Get Out of My House

Come on in…

We all know that moving is a stressful business, especially after a big life change like a divorce. No one expects to add a home invasion to the mix, though, but that’s what happens in 2000’s Panic Room. Brought to us by screenwriter David Koepp and director David Fincher, the former of whom seems to excel at telling stories that take place in confined spaces (Presence, anyone?), it’s an impeccably paced thriller that showcases its actors and the house they inhabit (or invade) nicely.

Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her daughter, Sarah (Kristen Stewart) are moving into a Victorian brownstone in Manhattan following Meg’s divorce. Meg’s husband, Steven (Patrick Bauchau)’s paramour has just moved into their old house, so naturally Meg and Sarah are starting over, with Meg going back to school.

Initially, the new house seems terrific. It was previously owned by a reclusive millionaire who had health problems and employed a live-in staff. The house has got three floors, bars on the windows, original hardwood flooring, a great kitchen, a working elevator, and a backyard. Meg’s been assured that she’s not going to find another deal like it on the market, so she takes the house.

There’s one other rather big feature that sets the house apart as well: A panic room. Installed off the master bedroom, it has surveillance cameras, emergency food, a reinforced steel door, and a separate phone line for calling the police. It even has a laser that holds the door open so no one gets any body parts caught when rushing inside. Meg is a little unnerved by it because she doesn’t like small spaces, not to mention the idea of a panic room fills her with dread, but she decides to live with it.

Moving in goes smoothly, and although Meg and Sarah are shocked and saddened by their sudden uprooting, they’re hopeful for the future and just want to move on from their troubles. Over a meal of pizza, salad, and Coke, they toast their new life and future. After Sarah goes to bed, Meg sets the alarm and the surveillance on the panic room before passing out herself.

Meg and Sarah don’t even get a whole day in the house, though. Despite the bars on the windows and numerous security systems, three guys break in. One comes through the fire escape and lets the other two in. There’s Junior (Jared Leto), the grandson of the house’s millionaire previous owner, Burnham (Forest Whitaker), who installs panic rooms for a living, and Raoul (Dwight Yoakam), a hired thug who Junior brings along as a ringer. Junior’s grandfather stashed twenty-two million dollars in a safe in the panic room, and Junior thinks he’s entitled to it. He’ll split it three ways with Burnham and Raoul, of course.

Naturally, the interlopers are mad that there are people in the house because this throws a wrench in their plans. Meg wakes up Sarah and they rush to the panic room, much to the chagrin of Junior, Burnham, and Raoul, because what they want is in there.

Here’s where an interesting staring contest ensues, because each of our two factions have their own advantage. The three intruders are obviously hostile and will do anything to get that money, so they will do anything to make that happen, but on the other hand Meg and Sarah are locked inside where that money is and can watch these three guys on the surveillance cameras. The obvious question is who will blink first.

The only things leveling the playing field slightly are the panic room phone not being hooked up yet, so Meg and Sarah can’t call the cops, and Sarah being a diabetic and needing her insulin, which is stashed in the mini-fridge in her room.

Oh, and we can’t forget the three home invaders want into that panic room and they’re determined to get there, by the proverbial hook or crook. Two of the three of them aren’t that bright, though–Burnham keeps having to remind Junior and Raoul that the panic room is reinforced with steel. They can bang on walls all they want to and take as many swings with a sledgehammer as they please, but that thing won’t be broken into.

I won’t give away too much about where this movie goes or how it ends, but it’s immensely entertaining, mostly because it keeps the viewer guessing as to what these characters will do next. It’s also interesting to see the tension build gradually and the characters try to gain the upper hand. Who knew that someone sneaking around to grab their cell phone could be such a nailbiter, especially when they get back in the panic room and realize that it’s basically a Faraday cage.

Speaking of cages, the movie has a really cold feeling, as everything has a blue cast to it, and seeing Meg run around in her tank top and pajama bottoms made me wish she’d put a sweater on. It also keeps everything from getting too comfortable. Warm light, or at least warm to a point, always seems to inspire coziness. A panic room isn’t the best place to snuggle up, obviously.

Speaking of warmth, the part of Meg was originally supposed to go to Nicole Kidman but then went to Jodie Foster because Kidman had a knee injury. I have no doubt Kidman would have been great in the role, but Jodie Foster gives both weary and don’t-mess-with-me vibes. As it is, Kidman plays Steven’s other woman and can be heard on the phone only. Jodie is a good foil for Kristen Stewart, who looks just as weary but partly because of her diabetes, and the rest because she’s mad at her dad. Oh, and being a teenager is a serious business.

As for our three hoodlums, they’re not too shabby themselves. They’re almost funny except for the frequent F-bombs, because none of them really know what they’re doing, and they spend a lot of time standing around debating. Forest Whitaker’s Burnham is the only one who really knows what he’s doing, but only because he knows what the panic room can and can’t do. Even then, he can’t get Meg and Sarah to budge. Jared Leto’s Junior is more explosive than bright, but he still tries to be the leader, and we all know that Leto can do crazy.

Meanwhile, Dwight Yoakam, who was no stranger to the screen in 2002, gets to hide his face in a ski mask for the majority of the movie, which means we don’t get to see much emoting from him at least facially. He doesn’t play a bad part, but I wonder if the ski mask was so that he could better hold his own against the more seasoned actors.

Unfortunately, Panic Room is all too overlooked today, but that might be for the best, because whoever does discover it can get the full impact.

For more secret places and trippy houses, please see our Days One, Two, and Three. Thanks for reading, all, and see you tomorrow for the Wrapup…

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Panic Room is available on DVD from Amazon. It can also be streamed for free on Pluto TV.

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