Film

The Room

Name: The Room
Genre: Horror, Drama, Mystery, Science Fiction
Released: 2019
Cast: Olga Kurylenko, Kevin Janssens, Francis Chapman, Joshua Wilson, John Flanders

Other titles called The Room: the 1993 film, the 2003 film.

A couple grieving their miscarriages discover a room in their house that manifests wishes into reality. What begins as miraculous becomes a descent into psychological horror and moral corruption as they grapple with desire, guilt, and the cost of getting what you want. Intimate, darkly unsettling, for viewers who prize atmosphere over jump scares.

TMDb rating

3.2

If you liked this

The Babadook2014

A monster film that's really about grief and maternal trauma, building dread from domestic spaces and what mothers are willing to do to protect their children. Shares The Room's refusal to separate the psychological from the supernatural.

But Slow-burn pacing and an ending that prioritizes ambiguity over catharsis may frustrate those wanting clear answers or resolution.

Hereditary2018

Family trauma and inherited darkness spiral through a house, with the supernatural emerging from genuine emotional wreckage. Like The Room, it treats the fantastic as a symptom of real pain rather than mere plot mechanics.

But Genuinely distressing imagery and a tone of accumulating dread mean it's not an easy watch, and some will find it punishing rather than rewarding.

The Machinist2004

A man's guilt and desperation manifest as psychological unraveling and reality-warping, with mounting dread and a body in decline. Both films ask whether the impossible is happening or the mind is failing.

But Bleak throughout with minimal levity, and Christian Bale's skeletal appearance can feel exploitative depending on your tolerance for that kind of transformation cinema.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Room

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Annihilation2018

Both feature a location that rewrites the rules of reality and the psychology of those inside it. The Room's wish-granting and the Shimmer's mutations are inverse processes—one giving you what you want, one taking what you are—but both corrupt the people who experience them from within.

A shimmer at the edge of the world that warps everything it touches, growing inward. A mystery that expands rather than resolves, shot through with grief and the terror of transformation. Visually stunning and philosophically unsettling.

But Deliberately strange and cerebral. If you need clear exposition or a straightforward narrative, it will frustrate you, and the body horror is visceral enough to genuinely disturb.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer2017

A family's comfortable life cracks under the pressure of an inexplicable curse, exploring how desire and guilt corrupt those we love most. Coldly formal but deeply unsettling in its logic.

But Yorgos Lanthimos's detached style and deadpan dialogue will feel alienating if you want warmth or conventional emotional beats from your characters.

Goodnight Mommy2015

A darkly disorienting film about children, motherhood, and what happens when a parent becomes unrecognizable. Operates in the same space where domesticity turns sinister and reality becomes negotiable.

But Difficult and occasionally exploitative, with a twist that recontextualizes the whole film in ways some will find gimmicky rather than earned.

Under the Skin2014

A woman moving through ordinary Scottish landscapes with sinister intent, shot as dreamlike and hypnotic. Like The Room, it trusts atmosphere and abstraction over plot clarity, creating unease through what isn't explained.

But Deliberately obscure, almost dialogue-free in stretches, and the narrative is genuinely elusive—some will find this pretentious or simply boring.

A Tale of Two Sisters2003

A Korean horror film where a hostile house and a stepmother conceal deeper trauma, blending the supernatural with psychological fracture. Visually gorgeous while exploring family damage with genuine precision.

But The twist reveals may feel obvious in hindsight, and the pacing is deliberate enough to test patience if you're not committed to its mood.

It Follows2015

A slow-moving threat that cannot be escaped, generating dread through relentless logic and a handful of images that burrow into your mind. Like The Room, it's about the inescapable consequences of what we want.

But Minimal plot momentum outside the central premise, and repetition of the same scenario can feel thin if the concept doesn't grab you immediately.

The Wailing2016

A village fractured by an unexplained illness spirals into paranoia and violence, never quite revealing whether the supernatural or human nature is the real threat. Epic in scale but intimate in its moral confusion.

But Nearly three hours long with a deliberately cryptic ending that refuses to disambiguate. Demands active interpretation and rewards patience with ambiguity, not answers.

Climax2018

Both films examine what happens to a group when desire and circumstance collide in a closed space, and how quickly trust and rationality dissolve. But where The Room is intimate and introspective, Climax is orgiastic and chaotic—the same moral collapse played at different volumes.

A dance troupe's rehearsal descends into paranoia and violence when their sangria is spiked with LSD, shot by Gaspar Noé with savage color and balletic cruelty. A different register entirely—trashy, explicit, visually extravagant—but structurally mirrors The Room's logic of desire warping reality and community into chaos.

But Intensely graphic sexual and violent content, experimental structure that abandons narrative coherence, and an anarchic tone that some will read as nihilistic or exploitative rather than artistic.