The Oak Room

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1:51

The Oak Room

2020

1h 29m

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

93%

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40 Reviews

50%

Popcornmeter

50+ Ratings

While a drifter tries to settle an old debt with a grizzled bartender by telling him a story, the night's events quickly spin into a dark tale of mistaken identities, double-crosses and shocking violence.

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Critics Consensus

The Oak Room contains a taut, spooky tale that proves southern gothic can flourish in the snowy north.

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Brad Wheeler

Globe and Mail

Cliché? Maybe on my part, but not when it comes to The Oak Room, a taut exercise in story-weaving and twists turned on their heads.

Apr 29, 2021

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Phil Hoad

Guardian

As the tales gather weight like snow on a roof, and intriguing correspondences accumulate, the impressive structuring tells.

Rated: 3/5

Apr 20, 2021

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Christy Lemire

RogerEbert.com

Back and forth The Oak Room goes, without ever building the tension it ostensibly seeks. Instead, it meanders from tale to tale, and the writing isn't sharp or specific enough to sustain this kind of complex framework.

Rated: 1.5/4

Apr 2, 2021

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Zofia Wijaszka

FirstShowing.net

The film is a must watch for any true fans of thrillers. It features different stories, diverse narratives, and surprising plot twists. Calahan accentuates the art of storytelling and its complexity and value of a good story.

Feb 11, 2022

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Rich Cline

Shadows on the Wall

The film's themes are relatively thin, but there's a nice depth to the connections between these men.

Rated: 3/5

May 7, 2021

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Jim Slotek

Original Cin

Not technically much of a film, but a terrific and dark piece of storytelling by Peter Genoway that could be told around a campfire, performed onstage or embellished onscreen ("Goose the truth!" as Peter Outerbridge's character Paul describes it).

Rated: B

Apr 28, 2021

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Patrick C

This movie is terrible. The atmosphere is somewhat redeeming but the acting and dialogue writing is cheesy, terrible and cliche.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

04/16/25

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Jeremy A

A slow burn in the best way. The story telling is fun and good. Thats what this is. Enjoy 4/5*

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/25

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Ian H

Whilst a bit confusing this was a quirky and enjoyable slow burner

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/28/25

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Vicki G

This one started playing automatically from Amazon's "Movies we think you'll like" list, so I watched with one eye for 5 minutes while multi tasking......It drew me in and I was glued until the end. I intend to give it another watch as I think there are little eggs in there that I missed that will help explain the great twist ending - I felt the need to check what others thought and found myself disagreeing with their interpretations! It's very rare that I enjoy a film that much that I want to discuss and analyse it with others afterwards..... It begins with the feel of a typical creepy storytelling anthology but builds to a tense and twisty psychological thriller....the horror of one of the character's situation dawned on me about 10 minutes before the penny dropped for him, and that's good as I usually guess the twist in the tale not long before the opening credits have rolled! The film was adapted from a play by the author.....and it has all those literary aspects of interpretation in there- nuggets of the relationships, childhood, attitudes, prejudices and misjudgement of the characters, which are superbly portrayed by the actors. If you enjoy intense, small cast theatre productions you will love this film. If you're a big budget low dialogue action fan don't bother! *Spoiler for discussion after watching* My interpretation was that Steve and Michael are actually the same person.....Steve is not an aimless drifter that missed his father's funeral - he dropped out of college to continue to make "poor choices" and "taking up with the wrong people" as his father mentions in Paul's story, and had been calling the hospital while working as a hitman or mobster in the city. I would love to know what others think!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/19/25

Full Review

Lisa D

The acting was brilliant. The yarns great. Fabulous idea. Lazy crap ending.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/17/25

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Mortal

Some good "story telling quality" but besides that, not worth it!

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/18/24

Full Review

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Cody Calahan

Director

RJ Mitte

Steve

Peter Outerbridge

Paul

Ari Millen

Michael

Martin Roach

Richard

Nicholas Campbell

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The Oak Room: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

While a drifter tries to settle an old debt with a grizzled bartender by telling him a story, the night's events quickly spin into a dark tale of mistaken identities, double-crosses and shocking violence.

Director: Cody Calahan
Producer: Chad Archibald, Cody Calahan, Ari Millen
Screenwriter: Peter Genoway
Production Co: Breakthrough Entertainment, Black Fawn Films, Citizen Skull Productions
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 2, 2021
Runtime: 1h 29m

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