PANIC ROOMS

Not only is it a great concept, it’s a great movie: Panic Room.  Of course, any film starring the brilliant Jodie Foster is a hit.  And typically, any film directed by David Fincher (Aerosmith, Madonna, and other documentaries in his repertoire) promises intrigue.  But further, the film is of that horror/suspense/thriller genre that appeals not only to the voyeur but to the lover of secret rooms and subsequently of movies with a secret room (or in this case, panic room) theme.  First, that is, I am reminded of the movie from the seventies, titled Bad Ronald, a movie about the high school kid who accidentally kills the next-door neighbor.  His mother papers over a room off the pantry, secreting Ronald (Derek Jacoby) inside, bringing him food and art supplies and such each day, but insisting he never come out.  But then Mother dies, a new family buys the house and moves in, and Ronald starts peeping and fantasizing about the pretty daughter.  Then, there’s the makeshift panic room, the attic where Gary Busey, a social (and legal, if you will) deviant named Tom Sykes, hides in the attic, occasionally at first then more frequently leaving it to have his way with the family…or, er, the wife.

The Panic Room spins on the secret hiding place idea, but as a safe refuse for the “good” guy…or gal.  Jodie Foster plays divorced mother Meg Altman, who moves into a beautiful old brownstone in New York. One night, thieves seeking a hefty horde of cash stashed in the house previous to Altman’s arrival break into the house.  Meg (who is claustrophobic) grabs daughter Sarah (who is diabetic) and secures them in the panic room—designed for such purposes as this very threatening moment.  However, the cash the robbers seek is inside the panic room.

Panic Room is a David Fincher work, one which has the expected (cell phone battery power problems, kid on verge of insulin shock) and the unexpected (no, I won’t spoil it for you), and gives viewers great ideas for building a panic room of their own…and warnings about how to stock it, tool it, and study and understand it before the day comes when they have to use it—against thieves, potential rapists, nuclear assault, or air raids…or in case of needing a place to hide out if they are bad Ronalds or crazed Tom Sykes types.