Room 203 (2022)

Okay. Lights on. All of them. The little lamp in the corner, the overhead fan light, the one in the kitchen. All on. My heart is still thumping. A frantic little drum solo against my ribs that just won’t quit. I’m sitting cross-legged on my couch, the same one I’ve been sinking into for the last two hours, and I feel like the cushions are about to swallow me whole. I just finished *Room 203* on Prime Video. Big mistake. Huge.

I was just scrolling, you know? It’s 1 AM and the algorithm is just throwing things at the wall, seeing what sticks. "Based on your interest in things that go bump in the night." And I saw the poster. Two girls, a creepy old dorm room. Seemed like standard, forgettable horror fodder. I was so, so wrong. My cat, Leo, who was sleeping on my feet, shot up about an hour ago and has been staring at the dark hallway ever since. He knows. He knows something is in the house now. Thanks, Prime Video.

There was this one moment. I literally jumped so hard I almost knocked my laptop off the couch. It wasn't even a jump scare, not really. It was quieter than that. More insidious. Kim, the main girl, is looking into this old, grimy mirror in the room. And the camera holds on her face. And for a split second… just a FRACTION of a second… her reflection blinks. But she doesn’t. I had to rewind it. I paused it, my finger hovering over the trackpad, my own breath caught in my throat. I played it again. Yeah. It happened. It’s not a loud scare, it’s not a monster in the closet. It’s just… wrong. It’s a fundamental law of the universe being broken right in front of your eyes and my brain did not like it. Not one bit. My skin feels all tight and prickly just thinking about it.

It’s making me think of my freshman year dorm. Room 412. It always smelled like dust and that weird, cheap lemon-scented cleaner they used in the hallways. The bunk beds were bolted to the wall and they would creak every time the person on top moved. I remember one night I was up late studying and I heard this scratching sound from inside the wall. Not like a mouse. It was slower. More… deliberate. I told my roommate and he just laughed and said it was the pipes. But it wasn't. I knew it wasn't. I ended up sleeping with my headphones on for the rest of the semester. Never did figure out what it was. Anyway.

The whole movie is just… damp. It feels wet. The walls look like they’re sweating. The decay is like another character. And I was into it, I really was. The way the room itself just starts to… digest everything. It’s cool. But I don’t know. The ending. I thought I loved that part, with the big confrontation and the reveal and all that, but now that I’m typing this… was it actually kind of dumb? The logic gets a little wobbly, right? Why did she go back in? After everything? I know, I know, the plot demands it, but it felt like a choice no actual human would make. Or maybe I’m just a coward who would have burned the building down from a safe distance and never looked back. I don’t know. I’m conflicted.

And watching it here, alone, on the couch… it’s a different kind of scary. I kept pausing it to get a glass of water, and the silence in my apartment between the clicks of the remote was deafening. Every little creak of the floorboards, every hum of the refrigerator, it all sounded like it was part of the movie. The glare from the streetlamp on my window looked just like the creepy lighting in that damn room. I felt like the movie was leaking out of my screen and into my living room. Leo is still staring at that hallway. I’m staring with him.

So yeah. My nerves are completely shot. I feel like I need to go check all the locks and maybe say a prayer to whatever gods govern clean, well-lit spaces. I don’t think I’ll be able to look in a mirror for a week without flinching. And I’m definitely not going into my bathroom. No way. The mirror in there is way too big. My bedroom door is staying open, though. I don’t trust closed doors right now. Or walls. Or old buildings. Or my own reflection.

6/10. It got under my skin, the little bastard.

-Alex

Trailer English - https://youtu.be/7QNK3Z82Rlc?si=RbXNNcEwKMCu5s2K

Review English - https://youtu.be/7ycB2sYjdUI?si=Jigxxbs5iyWJ83Un

Review Hindi - https://youtu.be/58M_vq1ZjCs?si=CMQEN8VV7h1iXT0W

EXPLANATION Hindi - https://youtu.be/3qlKs9GP1jo?si=CB8aEjI8JPZSeMP0

EXPLANATION english - https://youtu.be/Sn6jCwWxLrM?si=rEA7zytkNo2u5VOV