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The Forbidden Room

Play trailer 2:16 Poster for The Forbidden Room 2015 2h 10m Comedy Drama Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
96% Tomatometer 68 Reviews 51% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
A submarine crew, which has been trapped underwater for months, encounters a strange woodsman. Though the vessel is doomed, the crew may be making its way towards the origins of its fears.
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The Forbidden Room

The Forbidden Room

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Critics Consensus

The Forbidden Room may frustrate viewers looking for a linear experience, but those seeking a challenge -- or already familiar with director Guy Maddin's work -- will be rewarded.

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Critics Reviews

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Tara Brady Irish Times 02/23/2016
4/5
There's a strange comfort in knowing that Freud's fascinating topography of the mind will never be completely discredited while Maddin is making deliriously absurd movies. Go to Full Review
Sheri Linden Los Angeles Times 02/18/2016
What Maddin & Co. have invented here ranges from Freudian horror to childish naughtiness. Go to Full Review
Mark Kermode Observer (UK) 12/13/2015
3/5
The screen pulsates like infernal internal organs, or bubbles and mutates like melting celluloid jammed in a hot projector. Go to Full Review
Jason Adams The Film Experience 01/14/2022
The outside world, like centenarian film-stock, dissolves in acid-hued pools right around you. Outside world? What outside world? We are all film down here. Go to Full Review
Nicholas Bell IONCINEMA.com 10/08/2020
4/5
Maddin's films are often classified as experimental, even though he's regurgitating vintage cinematic styles and melting them into his own particular stew, with his latest being a passionate, intoxicating frenzy. Go to Full Review
Mattie Lucas From the Front Row 08/07/2019
3.5/4
Evokes a forgotten aesthetic that feels as if we have unearthed a buried treasure. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Larkin K May 3 Evan Johnson (director) is a violent domestic abuser who has rendered his girlfriend unconscious countless times. Can't recommend See more Mason M Apr 6 This film is definitely not for the faint of heart, and I can't fully say that I get what the point of this film is yet. But this was such a wild and unique watch, and I can't help but admire Guy Maddin's craft on this film. Maddin somehow makes images in this picture that are both visually stunning in nature, but also some of the most vile to look at in composure. And his filmmaking creates and atmosphere like no other I've seen. Even though this was a very flawed film, and there were parts of it that I didn't enjoy very much, I still felt incredibly moved and satisfied by the time the end credits rolled around. See more 09/15/2017 Complete waste of time. The critics rating this so high on the tomatometer are probably of the same caliber that see paint flung on a canvas by monkeys and extol the virtues and beauty in the randomness of the splatters. Really surprised at the critics on this one. See more 10/22/2016 I wanted to love this and on one level, I really do. Guy Maddin's latest is a triumph of style over substance, perhaps his most eye-popping feature yet. The screen bubbles and melts and exudes raw colour in a variety of cinematic fashions (silent, old technicolor, sixties schlock, etc.). Things are typically outlandish, silly, and sometimes gruesome or sexy. The high concept here is that Maddin decided to recreate some lost films based on surviving descriptions or scripts alone, films that Maddin himself really wanted to see (but obviously could not). After all, he is also a film historian of sorts (with interesting pieces in Film Comment that I am half-remembering now). So, 4, 5, or 6 films have been sliced and diced and welded together to make a deranged feature film (apparently to secure funding that the shorts could not). The result is largely incoherent as a sum of parts but there are so many wild vibrant moments across the 2 hours - and thinking of this as an experimental film really helps matters. Probably though it is not for the uninitiated and there are other easier entry points to Maddin's oeuvre (My Winnipeg, 2007, is my favourite thus far, of those I have seen). But really, just wow. See more 10/20/2016 It's often the case that experimental cinema is frustrating and boring. But Guy Maddin manages to be frenetic and self referential without losing the audience. Forbidden Room taps into the high melodrama of silent film in a way that is extremely entertaining, well paced, cogent, and often funny. See more 08/29/2016 With very few redeeming qualities, experimental film hero Guy Maddin's The Forbidden Room is an impenetrable and self-indulgent work that will really only appeal to those individuals who want to appear to be intelligent. See more Read all reviews
The Forbidden Room

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Movie Info

Synopsis A submarine crew, which has been trapped underwater for months, encounters a strange woodsman. Though the vessel is doomed, the crew may be making its way towards the origins of its fears.
Director
Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson
Producer
Phoebe Greenberg, Phyllis Laing, Guy Maddin, Penny Mancuso
Screenwriter
Evan Johnson, Guy Maddin, Robert Kotyk
Distributor
Kino Lorber
Production Co
Buffalo Gal Pictures
Genre
Comedy, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 7, 2015, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 18, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$32.9K
Runtime
2h 10m
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