"The Maid's Room" is a surprisingly decent little psychological thriller that came and went without anyone noticing. The maid in question is Drina whose knowledge of a crime forces her employers to take rather drastic action to prevent her from going to the police. It's stylishly made and at one point seems to be paying something of a homage to Mr Hitchcock and there's a good performance by that fine and underused actress Annabella Sciora as the mother who will go to any lengths to protect her son though, unfortunately, her part is never really developed. If the plot's a tad on the thin side, at least it feels original and it's better than the critics suggested. In fact, 50 years or so ago this would have been a B-movie and we would be singing its praises for being so much better than other B-movies of the period.
52 Reviews
Slow and Predictable
weirdowarp28 May 2016
..the film was atmospheric and to some degree well acted and directed.
The early half of the film was pretty good leaving me with a plot I was about settle into and in the main enjoy. I enjoyed the superiority of the rich against the poor. The lady of the house informing the maid 'my son has been sick in the garage, clean it up'
I particularly enjoyed the early stand off against maid and wealthy owner .....there were some early clues of the rich kid attitude.
Matters did take a predictable course but could I predict the conclusion, not really because I could not make out the action as most of the plot, unfortunately, was shot ...no pun intended... in darkness and I believe this really did spoil what could have been a thriller of worth.
The early half of the film was pretty good leaving me with a plot I was about settle into and in the main enjoy. I enjoyed the superiority of the rich against the poor. The lady of the house informing the maid 'my son has been sick in the garage, clean it up'
I particularly enjoyed the early stand off against maid and wealthy owner .....there were some early clues of the rich kid attitude.
Matters did take a predictable course but could I predict the conclusion, not really because I could not make out the action as most of the plot, unfortunately, was shot ...no pun intended... in darkness and I believe this really did spoil what could have been a thriller of worth.
So much potential...
mrlloydcopper28 August 2018
Warning: Spoilers
The premise of this movie is involving and starts out well. A Columbian maid moves in with a rich American family to clean and hopefully fulfill her dream of attending university. We're introduced to the families son Brandon, 16, who in many ways is a typical teenager, he experiments with alcohol and is curious about the attractive maid. This all changes one night when he goes out drinking and kills a man in a hit and run.
The maid, who is incredibly nosy even before this, deduces that foul play is at hand and finds a clipping of a hit and run in a newspaper not so cleverly hidden in the boy's room. Why wouldn't they destroy this? She overhears the conversation between father and son and is then told her services are no longer required. However a bribe is offered for her to stay silent. Her conscience does not allow this and enrages the parents.
This starts off a chain reaction where the parents both try to convince her to do the "right" thing and take the money and forget about it and since she's an illegal immigrant no one would believe her anyway. It all culminates in her being killed. She does herself no favours however. One would think coming from somewhere like Columbia she would have some street smarts but she lets her fear get in the way of escaping.
I'm sure one of the biggest complaints about this film will be the hit and run scene. As is constant throughout the movie, it flickers back and forwards to previous events which actually just leaves the viewer confused and wondering why they didn't make it more coherent by piecing it together as it played out. The hit and run scene shows that Brandon has called an ambulance and the man he killed taken to hospital. The ambulance officers console Brandon and don't call the police. Considering the next day his parents accuse him of "smelling like a brewery", it's odd that the ambulance officers didn't notice this and also how sober Brandon seems. This glaring faux pas basically destroyed the movies credibility for me.
The movie is well shot and the actors capable enough, although I found the mother to be quite wooden, but it is disjointed and sort of ambles along until it ends abruptly with the son being accidentally shot by the father. Both parents seem to show no emotion at this. All together, the film could have been great. But some glaring omissions and a confused patching together of scenes leave more questions than answers.
The maid, who is incredibly nosy even before this, deduces that foul play is at hand and finds a clipping of a hit and run in a newspaper not so cleverly hidden in the boy's room. Why wouldn't they destroy this? She overhears the conversation between father and son and is then told her services are no longer required. However a bribe is offered for her to stay silent. Her conscience does not allow this and enrages the parents.
This starts off a chain reaction where the parents both try to convince her to do the "right" thing and take the money and forget about it and since she's an illegal immigrant no one would believe her anyway. It all culminates in her being killed. She does herself no favours however. One would think coming from somewhere like Columbia she would have some street smarts but she lets her fear get in the way of escaping.
