This is the third good film I've seen from New Zealand in the past year, and I was surprised to see it having such a low overall rating. "The Dead Room" is absolutely worth your time, and worthy of a much higher rating. Laura Petersen does some incredibly good acting in this film, and it's surprising she's never had bigger roles. The other two actors do a very good job as well. The straight-up suspense horror in "The Dead Room" is truly excellent. This is a truly great horror film; something even a horror great like Wes Craven would be proud of, even if it's not in his "roary-gory" style. It's not what you'd expect from the description either, and it's a wonderful film. It throws-out all of those dumb clichés from haunted house films and does something quite refreshing and original with the idea.
There are several things I love about this film. First, the use of characters & proper writing. In so many horror films, we get the displeasure of having to "get to know" the characters, and there's often a bit of sexual tension between one or more of them. In "The Dead Room" we are simply given three characters who are all quite different, but otherwise we know very little about them. They're investigating a haunted house as paid, professional ghost hunters, and that's all we know. The rest we gather about the characters is assumed from their actions.
Secondly I loved the cinematography. It is superb. You'd expect a lot of "found footage" type camera-work from a film about three ghost hunters, but you won't find any in "The Dead Room". The camera was used to great effect in this film, and the crew gets my full applause for that.
Another thing worth mentioning is the use of atmosphere over CGI, effects, or makeup. There are no special effects used in this film aside from some tasteful ones which are only used for creating some subtle visuals. The house is the main character of this story, and it's a wonderful actor. Instead of a "big" soundtrack with lots of suspenseful music, the sounds of this rickety old country home provide the audio, and it works to great effect.
Finally, on the subject of actors--or rather actresses--Laura Petersen is just awesome in this film. She hasn't had many other roles, but you'd never know that. Her acting here is just as excellent as some of the best girls of Hollywood. Lauren is a totally believable actress for her character, and the one the audience will sympathize with the most. I admit to being a bit biased in this respect; I just loved her character and think she's absolutely, positively beautiful! However in all honesty, I really do not feel my love for her beauty clouds my judgement of the quality of her acting. She is superb, period.
I watch a LOT of films. Horror is one of my favorite genres, but it's sadly dying at the hands of a great many bad producers, directors, actors, and so on. I'm so happy to say that "The Dead Room" is a true breath of fresh air. I haven't liked a newer horror movie this much since "The Babadook" (which was amazing). While "The Dead Zone" MAY not scare the pants off of you like "The Babadook" did with me, it's still 100% on-par with that level of great acting, direction, and cinematography. Lauren Petersen, as I've said, does an excellent job as our sort-of main character, and her character is an excellent centerpiece in this film.
If you want something scary to watch tonight, see "The Dead Room". You will not be disappointed with this one!
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