Darkroom (2013)

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Michelle (Kaylee DeFer) is a somewhat petulant, tortured soul. She is pretty blonde, and in possession of a throaty, scratchy voice guaranteed to dissipate into an airy rasp should she be moved to scream in horror - and she has plenty of reason to here.Told in sometimes confusing flashbacks, Michelle has been institutionalised because she caused an accident which killed three of her friends whilst under the influence of alcohol. She's not particularly remorseful, showing scant regard for any rules or regulations at the rehab facility. Daniel (Tobias Segal), who seems well-meaning, and Rachel (Elisabeth Rohm), who is in authority, are revealed as having their own dark secrets, a revelation that attempts to vindicate Michelle's earlier lack of respect for them - even though she cannot possibly have known of their out-of-hours activities.They are religious extremists, steering their faith towards 'purging' inmates of their sins by torturing them at a secret location. And there you have the plot. We spend the rest of the time watching Michelle try to escape their clutches.The low budget on display works in the film's favour, with non-slick locations revelling in their enclosed dinginess and grainy imagery. We are expected to side with Michelle but given scant reason to, other than the fact that the other characters are more misguided than she is. It is unspectacular but solid, with good performances and a good atmosphere of hopelessness. It isn't quite 'torture porn', but there are some nasty inferences all explained by a familiar perversion and the easy target of religious abuse. There are some nice moments of melancholy - flashbacks of innocent children playing contrasting well with the sporadic bouts of violence - but where 'Darkroom' falls down is that it isn't terribly involving due to the unsympathetic, sketchy characters.

They say where there are shadows there is also light. Unfortunately in the Dark Room, you only get the Dark. In this case it does stand for bad. Maybe the only "shining" moment of the script, could be the time line(s) the movie tries to establish. But even that isn't really that well thought and executed.The acting is below average, but the script does not help either. Having a predictable story with cardboard characters, with no real threads, a lead that is supposed to have some "trauma", she is trying to escape (metaphorical escape combined with a physical one), might sound somewhat intriguing in script form, but the finalized product is not worth your time. Even "torture" movie "fans" have a lot better quality movies to choose from

had decent expectations going into this one but was disappointed. The premise is interesting, and was sort of expecting a Saw vibe but yeah not here. The worst part is the main problems are things that could of easily been fixed before the camera started rolling. The script wasn't that great to begin with, good job from some of the actors to make the most of what they were working with. The decision working in flashbacks was a really bad one, and making the decision to provide no relatable or redeeming qualities for the main protagonist doesn't help. Everything just feels flat. The good - some of the actors showed some skills working with the limited material they were given. I wish they would of fleshed out the main protagonist more. The cinematography was actually really good for the most part, which makes the errors so much worse since they really could of had a much better film. The sound and effects were pretty good to. Really this film serves as a great example of why you should measure twice and cut once, because with better pre-production and better decision making this could of been a much better film.

It's hard to relay how effectively this film delivers absolutely nothing of value.I know...all you have to do is check out the posters and read the synopsis to know we're not shooting for a film brimming with deep, meaningful artistic content. But seriously? Darkroom starts up with a mildly interesting premise, even though it is duct-taped onto the very well-worn "lure the pretty girl into danger" trope. Kaylee Defer (in all fairness, delivering an OK performance given the material) plays Michelle, a girl who's doing time in a juvenile facility after killing three of her friends in a drunk driving accident. DeFer plays these opening scenes with a nice air of shell shock. At least there seems to be something inside herself that she's trying to effectively relay. She's lured to a sprawling mansion that's far too awesome to be in the company of these filmmakers --- it lends a very creepy, imposing atmosphere. One would think that the people residing in this house would be fairly interesting. They obviously would have some style, some flash, some character --- even if it were dark and twisted.Well, here's where Michaelbrent Collings script really drops the ball. The three antagonists, when not cribbing straight from the abused family-of-wackjobs movie handbook (bullying older male sib, domineering female sib, bullied and repressed younger male sib) come across as nothing more than common thugs who like to play with power tools. They're supposedly right-wing Christian extremists, but they act and talk like white trash hillbillies. Their methods are not scary, creepy, or menacing. They're just brutal and disgusting. And boring, unless a trip to Home Depot sends you into a full-tilt panic attack. Yes, I'm sure it's terrifying in real life to be attacked with a power drill or a hack saw. Not so much on the screen, especially when you could care less if any of these people survive.Darkroom is like an anti-Hostel. You can argue that both films depict the same thing, and rightfully so. What Eli Roth brought to the table in those films, though, were characters and situations that drew you into watching...and caring. Characters had quirks, eccentricities, and nuances that at least made them memorable...especially the villains. Darkroom has *none* of these things. It's bad guys are nothing but stiff, blank-slated cyphers. And not in a creep-out amoral Michael Myers way, either.So why does one write a film such as this? Had to be the cash, I guess. Which I must admit irritates me. It completely degrades the work of everyone on a project this size.Any possible reason beyond spilled CGI gore has been ripped off from thousands of other, better horror films (abusive families beget abuse, wow -- how deep). Inexplicably, the film ends with a home movie of the torturers as children, happy as all get-out, playing on the front lawn of the mansion. Not sure how the writer thought we would actually care about these cardboard cut-outs. The shot is as mystifying as why Phase 4 (a normally very discriminating distributor) would release this pile of gutless garbage.