DISAPPOINTMENT ROOM

Directed by         : D.J Carusso

Starring by          :Kate Backinsale, Lucas Till, Mel Raido, Duncan Joiner

Relativity Studio

Kate Beckinsale had her phenomena when taking part on The Underworld, as pretty Vampire that makes our eyes won’t blink in a sec just to see her moves. This time she take another part, way from being the main character that scares people, as Dana Barrow, a person whose got terrorized by weird vision of things that haunted her a new house she’s been living.

Travelling as happy family to some countryside, where a manor where they’ve been moving in had lies, seemed taking too much part for me for the beginning...

Daddy and son singing, arriving at the manor in night-time, and get busy of tidying up many stuff that are still scattered everywhere, by far explain nothing than their existence at a new place. The writer didn’t even try to explain why they had to go there in a first place.

The movie took similar approached like other horror films on scene showing Lucas, Dana’s son, was making conversation with unseen figure when Dana entering the boy’s room. Makes me think it’s just like one I’d seen on Poltergeist or Paranormal Activity. But it was Dana who always had strange vision and bad nightmare, and the possibility of Lucas taking role as antagonist or possessed never happened. So what’s the point making that scene after all?

The terror started when Dana had bad dream and she got out of the house to look for fresh air and smoke. It was then when she found graveyard under the tree and saw light that came from top of the house. 

She went upstairs and found a door lies behind the closet, which reminds me of the wardrobe on Narnia Chronicles, and she didn’t realized that she made the previous owner who had died get mad because she unlock the dark secret he’s been kept for life at that time.

Dana got terrified when she’s being trapped and locked inside the room for almost a day and night and nobody –neither David nor Lucas – heard her scream but she’s confused when realizing that she only left a side just for couple of minutes when the clock she used to count time of cook ringing. 

Further she saw many strange things like black dog at the courtyard and little girl who sneak behind the slit door of the attic, and somehow realized something in that house try to harm her family, especially Lucas.

Being curious about the room, Dana seeks for information and small lady on some country library told her about disappointment room. It was a room that used by novelty or respected people in the past to put and hide their secret which could make them embarrassed, like children with disabilities or mental retardation and the man who own Dana’s house was the man named Judge Blacker who happens to look like a man she always sees in her nightmares

Dana asked David to left the house but he thinks she’s just being delusional. The man refused his wife’s request, told her to stay put in the house in order to calm her mind of tragedy they’ve been through. 

Slowly, we finally know about bad accident some time earlier where they lost their baby daughter and put Dana in misery. But things didn’t go well, Dana goes berserk and destroys everything on the table when David invites their friends for dinner on the same date as the date of the death of their daughter, the truth is I’m little bit confused how such thing could make her made like that but despite the lack of causes I give my thumb up for Kate’s action on that scene.

Well, I’m waiting for the punch scene which I expected from the where Lucas was being attacked by the black dog but it’s too bad that the horror was not shown maximally because the scene of dog's attack was taken in a style that I called it too ‘polite’. 

At final stage where Dana, once again, fought the dog in attempt to free herself and run to Luca’s room and smashing Judge Blacker’s head many times with a hammer in order to save the boy didn’t get the tone because we didn’t see fear expression from the little boy who was attacked by his mother with a hammer.

Surely, I couldn’t get the connection of disappointment room existence with the terror itself. It wasn’t the ghost of the little girl who was angry for being murdered cruelly who seeks revenge but the soul of the father who was still felt embarrassed and try to murdered Dana’s family. Why? Just only because she’s doing such a shame because accidentally killed her own daughter? So why he didn’t killed Dana, just like he killed her shamefully daughter?

Moreover, what exactly part of Lucas Till there? He’s only taking act as craftsmen who fixed the house and share the story with Dana but end up being killed when he’s digging the grave as she asked for. 

So, that’s why we never believe that horror film that cast by famous cast will always have guarantee as a good one…and one thing I told you after I watch this movie…the disappointment room was within me…who get disappointed after watching the movie…