I'm sure one of the biggest complaints about this film will be the hit and run scene. As is constant throughout the movie, it flickers back and forwards to previous events which actually just leaves the viewer confused and wondering why they didn't make it more coherent by piecing it together as it played out. The hit and run scene shows that Brandon has called an ambulance and the man he killed taken to hospital. The ambulance officers console Brandon and don't call the police. Considering the next day his parents accuse him of "smelling like a brewery", it's odd that the ambulance officers didn't notice this and also how sober Brandon seems. This glaring faux pas basically destroyed the movies credibility for me.
The movie is well shot and the actors capable enough, although I found the mother to be quite wooden, but it is disjointed and sort of ambles along until it ends abruptly with the son being accidentally shot by the father. Both parents seem to show no emotion at this. All together, the film could have been great. But some glaring omissions and a confused patching together of scenes leave more questions than answers.
Horrible
sandralynnjewell21 November 2020
Should Have Read the Review BEFORE watching
littlesecret-202946 December 2020
You'd need more than a maid to mop up this mess
bob_meg24 August 2014
The Maid's Room has got to be one of the most confused thrillers I can remember seeing. It's got an almost nonsensical plot structure. Don't confuse that with "innovative" or "creative" --- no, the script for this film is a complete mess.
Michael Walker seems to be a bright guy with some very interesting ideas. His last film, "Price Check," took a lot of chances and turned the office rom-com genre on its head in the process. I didn't always love what he did with the storyline and characters in "Price Check", but it was logical and provoking, and the characters had depth enough to make intelligent decisions and retain your interest. Oh yeah, casting Parker Posey, an almost unsinkable talent, as his lead didn't hurt either.
Walker tries a similar stunt with the domestic thriller genre. His lead this time is the beguiling Paula Garces, who brings just the right tone to Drina, a young Columbian maid who the Crawfords (Bill Camp and Annabella Sciorra) hire to basically babysit and clean up after their coddled son at their Long Island mansion while they go back to NYC for the summer. Unfortunately, shortly after their departure, the son, Brandon (Phillip Ettinger), gets involved in an accident that appears a bit more serious than he lets on. When Drina finds blood on a sponge Brandon used to clean up, you can imagine the consequences for all involved, witnesses and otherwise.
Or can you? That's the thing about The Maid's Room...things don't exactly go as you'd predict. I'm ordinarily all for these types of out-of-the-box twists, but they fail in this case because the characters who are left holding the bag after this mid-film climax simply aren't worth watching (or well cast). From then on, this film is something of a schizophrenic freakshow, careening in tone from "Night of the Living Dead" territory to "Revenge of the Migrant Workers." What did Walker intend to do here, then? Ah, yes. That's the other big problem. I heard lots of bad press on this movie shortly after it opened mostly because it "demonized the filthy rich" and made them into "impossibly heartless baddies." Ehh, not really. I don't think any of the Crawford's actions (and far worse no doubt) are beyond the qualms of the upper class and those who aspire to their leagues. I didn't even think Bill Camp's constant pompous prattling about "what it takes to succeed" to his son were overblown. But do we really need constant shots of invading ants to hammer home the corruption of these upper crusters? It's lame symbolism, not to mention idiotic (hire an exterminator or buy a jug of vinegar, for god's sake).
The film simply tries overly hard to do all the wrong things. It's not artful or subtle enough to offer anything we don't already know about class conflict, the plight of immigrants, or the corruption of power. I'm sure some directors could pull it off, but they'd need a far more talented cast (apologies to Sciorra, who's great, but she's given nothing to do here but literally bitch).
The Maid's Room is a thriller and it needs to thrill. All it drew from me was a semi-bored, confounded stare.
Michael Walker seems to be a bright guy with some very interesting ideas. His last film, "Price Check," took a lot of chances and turned the office rom-com genre on its head in the process. I didn't always love what he did with the storyline and characters in "Price Check", but it was logical and provoking, and the characters had depth enough to make intelligent decisions and retain your interest. Oh yeah, casting Parker Posey, an almost unsinkable talent, as his lead didn't hurt either.
