The Woman in the Room

The Woman in the Room (1983) was a decent debut for future male weepy film maker Frank Darabont. The future king of chick-flicks-for-guys makes total use of a shoe string budget and directed a surprisingly watchable film. Unlike the other film that was included on the tape, this one follows the original story (found in the short story collection Night Shift).

A man is being feeling conflicted over a decision he feels that he must do. His mother is dying of a fatal illness. Everyday he visits he and watches her waste away. The doctors can't do anything for her except kill her pain. But the mother doesn't want to live like this anymore and asks him to help her. Can the good son make his mother's final request come true? What is her final wish? To find out you'll just have to watch THE WOMAN IN THE ROOM!

Like I said in the beginning. A nice adaptation that was made on a minuscule budget. Not a masterpiece but a nice short.

Recommended for Stephen King film fans.

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.

The directing debut of Frank Darabont, a man who signs cult adaptations of Steven King, "The Shawshank Redemption " and "The Green Mile", is also an adaptation of King's story. "The Woman in the Room" (1983) is a thirty-minute psychological drama about a lawyer whose mother is dying in pain and his emotional and moral dilemma of whether to release her from her agony. The film was done almost without a budget, with only three actors in two rooms, and it's based almost entirely on facial expressions and the building of the atmosphere. It is interesting that the actress who plays mother also appears in "The Green Mile", and the supporting actor also has roles in both, "The Green Mile" and "The Shawshank Redemption". King stated that this is the best short film made on one of his stories.

7,5/10

Stephen King calls this the best film based on his works. It is easy to see what he likes about it.

Frank Darabont directed this short film at the age of 24. At about 30 minutes in length, it tells the story of a man who is watching his mother slowly die in great pain. He must make the decision of whether to allow her suffering to continue or to help release her from her pain forever.

The story was a tough one for King to write, and was loosly based on his own mother's death. The acting by Michael Cornelison is fairly good and the performance by Dee Croxton, who relies on simple facial movement, is also done well.

Don't watch the film if you are looking for King horror, for there is none (except one nightmare sequence). Darabont, in his directing debut, shows why he became such a force in the film world. His style here is very good, and forshadows his extraordinary King adaptions, The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile.

An interesting side note, is that Croxton later appears in The Green Mile. Brian Libby, who plays a prisoner in Woman, also reappears in both Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile.

If you are a fan of King's short stories or a film scholar who wants to see how a short film can be done right, check this out.

The Woman in the Room (1984) is the directorial debut of Frank Darabont who has gone on to adapted three other movie based on Stephen King novels and this was the first time he did that. Well I just finished watching the short film and it was good.

Positives for The Woman in the Room (1984): For me, this short film was a excellent showcase of Frank Darabont as a writer and director. The interactions with these characters is very deep and personal. The acting from the cast is very good. And finally, the ending to this short film was very emotional.

Negatives for The Woman in the Room (1984): Because this is a short film, there isn't enough time to explore the themes or characters and I would like to see someone adapt this into a feature length movie.

Overall, The Woman in the Room (1984) was a great short film and a fantastic directorial debut for Frank Darabont.