell people to kill themselves until they were forced to leave, hopefully unscathed emotionally. This movie brings to light a harsh reality that youth today are living. With technology so readily available- it is going to be abused. We need to be watching our connections and parental block is definitely your friend if you're a parent. Kids are looking for answers online, and it's not a safe place to be looking at all. Don't get me wrong, I have made lasting relationships through chatrooms. I even lived with a man who I met online, but it isn't worth the risk. I've also been black mailed similarly to how the character tried to black mail the other characters into keeping quiet, the only difference is that I got blackmailed into sending nude pictures while I was underage. These things are happening to teens way more than people realize, because no one is telling you. None of these kids told their parents about what was happening, and none of their parents took action because they didn't think anything was wrong. Chatroom can only be considered a horror if you realize the reality of it.I suppose what I'm really trying to say in this review is, if you watch this movie and read the reviews and read this one, take as much of this movie to heart as you can. It's a reality that you're going to probably have to handle with your kids when you have them, and if you have them now, they may already be involved. They may not be in as bad of a situation, or any situation at all, but stay in the know and keep connected. It's too risky not to. The technology may change, but with every good opportunity, there are just as many bad to counteract it.

Before I set to record this film, that was shown on Film 4 last night, I presumed it'd be a trite U.S. comedy/horror, full of gross-out and stoned slackers.How pleasantly surprised I was to find it to be a deep, unpredictable British psychological thriller that's high on design and imagination. Yes, the actors look like they've escaped off sets of U.K teen dramas such as Skins, but they are playing characters that that market already caters for.It's quite neat how the protagonist, Aaron Johnson, (Will) is accessing the chat-room in question via his PC or smartphone but is also then seen within it. As we soon get to know, Will's psychological make-up and difficulties are complex and largely unexplained. Is the chat-room itself purely in his mind and is the labyrinth of other rooms that we see at the start also only in his imagination? If so, that's quite a neat way of adding extra texture and substance that's already there.The challenging soundscapes and things like the animations add extra meat to the body of expression that director Hideo Nakata uses - and I personally liked them and thought they added to the film. Some of the discussions on serious emotional conditions and suicide may help those who are exposed to those feelings and experiences, or they may not - depending on how mentally well one is. But at least it raises them, which is quite brave.I don't necessarily think that the "hammy" acting that many have criticised is out of place here - touching and nuanced performances would be out of place in this aggressively symbolic and stylised movie. And, when one types on Facebook, with modern, abbreviated cyber-speak and even more so with Twitter, then dialogue is even more stilted, with even less room for delicate expression.The other characters add to the mixture of messed-up heads and some social comment on what is acceptable and what isn't gets some interesting airing. I think many viewers who've come back from the pub and expected a simple cat and mouse cyber-bullying flick may have well been unprepared for how deep and complex this thriller is and been put off by that. It's a brave and imaginative film; flawed, yes. A nice bonus for those of us who've visited the locations such as Camden Lock and London Zoo are indeed, the familiar locations.