Christopher Webster [Celluloid 05.13.09] movie news horror thriller gallery



There are two films of the "strangers who find themselves in trouble in a room" genre that I'm really looking forward to seeing in 2009. The first is Jonathan Liebesman's The Killing Room which has already premiered at SXSW but which we've seen nothing from (except for a couple of stills). The second is a highly original British thriller, Exam, which has one of the most intriguing plots I've read in a while.

Synopsis:
Eight talented candidates have reached the final stage of selection to join the ranks of a mysterious and powerful corporation. Entering a windowless room, an Invigilator gives them eighty minutes to answer one simple question. He outlines three rules they must obey or be disqualified: don't talk to him or the armed guard by the door, don't spoil their papers and don't leave the room. He starts the clock and leaves.

The candidates turn over their question papers, only to find they're completely blank. After the initial confusion has subsided, one frustrated candidate writes 'I believe you should hire me because...,' and is promptly ejected for spoiling. The remaining candidates soon figure out they're permitted to talk to each other, and they agree to cooperate in order to figure out the question: then they can compete to answer it. At first they suspect the question may be hidden in their papers like a security marker in a credit card, and they figure out ways to change their environment to expose the hidden words. But light, liquids and other plans all come to naught. Soon enough, the candidates begin to uncover each other's background, prejudices and hidden agendas. Tensions rise as the clock steadily descends towards zero, and each candidate must decide how far they are willing to go to secure the ultimate job . . .

You may have never heard of British screenwriter Stuart Hazeldine, but you've no doubt heard of his scifi projects. Besides scripting Riverworld for SCIFI back in 2003, the British writer is currently working with Alex Proyas to bring Tripods to the big screen in 2012.

We've got the first stills and poster for you after the break. Here's hoping we'll be seeing some footage soon. This film looks fantastic in a smart Fermat's Room sort of way.

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Gio (11 years ago) Reply

There is a Spanish movie from 2005 called "El Método Gronhölm" which seems fairly similar to the Exam.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427582/

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