Movies
[Review] ‘The Disappointments Room’ Tries and Fails to Turn a Tale of Depression Into a Horror Film
The folks over at Relativity Media has had a rough go of it recently. After declaring bankruptcy last summer and emerging from it back in March, they have spent the past year trying to claw themselves out of their financial woes. The past year has seen many of their films get scheduled only to get pushed back by several months (looking at you, Before I Wake). One of those films is D.J. Caruso’s (Disturbia) The Disappointments Room. Filmed in 2014, The Disappointments Room was abruptly scheduled for a September 9th release date three weeks ago after being bumped from its original release date of March. Finally seeing the light of day in a small-scale nationwide release (it’s playing on just over 1,500 screens), The Disappointments Room fails to inject horror into a story that would have worked much better had it been written solely as a straightforward psychological drama.
Following the death of their infant daughter, Dana (Kate Beckinsale) and David (Mel Raido) move to an old house in the country with their 5-year-old son Lucas (Duncan Joiner). Hoping to get a fresh start and rid Dana of her depression and guilt, the family attempts to settle into their new home outside of the city. Dana comes across a locked door in the attic that she learns is a disappointments room. While dealing with her own grief and the renovations of her new home, she tries to unravel the mystery behind this secret room.
The script is credited to Caruso and actor/writer Wentworth Miller (who also penned 2013’s exceptional Stoker), and it’s a bit shocking to learn that they are behind it because their résumés suggest that they’re capable of better. There are a multitude of issues with the script, but the biggest one is that it paints Beckinsale’s character as a shrew for the first two acts of the film. She is clearly dealing with some crippling mental issues and her husband, who is one of the most worthless characters ever put on screen, just shrugs it off for most of the film, constantly giving her “you’re being crazy” facial expressions.
A lot of jokes will be made over the film’s title, but to say The Disappointments Room is disappointing would imply that there were high expectations in the first place. A studio doesn’t just schedule a theatrical release for a film three weeks prior to said release because they think it’s good. Not even if that studio is just coming out of bankruptcy. It seems like Relativity saw the success of Lights Out, a horror film that dealt with similar themes, and tried to cash in on its success.
The Disappointments Room is being marketed as a horror film and that is a huge mistake. Sure, it will get butts in seats during the opening weekend (my theater was surprisingly half-full), but The Disappointments Room fails remarkably as a horror film. It is littered with cheap scares. There is even a medicine cabinet mirror scare in the film. Why do directors still think it is a good idea to use those? Moments of graphic violence are also edited to death so that you can’t tell what is going on during them. The film is at its worst when it is trying to be scary because never once is the film actually scary. The psychological parts are where the film is at its best. Delving into Dana’s mind is much more fascinating than some cheap jump scares.
Not helping matters is that the film is rather dull for the majority of its runtime. It’s mostly just Beckinsale walking around the house staring at things. The film attempts to build suspense around the mystery of the titular room and the circumstances surrounding the death of David and Dana’ daughter, but none of it works particularly well. Miller and Caruso try to link the history of the disappointments room to Beckinsale’s grief, but it just doesn’t mesh. It starts heading somewhere interesting for a while, but fails to stick the landing. The final act leaves so many hanging threads (one character’s fate is left up in the air entirely) that is seems like it was chopped up in the editing room during post-production.
The Disappointments Room is not a complete loss. Beckinsale gives a heartbreaking performance as Dana. The full story behind her daughter’s death, while predictable, is one of the more interesting aspects of the film. Beckinsale sells Dana’s mental trauma well and earns the audience’s empathy, despite the film sometimes painting her in a negative light. It would have behooved the film if it had more time been spent reflecting on that after the film reveals it. Unfortunately it is treated as a twist, which cheapens the plot development.
Bolstered by Beckinsale’s performance and some rather affecting insights into depression and guilt, the film at least merits a rental. It’s just a shame it had to attempt to inject so much horror into the proceedings, but a horror film called The Disappointments Room is an easier sell than a drama called Kate Beckinsale is Sad for 90 Minutes.
Ghostface is back on the big screen this weekend… well, sort of… with the release of Scary Movie, which marks the Wayans brothers’ return to the horror spoof franchise for the first time since Scary Movie 2 back in the day. It’s likely to be the talk of the horror community for the weekend, but don’t overlook the other six genre movies that were freshly unleashed today.
Here’s all the new horror that released on Friday, June 5, 2026.
The horror spoof franchise is back with Scary Movie now playing in theaters!
Marlon Wayans (“Shorty”), Shawn Wayans (“Ray”), Anna Faris (“Cindy”), and Regina Hall (“Brenda”) reunite for the new Scary Movie, with the cast also including Dave Sheridan, Lochlyn Munro, Cheri Oteri, Chris Elliott, Jon Abrahams, Damon Wayans Jr., Gregg Wayans, Kim Wayans, Benny Zielke, Cameron Scott Roberts, Heidi Gardner, Olivia Rose Keegan, Ruby Snowber, Savannah Lee Nassif, Sydney Park, and Felissa Rose.
