Well, The Name of
the Movie Certainly Can't be Accused of False Advertising...
By Chris Sabga
 |
Release Date:
September 9th, 2016 –
U.S.
Rating:
R
Genre: Horror,
Drama, Thriller
Running Time:
85 minutes
Director: D.J.
Caruso
Writers:
D.J. Caruso, Wentworth
Miller
Cast:
Kate
Beckinsale, Mel Raido,
Duncan Joiner, Lucas Till,
Gerald McRaney
|
In
the olden days, well-to-do parents with disabled or deformed children
sometimes locked them away and hid their existence from society. A
less-than-perfect child was considered a source of "shame"
and a "disappointment." They would be imprisoned in a tiny
space – a "disappointments room" – with very little
sunlight and no social interaction outside of parents and servants.
Their lives were often – mercifully – brief.
If
that tragic practice sounds like a terrific setup for a
paint-by-numbers haunted house/ghost movie, congratulations, your
name is D.J. Caruso or Wentworth Miller. (They wrote the screenplay.)
Everyone else will lament the major missed opportunity to tell a
compelling story about one of the darkest customs in American
history.
Perhaps
it's unfair of me to fault the movie for what it was never going to
be – especially when I knew going in that it was a psychological
horror thriller, not a historical drama – but the fascinating
concept of a "disappointments room" has so much potential
that's not realized.
Here's
what we do get: The movie begins idyllically, with a seemingly happy
family on a road trip – a wife, Dana (Kate Beckinsale), her
husband, David (Mel Raido), and their little boy, Lucas (Duncan
Joiner), buckled safely into his carseat – all singing "If You
Want To Know Who We Are" by Gilbert and Sullivan. As they belt
out the "We are gentlemen of Japan" portion of the song,
the husband basks in the "American" experience they're
enjoying. The wife points out that Gilbert and Sullivan are actually
English. London-born Kate Beckinsale isn't though, at least not in
this movie. That's always a disappointment to me, but she mastered
her American accent to perfection back in 1999's "Brokedown
Palace," so there's no need to shove her in a "disappointments
room" for flexing her linguistic muscles and acting chops.
As
it turns out, they're moving from a cramped apartment in the city to
a giant house in the secluded countryside – never a good idea in
this type of film – because Dana lost her infant daughter only
three months after giving birth. Needless to say, she has been
suffering psychological trauma since then. Before long, she discovers
a mysterious room – a "disappointments room," of course –
and starts to see the long-dead previous owner lurking around ("This
Is Us's" Dr. K., Gerald McRaney, whose superb talents are
completely wasted here in a throwaway role) and an ominous black dog
reminiscent of "The Omen." There's also a handyman (played
by the new "MacGyver," Lucas Till) who shows up to fix a
roof leak. His presence seems to serve only one purpose, which I
won't spoil.
I've
spent so much time focusing on what "The Disappointments Room"
isn't that I've given short thrift to what it is – a
somewhat enjoyable psychological horror thriller with a decent little
mystery driving it. I had a fair bit of fun watching it. There are
certainly worse ways to spend a couple of hours.
The
problem is, though, that the narrative never quite comes together in
a completely satisfying manner. Spooky things happen, and then the
movie is over.
What's
real and what isn't? Ultimately, to the detriment of "The
Disappointments Room," it never actually matters.
