Was drawn into seeing 'The Disappointments Room', with as said for many films seen recently a cool poster/cover, an intriguing if not exactly novel premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.

'The Disappointments Room', simply put, turned out to be a terrible film and waste of potential with next to no redeeming values and so much done catastrophically wrong. One of the worst films seen in a while, which is saying a lot for somebody who on the most part has been encouraged by their film/television watching and has more often than that been quite generous. Decent idea, horrendous execution.

Lets start with one positive. The scenery is atmospheric, if wasted by the schlocky way the film is shot and particularly edited.

However, the story does feel over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their irritating and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrate. Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The acting is also terrible, expected better from Kate Beckinsale whose performance is overwrought and anaemic, and the effects are ropy at best.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling while the pace is uneven, dragging in a lot of the first half, which goes on forever and fails to get going, and never is it exciting. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness and the lack of tension and suspense. Too many elements are introduced, and then dropped, barely explored or don't go anywhere, sometimes even all three.

A lot of the film completely fails to make sense, both in underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations. There is a real sense that a lot more scenes were filmed and then dropped which explains the choppiness and lack of coherence. The threat is poorly used and poses very little threat. The film completely peters out with one of the most abrupt climaxes/endings seen for any film in a while.

Overall, terrible, disappointment is a very apt word to sum it up. 1/10 Bethany Cox

Dana Barrow (Kate Beckinsale),her husband David and their son Lucas move to an isolated manor. She's an architect and she finds a strange attic room which is connected to the home's past when it was owned by Judge Blacker (Gerald McRaney). They hire young contractor Ben (Lucas Till) to work on the house.

It's either ballsy and foolish to have disappointment in the title. At the end of the day, I don't think it matters either way. I'm not happy with the mansion. The exterior doesn't look rundown enough or old enough. It may be an old house but it probably was renovated recently. If it wants to be a horror, the house needs the horror looks. Some of the interior looks interesting. I like the attic room and the spiral staircase but I don't like the wall treatment. Essentially, it's a haunted house movie but it struggles to build any tension. As for the D word, I like the idea of the room. I would call it something else. It can't be that. I expected Lucas Till to start coming on to Beckinsale. There should be more sexual tension. Then the movie does something jumpy in the last half hour. There are new characters and the movie loses the thread. It eventually gets somewhere but it's too late by then.

The architect Dana (Kate Beckinsale),her husband David (Mel Raido) and their son Lucas (Joiner Duncan) move to an isolated manor in the countryside seeking a restart of their lives after the death of their baby daughter in a tragic accident. Dana overhears noises in the attic and finds a hidden locked room. Soon she finds the keys and is haunted by the evil spirit of an old man. She researches and learns that old rural houses had disappointments room where retarded and deformed children were locked to avoid embarrassment to the traditional families. Further, the spirits of the original owner of the house, Judge Blacker (Gerald McRaney),and his daughter are still trapped in the house. However, only Dana is capable to see and contact them and David believes she is delusional. When Judge Blacker threatens the life of Lucas, Dana tries to protect him but she is not sure of what is reality or daydream.

"The Disappointments Room" is a horror low-budget movie with an unoriginal haunted house story. The predictable story gives the sensation of déjà vu and the unique surprise is the gorgeous Kate Beckinsale with blonde hair. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "O Quarto dos Esquecidos" ("The Room of the Forgotten Ones")