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Review: Jon Keeyes’ Doom Room (Alice in Wonderland Meets The Collector)

Looking for something bizarre, whimsical and macabre, all wrapped up in a big, over-exaggerated theme of caution? Well, look no further than Doom Room, the new collaboration between Highland Myst Entertainment and Wolfclan Productions. Doom Room is seeing its digital premiere on January 15, 2019 via Wild Eye Releasing, and it’s one of those movies that hooks you by the balls and keeps you wondering ‘what the fuck is going on’ the whole way through. Written by Jon Keeyes and Carl Kirshner, Doom Room finds a woman, Jane, enjoying her time at a rave before waking up in a small, creepy room with no memory of how she got there. Unable to escape her captors, Jane is tormented by demonic figures and supernatural entities, all of whom contain a piece of the puzzle to her imprisonment. A psychological horror story that mixes elements of Wizard of Oz and Captivity, and from director Jon Keeyes, Doom Room stars Johanna Stanton, Nicholas Ball, Debbie Rochon, Matthew Tompkins, Hayden Tweedie and Sal Esen. Find it on most digital retailers on January 15, 2019.

It’s always good to stand out from the crowd, and Doom Room is one of the most unique titles you’ll find on the market. It’s a trippy, macabre mystery that’s somewhat erotic and absolutely horrific. Think an even darker version of Alice and Wonderland meets The Collector. It defies and crosses into so many conflicting genres, and it’s such a treat to watch. The room is full of Halloween and Day of the Dead decor, like skulls and hog-tied barbies, and the characters that visit Jane in her cell are just as weird and disturbing. Despite the mystery and a magical, whimsical version of Hell, there’s still one theme present in Doom Room that hits you over the head. That being the dangers of the party atmosphere – drugs, over-drinking, unsafe sex, and dangerous decision making – and the aftereffects it can have on your body and psyche. I can get behind this 100%, and it’s nice to find a title that has a message in a catalog that’s usually filled with throwaway gore porn. Well done, Jon Keeyes and Carl Kirshner, for crafting a script that grabs the viewer from all sides.

Doom Room is also produced by Jon Keeyes and Carl Kirshner as well as Matthew Tompkins and Charles Burnley. It features cinematography from Lorenzo Levrini, production design from Eric Whitney and editing from Fran Clabaugh. As far as grading this as a production, Doom Room is solid. I don’t usually highlight the production designer in my crew list, but Eric Whitney put a lot of effort into making Doom Room its own bizarre little world, and I thought the extra work needed to be mentioned. Jon Keeyes as director seems to have been the perfect man for the job, and the movie is virtually error free thanks to his supporting crew. My only criticism here is that the scores and backing music didn’t always fit with the tone and danger of the movie. My other complaint, though, falls with the lead actress, Johanna Stanton. I’m not saying that she’s not a capable actress by any means, but I don’t feel like she was the right woman for the job here. Her performance was always slightly under the caliber of ferocity and at times she didn’t even seem that worried about her forced surroundings.

Doom Room is on demand January 15, 2019 from Wild Eye Releasing. I would recommend checking this out if you enjoyed any of the other titles I’ve mentioned in this review. I wish I could say more, but I’m a big fan of keeping spoilers out of my articles. Am I allowed to recommend getting high? If so, I’d definitely smoke something other than cigarettes and really allow yourself to dive into this movie. Even though that maybe goes against what the theme is. Oh well. Doom Room is awesome. Just be prepared for the rape scene. I know those make me uncomfortable, too, and not in a good way. Final Score: 8 out of 10.

Michael DeFellipo

(Senior Editor)

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