Chatroom (2010)

10% of critics liked it
(21 reviews)
33% of users liked it
(3,534 ratings)

A handful of teenagers make the mistake of baring their souls to the wrong person in this thriller. Eva (Imogen Poots) is a young model whose good looks and poise disguise her aching doubts about herself and her wishes she could be more like others. Jim (Matthew Beard) is still wrestling with the… More A handful of teenagers make the mistake of baring their souls to the wrong person in this thriller. Eva (Imogen Poots) is a young model whose good looks and poise disguise her aching doubts about herself and her wishes she could be more like others. Jim (Matthew Beard) is still wrestling with the demons brought on by a painful childhood and tries to beat back his fears with drugs. Emily (Hannah Murray) feels plain and unattractive and is filled with resentment towards her ambitious father and mother. And Mo (Daniel Kaluuya) struggles with his sexual desires for children, in particular the sister of a close friend. These four young people are frequent visitors to an internet chat room, where they can talk about their fears and anxieties while being drawn out by the compassionate moderator. But the man who runs the chat room is not all he seems. William (Aaron Johnson) is the unstable and neglected son of a successful author (Megan Dodds); he's grown to hate his more confident brother Ripley (Richard Madden) and has established the chat room in order to manipulate others to his own ends by getting them to share their secrets and using this knowledge against them. Chatroom was the second English-language feature from Japanese horror veteran Hideo Nakata. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 37 min.
Directed By: Hideo Nakata
Written By: Enda Walsh
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Drama

On DVD: Jun 14, 2011

Critic Reviews

Philip French, Guardian [UK]
Unfortunately the scenes set in the real world (the locations include Camden Lock and the London Zoo) are stilted and unconvincing, while those in the chatrooms become increasingly tedious.
Alistair Harkness, Scotsman
Nakata - here making his English language debut - fails to drum up much in the way of tension from the plot's hoky attempt to exploit fears about the existence of online suicide clubs.
Sukhdev Sandhu, Daily Telegraph
Pantomimic dialogue, stagey sets and underwritten characters render this instantly obsolescent.
David Edwards, Daily Mirror [UK]
A movie of utter, unspeakable, hideous awfulness. A movie that makes you want to prise open your brain and scoop out all memory of having watched it.
Charlotte O'Sullivan, This is London
Director Hideo "The Ring" Nakata never connects with the script (by Enda Walsh, adapting from his own play).
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
The film finally fizzles into feeble melodrama, with all the power of an old episode of Grange Hill.
Damon Wise, Radio Times
Plausible chills are offset by the film's clumsy youth-movie trimmings, which, through lurid visuals and ripe overacting by its largely unknown cast, drain most of the suspense and interest...
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
There's a great idea here, but this awkward and dated film struggles to bring the cyberspace experience to life in the form of a gritty teen thriller.
Leo Robson, Financial Times
The gimmick is so poorly conceived that we spend most of the film converting what we are being shown into what is actually going on. It isn't worth the effort.
Matthew Turner, ViewLondon
Poorly written and badly acted, Chatroom squanders its only decent idea early on and rapidly descends into a shallow-minded, lifeless thriller that fails to engage on any level whatsoever.
Graham Young, Birmingham Post
There are times when Nakata skilfully blends the real world with cyber unreality to illustrate how impressionable youngsters can end up wondering just which world they are in at any time.
Josh Winning, Little White Lies
In the end, Nakata's notion of a web gone wild has moments of visual merit, but is a little too clinical and coldly cynical.
Rob Daniel, Sky Movies
A film that never approaches the real-life terror of discovering your broadband's down.
Simon Crook, Empire Magazine
Definitely zeigeisty but short on thrills.
Dave Calhoun, Time Out
'The Social Network' and 'Catfish' prove there are ripe films to be made on the dark side of web connectivity, but this is the rotten apple of the bunch.
, Daily Express
Nakata skilfully takes us into the real and virtual lives of a group of London teenagers and shows us, with terrifying consequences, the power and ability to manipulate reality in a virtual world.
Philip Kemp, Total Film
A plodder that prefers to explain (and then repeat the explanation) rather than let the audience use their imagination.

Read all 17 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

♥˩ƳИИ &

Cast: Aaron Johnson, Imogen Poots, Matthew Beard, Hannah Murray, Daniel Kaluuya, Megan Dodds, Michelle Fairley, Nicholas Gleaves, Jacob Anderson, Ophelia Lovibond Director: Hideo Nakata Summary: Five teenage chat buddies engage in a deadly game of cat and mouse as charismatic… More
Cast: Aaron Johnson, Imogen Poots, Matthew Beard, Hannah Murray, Daniel Kaluuya, Megan Dodds, Michelle Fairley, Nicholas Gleaves, Jacob Anderson, Ophelia Lovibond Director: Hideo Nakata Summary: Five teenage chat buddies engage in a deadly game of cat and mouse as charismatic online predator William (Aaron Johnson) discovers his next victim in Jim (Matthew Beard), and Jim's friends Eva (Imogen Poots), Emily (Hannah Murray) and Mo (Daniel Kaluuya) try to free him from the clutches of the nefarious manipulator. Their online world bleeds into reality. My Thoughts: "William is quite a sadistic person. He can't deal with his own issues so he starts living vicariously through others suicides. Literally brain washing them and feeding off their depression. The movie is interesting but very sad. The ending isn't too satisfying either. I had hoped for a different outcome. I wanted more of a 'lets get him into a psychratric hospital for help', ending. But the film went for a more dramatic shock value ending instead, which I guess works for the film. Aaron Johnson delivers a great performance as the harrowing William. The rest of the cast does well, but Aaron definitely out shined them. This little indie thriller is worth taking a look at."
Unknown H

I cannot remember how I found this unrated piece of British film but I am very happy I did. It was without a doubt one of the most reftreshing original takes on internet culture I have ever seen. Beautifully shot and with a cast of relativley unknown teens (or so they are supposed to… More
I cannot remember how I found this unrated piece of British film but I am very happy I did. It was without a doubt one of the most reftreshing original takes on internet culture I have ever seen. Beautifully shot and with a cast of relativley unknown teens (or so they are supposed to be) this movie touches so many taboos it is gripping to watch. Although it was not what I was expecting, as it was pinned as a "horror", I feel that it delivered more than I could have hoped for. Deeply psychological and unrelenting in its subtext, Chatroom is a must see.
Jason R

Everybody seems to not like this movie, but I have to say I thought the story was solid. This movie is kinda shocking in some aspect because the main character is some misguided and severely disturbed teenager. Who uses an online chat-room to lure in four potential victims into this… More
Everybody seems to not like this movie, but I have to say I thought the story was solid. This movie is kinda shocking in some aspect because the main character is some misguided and severely disturbed teenager. Who uses an online chat-room to lure in four potential victims into this well-thought and extremely disturbing plot to have on of the kids kill themselves. Cyber-Bullying is a hot topic right now, and this just takes all the fears and concerns one might have about the dangers of an online predator, and turns it on its head. Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass and Nowhere Boy) was unbelievably good in this movie. Despite what most are saying about CHATROOM, I say you should certainly check this movie out.