Enter the Room

Harry Waldman’s psychological short Enter the Room is a striking, mind-bending domestic thriller that follows a pair of siblings who drive each other crazy when one moves in with the other. So far, so typical. But a darker secret they share means the torment that their living arrangement causes comes from a deeper source than sibling rivalry.

When Jeremy (Rich Holton) moves back in with his brother Brian (Peter Mastne) following his arrival to a new city, he expects there to be some tension. But Brian quickly takes his frustrations with his new housemate to a new level, subjecting Jeremy to constant freakouts, surveillance and a ruleset that demands pristine living conditions. Jeremy starts to delight in crossing Brian’s lines, pushing him further to the brink. Tensions must reach a tipping point – though revelations upend the entire nature of Brian’s anxieties…

Enter the Room uses the domestic stress that often comes from reheated familial living arrangements in adult life to great effect when weaving an unnerving story of brother against brother. Both Jeremy and Brian possess troubling characteristics that make them imperfect housemates, bound together by family loyalty but seemingly little else. Brian’s obsession with cleanliness and meticulous attention to detail mean that an interloper like Jeremy quickly upsets his perfect balance. Audiences will relate to Jeremy’s frustration, and anyone who has shared a similar flatmate in their life will quickly emphasise with his predicament. Yet Jeremy’s responses go beyond brotherly teasing – and his intentional disruptions begin to become unnerving in their own right.

This leads to the film’s most interesting element – that being that viewers will not really know who to throw their support behind. Like parents of fighting brothers, it is hard to pick a side. Waldman cleverly walks a line between humour and intensity. It makes the seriousness that slowly simmers and unfolds all the more shocking and discomforting, as it becomes clear that the two men’s incompatibility could lead to something unthinkable. A twist ending actually damages this dynamic and leaves viewers with more questions than answers, and rather than recontextualise the film, leads to audiences wishing the story played straight.

Peter Mastne’s performance is a highlight. He perfectly captures the unmatchable perfectionism of tedious housemates, and couples this with the innate childishness that overtakes any of us when dealing with our siblings. It is a testament to him that he can take such an annoying character and invert audience’s opinions as the story enters its final phase, showing real humanity and vulnerability in the closing moments. Rich Holton is similarly admirable in a role that gives him less to do. The purportedly normal brother at first, he quickly finds a darker, vengeful side that plays with the established dynamic as it becomes clear that the relationship between the brothers is not all it seems.

Enter the Room is an entertaining short that succeeds due to the boldness of its director to unnerve his audience, and due to two strong performances that capture the awkwardness of adult brotherhood. The twist ending doesn’t really land, and some tonal shifts throughout the 15-minute runtime are occasionally overly jarring. But that doesn’t diminish from the overall enjoyment of this unique film.