Twenty-six years after outrunning a suspiciously familiar masked killer (“Ghostface”), the Core Four are back in the killer’s crosshairs and no horror movie IP is safe…
Scary Movie will slash through reboots, remakes, requels, prequels, sequels, spin-offs, elevated horror, origin stories, anything with the word legacy in it, and every “final chapter” that absolutely isn’t. A whole lot has changed in the horror genre since the Wayans Brothers were in charge of the franchise; their involvement ended with Scary Movie 2 back in 2001!
Michael Tiddes (A Haunted House) directs Scary Movie 6 from a script written by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, original Scary Movie director Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans (Scary Movie 2), and Rick Alvarez (A Haunted House).
From IFC, shark attack movie Chum is now available on Digital.
Alice Eve (Haunting of Queen Mary) stars in shark attack movie alongside Eric Michael Cole, Jim Klock, Elle Haymond, Lisa Yaro, Johnny Gaffney, and Sarah Siadat.
This one sounds very similar to last year’s Dangerous Animals…
Here’s the plot: “A newlywed couple joins friends on a Mediterranean yacht excursion, only to find themselves caught between a predatory shark and a psychopathic killer in their midst-transforming a sun-drenched escape into a fight for survival.”
Jonathan Zuck directs Chum, from a script by Jonathan Zuck and Joe Leone.
Samara Weaving (Ready or Not 2: Here I Come) and Kyle Gallner (Strange Darling) come together in Carolina Caroline, a sexy crime thriller now playing in theaters.
It’s not a horror movie, mind you, but it’s worth a mention here all the same.
Kyra Sedgwick (Family Movie) and Jon Gries also star in the romantic crime thriller.
Director Adam Carter Rehmeier’s film stars Samara Weaving as Caroline Daniels, whose desire to leave her small Texas town brings her into the orbit of a charismatic con man (Kyle Gallner), and together they weave a path of crime and passion across the American Southeast.
Adam Rehmeier previously directed the films Dinner in America and Snack Shack.
Tom Dean wrote the screenplay for Carolina Caroline.
Similar to Steven Spielberg’s upcoming big screen blockbuster Disclosure Day, Signal One explores humankind’s enduring question: what if we aren’t alone in the universe?
The sci-fi thriller is now available on Digital.
Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan), Josh Hutcherson (Five Nights at Freddy’s), David Thewlis (Harry Potter), Raoul Bhaneja (Possessor), Emma Ho (“The Expanse”), and Dennis Quaid (The Substance) star in Signal One from director Jonathan Sobol (The Art of the Steal).
When tech billionaire Sam Houston (Quaid) hires the brilliant computer scientist Annika (Fuhrman), she ventures to an isolated facility run by the brilliant, nihilistic creator of LITTLEMOUTH, a machine which can communicate with alien intelligence.
Annika soon learns some humanity-altering facts: that we are not alone in the universe, that alien intelligences are communicating around us at every moment, and that we are likely too primitive to even remotely understand what they are trying to tell us.
When the goal of the endeavor shifts from listening to talking back, the project rapidly devolves into chaos. With contact comes consequences, and soon Annika and the team must work to ensure the very survival of our species.
A schoolyard dare becomes an urban legend in the creepypasta-inspired horror anthology The Summoning. The indie film is now available on Digital from Brainstorm Media.
“A babysitting gig becomes a nightmare of urban legend when three teens summon Baby Blue. Survival depends on uncovering the past to escape a mother’s wrath from beyond the grave.”
Felipe Vargas (Rosario, Hive), Sergio Gonzalez, Brandon Piskorik, Corey Benson Powers, and Brian Sepanzyk direct the segments. Valeria San Martín, Justina Ceballos, Daniela Flombaum, Nannu Spannauss, Agustín Olcese, and Giovanni Onetti star.
The Summoning is written by Camilo Zaffora.
Happy Death Day actress Jessica Rothe stars as a mom struggling to keep her grip on her sanity and memory in the mind-bending Affection, now available on Digital at home.
In Affection, “Afflicted by a mysterious condition that resets her memory, Ellie becomes trapped in a cyclical nightmare with a man who claims to be her husband. She soon must uncover the horrifying truth of her existence—before she forgets it all again.“
Joseph Cross (“Big Little Lies”) and Julianna Layne (“Chicago P.D.”) also star in the sci-fi horror thriller. Affection marks the feature debut by writer/director BT Meza.
Daniel Kurland wrote in his review out of the film’s premiere, “Affection is steeped in existential questions and fears that plague modern society, while it embraces the ethos of the ’80s through bold body horror. Add to that Rothe’s revelatory performance, and Affection is a hidden gem that will connect with your mind, body, and soul.”
Lucile Hadžihalilović’s latest dark fairy tale, The Ice Tower, loosely reimagines Hans Christian Andersen’s fable “The Snow Queen,” and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
In the ’70s set film, “Jeanne, a 15-year-old orphan, witnesses the shoot of a film adaptation of the fairy tale The Snow Queen, and she becomes fascinated by its star Cristina (Marion Cotillard), an actress who is just as mysterious and alluring as the Queen she is playing.“
Clara Pacini stars as Jeanne. August Diehl and Marine Gesbert also star in The Ice Tower, and look for a cameo from director Gaspar Noé (Climax, Irréversible).
“For me, The Ice Tower solidified Lucile Hadžihalilović’s place amongst the most fascinating creators of fairy tales today,” said distributor Yellow Veil Pictures co-founder Joe Yanick.
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