The Woman in the Room

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.