Walker tries a similar stunt with the domestic thriller genre. His lead this time is the beguiling Paula Garces, who brings just the right tone to Drina, a young Columbian maid who the Crawfords (Bill Camp and Annabella Sciorra) hire to basically babysit and clean up after their coddled son at their Long Island mansion while they go back to NYC for the summer. Unfortunately, shortly after their departure, the son, Brandon (Phillip Ettinger), gets involved in an accident that appears a bit more serious than he lets on. When Drina finds blood on a sponge Brandon used to clean up, you can imagine the consequences for all involved, witnesses and otherwise.
Or can you? That's the thing about The Maid's Room...things don't exactly go as you'd predict. I'm ordinarily all for these types of out-of-the-box twists, but they fail in this case because the characters who are left holding the bag after this mid-film climax simply aren't worth watching (or well cast). From then on, this film is something of a schizophrenic freakshow, careening in tone from "Night of the Living Dead" territory to "Revenge of the Migrant Workers." What did Walker intend to do here, then? Ah, yes. That's the other big problem. I heard lots of bad press on this movie shortly after it opened mostly because it "demonized the filthy rich" and made them into "impossibly heartless baddies." Ehh, not really. I don't think any of the Crawford's actions (and far worse no doubt) are beyond the qualms of the upper class and those who aspire to their leagues. I didn't even think Bill Camp's constant pompous prattling about "what it takes to succeed" to his son were overblown. But do we really need constant shots of invading ants to hammer home the corruption of these upper crusters? It's lame symbolism, not to mention idiotic (hire an exterminator or buy a jug of vinegar, for god's sake).
The film simply tries overly hard to do all the wrong things. It's not artful or subtle enough to offer anything we don't already know about class conflict, the plight of immigrants, or the corruption of power. I'm sure some directors could pull it off, but they'd need a far more talented cast (apologies to Sciorra, who's great, but she's given nothing to do here but literally bitch).
The Maid's Room is a thriller and it needs to thrill. All it drew from me was a semi-bored, confounded stare.
Horrifyingly bad
junkjunk2473 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
There is NOTHING good about this film. You keep watching it hoping it will redeem itself. Then it finally ends with that never happening.
The way they view immigrants is so incredibly childlike. They made all the immigrants act like they had an IQ of 70. Then they have this 60 year old white dude running after a 100% healthy and very fit woman and he actually catches up to her? She literally runs around as if she is too stupid to figure out what she's supposed to do when a grandpa is chasing her. Not only does he catch up to her, they make it seem he's capable of overpowering her and strangling her. As she just barely even fights. Just kind of looks up at him and says "sorry, the director not only thinks immigrants are stupid but lazy too so I'm incapable of fighting back". Oh! Grandpa also singlehandedly took on 3 young laborers. And they explained it away that it's because he's wealthy. Mmmmkkkkkkkaaaaaaayyyyyyyy
I'm so disappointed that annabella agreed to do this movie. What's wrong with you girl?
The way they view immigrants is so incredibly childlike. They made all the immigrants act like they had an IQ of 70. Then they have this 60 year old white dude running after a 100% healthy and very fit woman and he actually catches up to her? She literally runs around as if she is too stupid to figure out what she's supposed to do when a grandpa is chasing her. Not only does he catch up to her, they make it seem he's capable of overpowering her and strangling her. As she just barely even fights. Just kind of looks up at him and says "sorry, the director not only thinks immigrants are stupid but lazy too so I'm incapable of fighting back". Oh! Grandpa also singlehandedly took on 3 young laborers. And they explained it away that it's because he's wealthy. Mmmmkkkkkkkaaaaaaayyyyyyyy
I'm so disappointed that annabella agreed to do this movie. What's wrong with you girl?
Waste of time. Not worth even as a TV release.
michaelgrann9 August 2014
Waste of time. Amateur story/screen writing/music/directing. Thriller? You gotta be kidding! All predictable cliché. Not worth the release in theaters or DVD rental. I was hoping for a certain twist to the plot. But the story just keeps dragging until at the very end you are left wondering what the production team was thinking when they made this movie. This is more of a story in the newspaper, sad but not worth turning into a feature film. I'm giving it 2 stars for the effort. The main characters are all badly acted. Any college student studying filming would have just as easily directed and written this script. You're better off watching reruns of past hits.
