Director: Christian Volckman
Writers: Sabrina B. Karine, Eric Forestier
Stars: Olga Kurylenko, Kevin Janssens, Joshua Wilson
Run Time: 1 Hour, 40 Minutes
Link: https://amzn.to/2ZSEKkz
Synopsis
Kate and Matt are unpacking at their new home in upstate New York. She promises her mother on the phone that, “it’s not a ruin!” Still, it needs a lot of work. Kate finds a dead bird inside, and when she takes it outside to bury it, the bird vanishes. Did it fly away?
Matt finds a door that has been wallpapered over, and it has a fascinating locking mechanism. Once they get the door open, the power starts flickering. When they get the electrician to work on the wiring, they find the most complicated mess of cables and machinery anyone has ever seen down there. The electrician explains that the previous owners were killed in this house. Matt Googles it and finds that it’s nicknamed the “House of Blood” and finds numerous headlines from 1975.
Matt goes in the new room drinking that night and wishes he had another bottle. The lights flicker, and when they come back on, there’s another bottle sitting there. He tells Kate about it, and she asks for a million dollars, which suddenly appears from nowhere. They start wishing for lots of things and having a lot of fun with it. This goes on for a little while until they actually start to get used to it.
Matt wants Kate to try to have a baby. They lost their first two attempts in the past, and Kate is afraid to try again. He goes for a drive, and she goes into the room, and comes out with a new baby. Matt says this isn’t what he wanted, and he wants her to “get rid of it,” because making a baby that way is just wrong. He gives in, and they decide to keep it.
Matt grabs some money and goes to visit the murderer from the 1975 case at the mental hospital. He’s been there for 45 years without any visitor. The man advises him to get out of the house before it’s too late. He explains, “The only thing more dangerous than a person who can’t get what they want is a person who can get whatever they want.” On the way back, he tries to pay for gas and find the money has turned to dust. Any item the room makes turns to dust when it leaves the house. Everything.
Matt starts tearing at the walls, and he finds a ton more of that crazy wiring. Is the wish-maker some kind of machine? Why is the whole house wired like this? Kate carries the baby outside, and Matt goes outside to rescue him. When they bring him inside, he’s suddenly a large child. If the house made the boy, does he have a soul? His name is Shane, and he has a British accent.
Matt orders a gun online. Shane keeps trying to get outside, so they finally board up all the windows and putting deadbolts on the doors. Kate and Matt start fighting regularly; she’s infatuated with caring for her “child,” he knows it is what it is: a figment. Shane can sue the room too, and he makes a whole forest in there, complete with snowmen.
John Doe calls Matt and explains that there is a way allow tings to leave the house. Children can outlive their parents, he suggests. Kate has to die to save Shane. John Doe himself came from the room. Kate can die for Shane to become real, or Shane can die for Kate to live a normal life. Matt must decide. Matt tells Shane everything, including why he can’t leave the house. Shane goes outside anyway, and now he’s an adult.
Matt and Shane fight, and Kate gets knocked out. When she awakens, Matt explains that Shane is dead, and he carried the body outside. When Matt awakens, he’s alone, so he works to get into the secret room. Meanwhile, Kate realizes that the Matt sitting across from her is really Shane with a new body. The real Matt is trying to crawl through a hole in the wall, but he finds that it’s bigger on the inside. Still, he makes a hole into the imaginary forest.
Real-matt follows the footprints in the snow to an exact replica of their house. They are all inside the room- the house, the forest, everything. Real Matt enters the house and starts searching while fake Matt/Shane tries to rape Kate for no logical reason. They all meet up and Shane stabs Matt, except she’s not real either. Finally, they get Shane outside the real house, and he ages and turns to dust quickly.
There’s a final twist at the end that I did not see coming.
Commentary
Of course the main selling point of this concept is “What would you wish for?” I know I could have come up with few good attempts; certainly something more interesting than a baby. Although it’s never explained, the room is clearly a machine, not some kind of supernatural thing.
The movie started out being a lot of fun, but like most TV series and marriages, once the child shows up, it’s ruined. Once Shane comes into the picture, both Matt and Kate get really nasty towards each other for no clear reason.
At any point in the climax, any one of the characters could simply have wished for everything to stop. “Computer– End Program,” as they say in Star Trek. Or they could have wished for a weapon or anything else to make the final battle easier.
There were a thousand ways this story could be told, and they could easily make a series from the concept. It’s a great idea, and this story is good.