What Lives in Room 214 (2026)

 

An actor trending upward finds himself stuck in a motel with some odd people, unable to leave.

This short feature film is going to leave you pondering what the hell this is all about. Thats both a good thing and a bad thing. 

The bad thing is that as a straight on thriller the film doesn't completely hold together. The problem is the film wants to be obtuse at times and perhaps mine the off kilter territory of David Lynch. However where lynch had a knack for making us by the weirdness by bending reality, writer director Brandon Rice makes a misstep by keeping the film a bit too close to reality. 

This not to imply that the film is bad, more that it plays better as an allegory. If you step away from what is actually happening on screen as literal fact, the film suddenly pops into docus. We no longer need every thing to line up. Rice actually makes a better allegory than Lynch because the over lay of reality to what he is saying results in a connection to reality Lynch doesn't always have. Rice's effort ponder how we end up being trapped by success or fame or something else in our lives hits home. We understand how sometimes we can't leave.

The cast headed by Adam Joseph Turner and almost unrecognizable Timothy Cox is first rate, with the exchanges between the two men being wonders to be hold.

While probably not for all audiences, I think it may frustrate some people, those willing to work with and take the ride it wants to give will come away delighted