Decent watch Quite interesting
orsihot17 April 2019
Although it's amateur in many ways, the moods the movie takes you through is a creepy journey making have elements of a thriller but hidden deep within the story line. It is basic in nature as other reviews say, it is predictable. But the cinematic experience is great with plenty of intense moments
This movie is ridiculously horrible.
cparousis-3061518 December 2020
Way better than these reviews
ginjaninja-439075 August 2021
Ok it's not gonna win an academy award. But it was well crafted and suspenseful. It's not a big budget but it kept me interested the entire time. I see way worse movies with higher scores that this. It's a good thriller to sit down and watch with the wife or husband. We enjoyed it I'm giving it an 8 because if the low score but it's a solid 7.
Last Girl - Not!
tomgpohl7 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
First of all, if I was Mr. Crawford, I would have placed Mrs. Crawford under the sod and made way for the "new" Mrs. Drina Crawford! If you're going to be a psycho, you might as well go big.
Anyway, yea this movie was okay. It was shot pretty well, except for the night shots towards the end where Director Walker called for the scenes to be shot in almost complete darkness. The acting was good. Bill Camp (Mr. Crawford) was good, as was Paula Garcés. Sound was good, but writer Walker needed more suspense in his script. Once Drina was dead, I became very disinterested in the film. By the way, municipal police departments don't give a rats arse about a witness or victim's immigration status, so that portion of the story was really stupid.
Overall, a good Peloton ride film!
Anyway, yea this movie was okay. It was shot pretty well, except for the night shots towards the end where Director Walker called for the scenes to be shot in almost complete darkness. The acting was good. Bill Camp (Mr. Crawford) was good, as was Paula Garcés. Sound was good, but writer Walker needed more suspense in his script. Once Drina was dead, I became very disinterested in the film. By the way, municipal police departments don't give a rats arse about a witness or victim's immigration status, so that portion of the story was really stupid.
Overall, a good Peloton ride film!
Completely unrealistic
rpine-4540814 March 2021
Who would just snoop around plundering through someone elses things ? Who would sneak around and just be nosey for no reason ? Who would just sit stare and listen to a family discussion when it had nothing to do with her nor did they need her for the dinner conversation about where their son was that night and why. She should have excused herself! And following them around? Really? Then she still wanted to call 911 when she had no evidence at all he hit someone and they would deport her. This is a completely stupid movie what a waste of money spent on this.
Complete waste of 95 minutes of my life that I will never get back
sus-4373726 November 2016
I read the synopsis of this film and thought it sounded good. It started of well and I recorded it and couldn't wait to see it. So I snuggled down to watch this on a Saturday night with my husband and I have to say it's one of the worst films I've ever seen. And believe me I've seen quite a few bad films but this one tops it all. Boring and stupid and insulting to the viewers is the only way to describe this. At the beginning I had high hopes and it looked really promising but after about half an hour I realised that this is total rubbish. Don't waste your time folks. Complete utter nonsense with the most stupid ending possible. We have wasted 95 minutes of our lives that we will never get back. Such a pity as I said it started of looking good.
OMG
anaplenter22 July 2020
This was the worse movie I have ever seen. I mean ever!
I watched to the end, and then sat in shock for about 5mins in disbelief how bad it actually was.
I have never left a movie review before, but really wouldn't want anyone else to waste their time. I think any positive review must have been left as a joke.
I watched to the end, and then sat in shock for about 5mins in disbelief how bad it actually was.
I have never left a movie review before, but really wouldn't want anyone else to waste their time. I think any positive review must have been left as a joke.
Wow!
ochambers-1276415 November 2020
Slow, boring, leaves you hanging
vovachkagirl17 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The beginning is so slow and boring that I thought about turning it off. (I should have.) the acting was bad -all the acting -there wasn't at least one actor that could carry this big waste of time.
Many of the "stunts" were so fake that they reminded me of watching a 1970s TV series. When the father strangles the maid to death it doesn't even look like he is putting any pressure on her neck. And later when this overweight CEO-type that hasn't seen a gym in 30 years takes on three very muscular young men he easily beats-up one of them while the other two onlookers appear frightened. So NOT what would have happened in real life.
The character development for the college-age son was so inconsistent. One minute her is a complete self-absorbed, demeaning, drunken peeping-tom and the next minute he grows half of a conscience.
Despite all of this I hung in to the very end only to discover that the movie keeps you completely hanging on a number of very important plot lines. Basically the movie drops you like a hot-potato which is exactly what you should do to this movie.
