Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"The Woman in the Room" is a half-hour American film from the early 1980s. It was the first effort as director and writer by 3-time Academy Award nominee Frank Darabont. Darabont's biggest successes, including the #1 in the IMDb top250, are all adaptations from Stephen King's novels, so it should not come as a surprise that this is also how he started his successful career when he made this film here in his early 20s.There is one horror dream sequence, but apart from that it is a very human film in my opinion. Plus, the sequence worked surprisingly well with the rest of the story. It is all about dying, compassion and making the right decisions. The title character is an old woman dying from cancer and we witness throughout the entire film how her son, a successful lawyer, deals with this complicated situation. The script is good, the actors play their parts well and everything else is pretty fine too. No surprise Darabont cast some of the actors for his later, more famous works too. The only minor problem I had with his film here is that it seemed a bit unrealistic how the lawyer would so openly mention his personal problems to the death row inmate. Anyway, this was certainly not enough negativity to not let me recommend this movie to you. I enjoyed the watch and I hope you will too. Thumbs up.
C. Dennis Moore
In 1983, a 24-year-old future awesome filmmaker named Frank Darabont got it into his head that he should adapt a Stephen King short story to film. And that's exactly what he did. After writing a letter to King securing his permission (Wikipedia says this was the birth of the "dollar babies", but another dollar baby, "The Boogeyman" came out a year earlier, so I don't know), Darabont set about making his film debut with one of the less assuming stories in King's then-small bibliography."The Woman in the Room" (originally published in King's 1978 collection NIGHT SHIFT as a 14 page story) is about John and his mother. The mother is in the hospital, dying from abdominal cancer, and John is the dutiful son who visits regularly. As the film opens, John is searching the medicine cabinet for painkillers, which he takes to his mother at the hospital, we presume with the intention of euthanizing her. Instead, he gives her aspirin.Later, John, a lawyer, has a meeting with a client who might end up on death row for murder. During the course of their discussion, John asks the prisoner--played wonderfully by Brian Libby, who would go on to become a fixture in Darabont films (Floyd in THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and the Biker in THE MIST)--what it felt like when he killed someone. The prisoner replies he didn't feel anything. During and after the war (remember, this was 1983), he got so good at killing, it was just a job to him. Except one time, he recalls. A buddy was badly injured in Vietnam, then given a cordotomy. The prisoner says his buddy saved his life once, and he didn't like seeing him like that. So he killed him. Out of respect.Given this speech, and then suffering a particularly horrifying nightmare that shows John what's in store for his beloved mother, the lawyer finally gains the confidence to help his mother one last time in the only manner he can.THE WOMAN IN THE ROOM is a very short film, about 30 minutes, and even that might be stretching the events of the short story. I've read the story a few times, but it's been at least a decade, so I can't vouch for how closely the film sticks to the source material, but I've read that King considers this his favorite of all the dollar babies. That, of course, could be because of the connection King feels to the story, considering he's said in interviews that, when his own mother was sick, he wished he'd had the nerve to do what John does, if only to end his mother's suffering.As for the movie itself, given a little better quality film stock, you'd never know this was shot by a 24-year-old amateur. Right from the start, Darabont's expertise with a camera is evident. His staging, his movement, the performances he gets from his actors. In fact, my only problem with this movie was in trying to convince myself that Dee Croxton (mother) was 60 years old as she claims. Her make-up job as terminally ill was pretty good, but the old age stuff wasn't working for me. Michael Cornelison (John) was 31 in this movie, and I'd bet money Croxton was around the same age. They looked more like brother and sister. But that's a very small detail that doesn't do enough to ruin my suspension of disbelief because everything else about this one is just about perfect.Early indicators of Darabont's knack for turning Stephen King stories into "heartfelt dramas" are present here, but with that nightmare sequence, it's obvious on which side of the horror line his real allegiance lies. Of all the King stories I've read, this is probably the last one I would peg for being a really good movie, but I think the quality of the finished product is just another testament to how talented Frank Darabont is as a filmmaker.This movie is available in two parts to view on you tube.King on Film: Carrie (1976): http://www.epinions.com/review/mvie_mu- 1003625/content_91443072644 Salem's Lot (1979): http://www.epinions.com/review/mvie_mu- 1040466/content_620198661764 The Shining (1981): http://www.epinions.com/review/mvie_mu- 1018844/content_621040144004 The Boogeyman (1982): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112558/reviews-9 Creepshow (1982): http://www.epinions.com/review/mvie_mu- 1004915/content_161489063556
Michael_Elliott
The Woman in the Room (1983)*** (out of 4) Frank Darabont made his directorial debut adapting the Stephen King short story. The film deals with a son (Michael Cornelison) who is growing tired of seeing his mother (Dee Croxton) slowly dying from cancer so he weights the option of killing her. THE WOMAN IN THE ROOM is a pretty impressive film even with the few flaws that it does have. I was quite impressed that Darabont, considering this was his first film, was able to hold the viewers attention for so long and especially since this is mainly a dialogue driven film. I think one of the highlights is a sequence where he's defending a man who is probably going to be put to death for murders that he committed. The two's discussion on what it's like killing someone was very effective. There's one horror element during a dream sequence that is very effective and quite memorable on its own. Another major plus is that the performances are all very good. I was really impressed with Cornelison being able to hold your attention and make you feel sorry for what he's going through. Brian Libby is also good as the prisoner. Darabont also wrote the screenplay here and he certainly mixes the right elements of drama, horror and just downright moral opinion.
