When a film Id never heard of landed on my desk with a strapline of praise from the Daily Sport on the front cover, I was justifiably suspicious. However, after years of problems plaguing the production, including money problems, fires and the death of a cast member, Room 36 has just received its DVD release, so I thought it might deserve a courtesy review.
Room 36 is set in the seedy Paddington Hotel which employs a collection of misfits. Staying in Room 36 is Richard (Scantori), a prostitute-using obese travelling salesman, and, next door in Room 38 is hitman and neat freak, Connor (Herzberg). Feuding newlyweds damage one of the room signs so both read Room 36, so when Miss Woods (Booroff) pays Connor a visit with a roll of film that could apparently put a politician in a bit of a sticky position, a weird mixture of comedy, thriller and ultra-violence ensues.
This is one of those films where the synopsis is much funnier than the execution. Room 36 purports to be a Film-Noir-Black-Comedy but the only flaw in this claim is that it is devoid of all laughs. The humour is an uncomfortable mixture of Carry On humour and quirky characters, half of whom are pretty pointless and poorly acted. Visually, Groom excels himself. The setting and atmosphere – when we are not subjected to attempted humour – is suitably dark and moody. There are lots of nice little stylistic touches and the excellent but rather relentless soundtrack is very reminiscent of Hitchcock’s films of the 1940s. The conclusion (well, the last five minutes), as all the threads come together, is quite satisfying and leaves you with a sense of fulfilment that the film does not really deserve.