Many of the "stunts" were so fake that they reminded me of watching a 1970s TV series. When the father strangles the maid to death it doesn't even look like he is putting any pressure on her neck. And later when this overweight CEO-type that hasn't seen a gym in 30 years takes on three very muscular young men he easily beats-up one of them while the other two onlookers appear frightened. So NOT what would have happened in real life.
The character development for the college-age son was so inconsistent. One minute her is a complete self-absorbed, demeaning, drunken peeping-tom and the next minute he grows half of a conscience.
Despite all of this I hung in to the very end only to discover that the movie keeps you completely hanging on a number of very important plot lines. Basically the movie drops you like a hot-potato which is exactly what you should do to this movie.
Slow burning, though not too cheesy
radjin19831 November 2014
This movie is not agonizing in the way the bigger part of modern USA horror is agonizing: there are no priest vs. demons vs. supernatural feels vs. very sweet children in a middle-class context. This immediately lifts this movie out of the realm of mediocrity, and sets it apart from all the Insidious-like crap that's floating around the JW player jungle. A good thing was the moral ambiguity in the son's character, as well as the lead actress'"maid".
However, it's not really a scary movie for anybody older than 12. This shouldn't even be considered a horror film, imho. I liked the story, but found the execution somewhat flawed in that the main characters (other than the maid + son) could never really convince in their authenticity. Also, the sound-design/music is typical meh & Hollywood-esque (no creative montage, no purist electronic usage, sub-par interaction of visuals and audio etc). The tempo is kinda slow, but not too slow; the story is not very original, but original enough.
All in all a so-so one-time watch, but nothing more.
However, it's not really a scary movie for anybody older than 12. This shouldn't even be considered a horror film, imho. I liked the story, but found the execution somewhat flawed in that the main characters (other than the maid + son) could never really convince in their authenticity. Also, the sound-design/music is typical meh & Hollywood-esque (no creative montage, no purist electronic usage, sub-par interaction of visuals and audio etc). The tempo is kinda slow, but not too slow; the story is not very original, but original enough.
All in all a so-so one-time watch, but nothing more.
Hummm...
kirstenlynch5 December 2020
Very good thriller
s-andra-19575 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I had to write a review because I think this film is very underrated. The stars carry the tension well and it's got a Macbeth feel to it that I found fascinating. I enjoyed the filming, ambiance lighting and low key acting and the Genius of using very constant skin crawling ants To heighten the unease! Good film!
Film wasn't bad but I didn't understand the ending
kyahvictoria31 March 2021
In my opinion this movie was interesting and a really good potential story I really believe it's worth that watch if not why are people finishing off the movie ? Uninteresting movies are either slept on or cut short the movies itself seem to expose something that people probably didn't see any wrong but other than the bad ending I don't see why else why people hate this film ...
What did I just watch
realitycheck4you5 February 2021
Um.... It had potential. But, I don't know what happened.
dejavuicutooo20 November 2020
Can I say first, wow the woman who plays the maid is very beautiful. I read somewhere they were criticized for "demonizing the rich"? No, this shows quite frankly, exactly what rich white people are like, so not sure where that came from. However, they make the maid look like a complete moron, so that kind of made me angry. There is so much with that, I can't begin, but basically, they make her out to look like a complete dumb****. So, like what, immigrants are too stupid to out think the white rich people? There is countless of things that she did in this movie, that would never have been done by a real woman, any woman, other than a ditsy rich white girl, would do. So, I guess that's where they got their inspiration for her character from. With that said, like I said, this movie had potential, but it stops about 10 to 15 minutes in. So, I guess if there is nothing else you can watch, then do so, but this is not a movie you'd seek out to watch, no. Nice try though.
I HIT A DEER
nogodnomasters13 September 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Drina (Paula Garcés) an undocumented worker form Columbia lands a job as a maid at the summer home of an upscale family. The son, Brandon (Philip Ettinger) is a typical male interested in girls, parties, and "Hustler" magazine. Drina is a little too nosy for her own good. One night while underage Brandon was out drinking he hit a deer...which turned out not to be a deer. Mr. Crawford (Bill Camp) attempts to buy Drina's silence and then things escalate to the expected inane ending.
The film has that faux drama-thriller feel as a made of TV film. The sound track was lame and the script was weak giving the actors no chance at a good performance.
Parental Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity.
The film has that faux drama-thriller feel as a made of TV film. The sound track was lame and the script was weak giving the actors no chance at a good performance.
Parental Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity.
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