Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10501 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-08-25
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 92 minutes

Synopsis
Finding herself in an isolated room, a young woman discovers that, along with others that surround her, is a contestant on a reality television show in which they must hunt for clues in order to find a way out of their mysterious surroundings. BREATHING ROOM manages to comprise elements of BATTLE ROYALE, CUBE and the SAW series, creating an atmospheric thriller that will have you guess till its end.

Customer Reviews

Predictable, but somewhat entertaining
Tonya (Ailsa Marshall) is dumped naked into a room with thirteen strangers. She is player fourteen in a sadistic game where only the survivors win. With each player given clues and tools to survive, who will be left? And who is behind this? Not everyone tells the truth, so can the players trust each other to keep themselves civil? You can consider comparing this film to "Saw [DVD] [2004]", or to "Battle Royale [DVD] [2001]", or maybe to "Cube [DVD] [1998]"... And, it's true, there are a "Saw" vibe here and a "Battle Royale" vibe... but don't let that dissuade you. There is nothing new about survival horror and it won't go away any time soon. And, if done correctly, that's not a bad thing.

I've also seen certain comments concerning the low budget and overabundance of white light. I don't deny these aspects, but in complete honesty they didn't bother me one bit. As long as your film has an interesting story -- and this one does -- and isn't a complete shambles, you have me hook, line and sinker. My only issue with this film was that I had a very strong suspicion of the ending from the very beginning. I was even more convinced after a big clue was dropped in the interview scene.

Fans of "Saw" will like this, as will people who like puzzles, so long as they keep an open mind and don't judge it strictly on its low budget and similarities to other films. I was thoroughly engaged by the interesting characters, destruction of film stereotypes, and ultimately the very clever writing inherent in the picture. Allegedly this film was thrown together roughly overnight, but it doesn't show.

So anyway, if you plan on seeing this, don't expect it to be another ".Cube [DVD] [1998]". If you can live with "Diet Cube" however, you should be mildly entertained by this.

It's claustrophobic in here!
I wouldn't recommend this film. I am a fan of any low budget horror and although it does take elements from Saw and Cube it is nowhere near as good as these films. 14 characters wake up in a large white room (well 3 are dead before the film starts) and told they are in a game. The characters are eliminated from 'the game' one-by-one. They are told that one of them inside the room is the killer.

Although it took me a fair while to work out which one of characters was the killer the whole plot is predicatble, and at times laughable. The lights go out a few times during the film and someone ends up dead and thats about it for 90 minutes. There are some creative ideas along the way but it never really seems thought out.

There is a twist at the end but not a very good one. It reminded me of a film called 'House of 9' with Dennis Hopper.

So turn out the lights, give this a miss and go straight to bed instead!

Derivative, But Entertaining
It's strange how much of other films we can happily tolerate in a new one - taking a very slight new twist on an ever-similar theme never seems to have done slasher movies any harm, for instance.

"Breathing Room" is a good example of this phenomenon; there are clear situational similarities with Cube [1998] (Cube itself having been derived from a 1960's film with a similar name), and parts of the "game of death" plot-lines of films like Saw [2004]and Hostel [2005].

The scenario focuses on a group of individuals, individuals that wake up to
discover themselves cooped up in a large room; uniformed and numbered like the 'inmates' from The Prisoner [1967], they are instructed that they're part of a game in which there can only be one survivor. If they follow the rules, there is a chance that they'll survive to the end.

It is gradually revealed that each of the characters has something to hide, which does bring out an interesting angle to the plot; a device that may divide the characters' loyalties and prevent them from sticking together when prejudices regarding each others' backgrounds begin to surface.

There's a "twist" in the plot towards the end that is on the one hand so unoriginal that I'm reluctant to call it one, yet on the other hand one that does come as a surprise, and that's always a good thing.

All in all it is indeed an unoriginal and derivative affair, however one that I admit to enjoying watching, and will probably watch again.