The video sleeve offers a number of alternatives for character Carla Martin's (Amanda Pays) strange behavior - mental breakdown, past life memories or some sort of time travel induced paranoia. Personally, I'm going with the mental illness angle. She exhibited the signs of a split personality and the story brought it home near the finale at the point when her father (George Segal) and fiancée Lili (Renee Soutendijk) walked her out of the apartment and the alter-ego Christa Bruckner was led off by her Nazi butcher father (Warren Clarke). Up till then, the story was developing along a psychological thriller angle mixed with elements of horror and could have played out in any number of different directions. The young Pays appears here in her very first acting role, so in that respect she's generally effective if somewhat one-dimensional. I didn't care for the character of her father who was overboard in his attempt at being an understanding parent. I mean, even getting stabbed in the chest didn't seem to bother him all that much on the ride in the ambulance. For many viewers this will be just plain confusing and not worth the effort, so expecting a neat wrap up to the story just isn't going to make it happen.
Review of The Cold Room
