\u201cThe Hidden Room\u201d is a crime drama that was made in England.\u00a0 It was released in the United States with the title \u201cObsession.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Spoiler Alert \u2013 Skip down to last paragraph to avoid spoilers and read recommendation)<\/strong><\/p>\n Dr. Clive Riordan\u2019s wife Storm is cheating on him with an American named Bill Kronin.\u00a0 After catching them together when they thought he was out of town he kidnaps Bill and imprisons him in a bombed out building on the outskirts of London.\u00a0 He plans to murder him and then liquify the body with a corrosive chemical that he formulates in a lab in his medical office.\u00a0 But Riordan has decided to wait before killing Bill until he is sure that the authorities don\u2019t suspect him in Bill\u2019s disappearance.\u00a0 The majority of the movie is made up of Riordan\u2019s visits to provide food and drink to Bill in his improvised prison cell.\u00a0 Bill is shackled to a wall and Riordan has marked on the floor in chalk the areas of the room that are outside of Bill\u2019s reach.\u00a0 Riordan is a polite and even accommodating host, providing Bill with his choice of books and even cocktails.\u00a0 And being a psychiatrist, he explains the psychological reason for his need for revenge.<\/p>\n But finally, after four months Riordan is convinced that it is safe to dispatch his guest.\u00a0 However, Riordan\u2019s wife has been in touch with Scotland Yard and eventually Superintendent Finsbury pays a visit to Riordan and this buys Bill a reprieve.\u00a0 When Riordan overhears his wife on the phone with Finsbury, he decides to finish off Bill and he mixes a poison in Bill\u2019s martini for the night.\u00a0 But thanks to Finsbury\u2019s actions Bill is rescued before the poison can take his life.\u00a0 Riordan is arrested by Finsbury and Storm says goodbye to Bill in his hospital room before she leaves on a sea voyage to find a new man with which to stave off boredom.<\/p>\n None of the actors will be familiar to an American audience but this movie is interesting because of the scenes between Bill and Riordan.\u00a0 Their strange companionship in these scenes is amusing and surprisingly compelling.\u00a0 Since neither has anything to lose by being honest they both portray their thoughts candidly.\u00a0 Not that murder is an acceptable social action but Riordan does explain openly his decision to punish his wife\u2019s infidelities as a salve for his pride.\u00a0 And Bill maintains his spirits believing that Riordan will back away from his murderous plan when the authorities maintain their pursuit of his disappearance.\u00a0 The story is somewhat preposterous but I very much enjoyed it for the scenes with the prospective victim and murderer.\u00a0 Their pleasant discussions of Bill\u2019s upcoming demise make this a movie I can recommend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cThe Hidden Room\u201d is a crime drama that was made in England.\u00a0 It was released in the United States with the title \u201cObsession.\u201d (Spoiler Alert<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239,237],"tags":[3166,1910,43,38,1355],"class_list":["post-20343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-reviews","tag-british-cinema","tag-film-noir","tag-movie-review","tag-review","tag-reviews"],"yoast_head":"\n