Review of Chatroom (2010) by Calum B — 05 Mar 2012

Excellent lighting and lensing techniques, making the online scenes feel even more present and "there" and the real world scenes more flat and lifeless, which pretty much represents proantagonist (yes, he's both) William's viewpoint throughout.

In fact, the presentation of online events is kind of a comedy in itself, taking digs at online predators, trolls, and sexting, among other things, which works to offset the darker and more ominous aspects of the script.

The characters, with the exception of William, are all pretty much taken from the Hollywood guidebook to high school friends.....at least on the surface. Once the film gets a little deeper, you start to see just what's huiddden in them that you would never see online.

The music is pretty minimal and is just present enough to provide an element of sppookiness, and the occasional animated segemnts (courtesy of William's flash skill, I imagine) are about equal to the standard talking cats video -- stupid, but still kinda funny, which in a way makes what they and the film are saying even creepier.

It's a little hard to determine just how what's happening online corresponds to what (private messaging, search engines, etc.), but things move briskly enough that it doesn't matter too much.

As for the climax, which plays out in both cyber- and real-space, it's surprisingly tight and well-assembled, with one minor exception that's big enough to drive a train through (hint-hint) which puts an abrupt and semi-confusing end on a not too bad movie.