is a 1999 Japanese

V-cinema Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strate ...

(

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...

)

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

written and directed by

Daisuke Yamanouchi is a Japanese film director who has worked in mainstream film, ''pink film'', straight-to-video V-cinema and adult videos (AV). Life and career In 1994, Yamanouchi submitted his short film to the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival, w ...

Plot

The film follows a group of four contestants (a husband and wife on the verge of divorce, a young corporate woman, and a 17-year-old schoolgirl) on a

reality TV Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 199 ...

game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...

who are locked in the titular "Red Room" to torture each other, with the last person standing winning ten million yen. The contestants are made to pick cards to decide who will pick the torture, who will apply it, and who will be the victim. The tortures chosen start off relatively mild, but gradually escalate into extreme sadism and

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using physical force, or by taking advantage of another. It often consists of a persistent pattern of sexual assaults. The offender is re ...

Cast

* Yuki Tsukamoto * Mayumi Ōkawa * Hiroshi Kitasenju * Sheena Nagamori

Release

The film was originally released in Japan in

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

format on June 4, 1999 and later as a

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

on December 22, 2005. ''Red Room'' was released in the US by Anthem Pictures on January 9, 2007. In 2000, the film was followed by a

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

, titled '' Red Room 2''.

Reception

The film received mixed to negative reviews.

References

External links

* * {{1990s-horror-film-stub 1999 films 1999 horror films 1990s exploitation films 1990s Japanese films 1990s Japanese-language films Direct-to-video horror films Films about death games Japanese horror films Japanese independent films Japanese splatter films Films about rape Films about sexual abuse Films about competitions Reality television series parodies