''Chatroom'' is a 2010 British

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film directed by

Hideo Nakata is a Japanese filmmaker. Life and career Nakata was born in Okayama, Japan. He is most familiar to Western audiences for his work on Japanese horror films such as ''Ring'' (1998), ''Ring 2'' (1999) and '' Dark Water'' (2002). Several of these ...

from a screenplay by

Enda Walsh Enda Walsh (born 1967) is an Irish playwright. Biography Enda Walsh was born in Kilbarrack, North Dublin on 7 February 1967. His father ran a furniture shop and his mother had been an actress. He is the second youngest of six children. Walsh ...

, based on Walsh's 2005 play of the same name. The film follows five teenagers who meet on an online

chatroom The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...

and encourage each other's bad behaviour.

Plot

William Rollins is a depressed teenage boy recovering from

self-harm Self-harm refers to intentional behaviors that cause harm to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues, usually without suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-abuse, self-injury, and s ...

who regularly goes online to

s. One day, he opens a chatroom himself and names it " Chelsea Teens!", where he meets Jim, Eva, Emily and Mo. There is no real subject matter in "Chelsea Teens!", which instead focuses on the lives of each one as they talk. Even though they actually communicate through text only, they are depicted in an old hotel-like room and actually having contact. William is a loner who lives with his parents. He hates both his parents, blaming them for his past, and lives his entire life on the Internet. Jim is another loner who is suffering from depression following his father leaving him and his mother. Eva, a model, is constantly bullied by her co-workers for her appearance. Emily feels distant from her parents and feels that she does not receive enough attention. Mo believes himself to be a

pedophile Pedophilia ( alternatively spelled paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puber ...

because of his attraction to his friend Si's prepubescent sister, Keisha. William sees it to himself to help the others in a crude manner. He

Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe for Windows and macOS. It was created in 1987 by Thomas and John Knoll. It is the most used tool for professional digital art, especially in raster graphics editin ...

s embarrassing pictures of Eva's co-worker and posts them online. He convinces Jim to flush down his antidepressants to make himself feel more relaxed and to reveal his face behind the depressants, his true identity. He tells Emily to do some dirty work, teaming up with Eva. They devise ways in which Emily could be more violent and make it look like somebody is harassing her family, which makes her parents try to protect her more. He tells Mo to tell Si the truth, but this backfires when Si calls him a pervert and attacks him. William becomes darker and more menacing and even begins to watch people commit suicide. He then takes it upon himself to coerce Jim into committing suicide. His plans are halted though when his computer and phone are taken away from him by his father, who when looking through William's computer, finds one of the suicide videos. William gets his backup computer and phone and goes after Jim, who meets up with him at

London Zoo London Zoo, previously known as ZSL London Zoo or London Zoological Gardens and sometimes called Regent's Park Zoo, is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828 and was originally intended to be used as a colle ...

. Mo and the others discover about William's intended actions and go to stop him, meeting up in person and trying to follow William and Jim around London. Jim makes it to the zoo first but decides to not do it. He tries to leave, but William chases him. William catches Jim, who refuses to shoot himself and throws the gun to the floor. When William gets it and comes back, Eva punches him and the rest of the crew comes, followed by the police. William tries to escape but only manages to climb up some crates. He then falls in front of the speeding train behind the crates and is killed. The teens leave without talking to each other; William's account is shut down. William walks in a chat tunnel as the light gradually fades.

Cast

Production

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

took place in early 2010 at

Shepperton Studios Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of Pinewood Group, the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not ...

Shepperton Shepperton is a village in the Borough of Spelthorne, Spelthorne district, in north Surrey, England, around south west of central London. The settlement is on the north bank of the River Thames, between the towns of Chertsey and Sunbury-on-Tha ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, with some outdoor scenes shot in Camden and Primrose Hill. The film is based on a screenplay by

, who wrote the

stage play A play is a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than mere reading. The creator of a play is known as a playwright. Plays are staged at various levels, ranging ...

of the same name.

Release

The film premiered in the

Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusua ...

section of the

2010 Cannes Film Festival The 63rd Cannes Film Festival took place from 12 to 23 May 2010. American filmmaker Tim Burton served as jury president for the main competition. Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for the dram ...

. The theatrical release was in late 2010. It premiered in France in late summer 2010. In September 2010, the film acquired a British distributor. Revolver Entertainment also planned a special online marketing campaign for the film.

Critical reception

''Chatroom'' received largely negative reviews. On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews from critics, with an average rating of .

References

External links

*
''Chatroom''
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chatroom 2010 films 2010 independent films 2010 psychological thriller films 2010s British films 2010s English-language films 2010s psychological drama films 2010s teen drama films British films based on plays British independent films British psychological drama films British psychological thriller films British teen drama films Films about cyberbullying Films about depression Films about social media Films about suicide Films directed by Hideo Nakata Films produced by Alison Owen Films scored by Kenji Kawai Films set in London Films shot at Shepperton Studios Films shot in London Teen thriller films The Weinstein Company films English-language independent films English-language thriller films