 Something happened in Room 10 of the Sunshine
Motel, located just outside Gallup, New Mexico on May 4th, 1961. What
exactly happened isn’t certain. As far as anyone who worked in
the motel remembers, that day was like any other – and there were
only ever nine rooms.
The Lost Room isn’t the story of the events
of Room 10. It’s about Detective Joe Miller (Peter Krause, Six
Feet Under). Joe is called in to investigate an unexplainable
double homicide in which the victims are found burned to death by unknown
means, unexplainable because their clothes are unscathed. One of the
witnesses to these murders is a street kid that Joe once helped avoid
prison and before questioning can be completed; he mysteriously disappears,
only to reappear later that evening at Joe’s apartment, dying
of a gunshot wound. The last thing he does before dying is gives him
a motel key.
In short time, Detective Miller figures out its strange properties.
It can open any door, but always leads back to an untouched motel
room through which he can exit to any door he thinks of. Any
disturbances made to the room while he is in it are reset during
his next visit. Unfortunately, by accident, the detective looses
his daughter Anna (Elle Fanning, Babel)
to the room, and thereby begins his search to find his daughter,
and figure out the mystery of the room.
That’s where the story begins, but this Twilight Zone and Outer
Limits inspired concept goes much deeper than that. Miller
is far from the first person to learn about the room and the bizarre
events that surrounded it. Many people are out to get his key, and
many more bizarre objects somehow connected to the motel room are scattered
throughout the country. Someone has a comb that can stop time for a
few moments. Another person has a pair of scissors that can rotate
objects. There is a desk clock that sublimates brass, and a  wristwatch
that can hard boil an egg, and many more that no one knows the properties
of, if they even have any. There are even some that haven’t been
seen in years that these collectors are beginning to doubt even exist.
One of the more intriguing aspects to the story is the organizations
that have risen up around these objects. There are cabals that believe
the objects are a path to God. There are others who believe they need
to be destroyed. A whole underground system has been developed for the
hunt and securing of these otherwise normal looking items and millions
of dollars are traded for them.
The series itself is as fantastic as it is frustrating. It’s
extremely well acted with a number of great secondary characters
going in and out of the story. Julianna Margulies (Snakes
On A Plane) plays Jennifer Bloom, an object collector that
becomes a potential love interest for  Miller. Kevin Pollak (The
Usual Suspects) plays a shifty character Karl Kreutzfeld a
private collector that has amassed the most impressive collection
of objects using a pawn shop chain as a front. He is both a foe
as well as ally to Miller and is probably the most interesting
character as his back-story is slowly revealed. Even the minor
characters are brilliantly written and acted. My favorite is
Wally Jabrowski (Peter Jacobson, Failure
To Launch) who has found himself a bus ticket which has
the power to transport people to the rural road just a few paces
from the Sunshine Motel by slapping them on the forehead with
it. He uses this not for any financial gain – but because it amuses
him to cast judgment on anyone who irritates him, sending them
to “Hell.”
The look of the series is impressive; especially anything that involves
the room itself. Frozen in time, the room is constantly bathed with
sunlight through the Venetian blinds and even that sunlight seems unnatural
in every way. In fact, the whole look of the series is almost unnatural,
even the sequences that take place in the “real world.” The
whole series is a feast for the eyes, and you will want to rewatch certain
scenes just to try and catch all the nuances left by the filmmakers.
 What really frustrated me the most with The Lost Room was
my own perception of how I felt the story should float. Detective Miller’s
only real motivation for getting involved with any of this is to find
his daughter. He has no real outside interest in the room, the cults,
and most importantly how all these objects came to be and who they belonged
to. As a viewer, these were the elements that intrigued me the most
and I felt an unsatisfactory number of the questions I had by the end
of the series were answered. I have read that this miniseries is being
used as a pilot to test the waters for a regular series, or at least
a second miniseries and I can only hope that this comes to fruition.
There are many, many ways this series can go and literally no end to
the potential stories that can come from new characters.
But my own frustrations are not reason to hold back a recommendation.
This is simply the best science fiction I’ve seen on television
in a long time (aside from Heroes, of course) and I
really hope that this DVD release helps The Lost Room find
a much wider audience.
 The DVD Presentation
I have no complaints with The Lost Room’s DVD.
The series is presented in anamorphic widescreen and I didn’t
notice any real problems with the quality. The outside scenes look beautiful
and blacks are very dark. There isn’t an incredible amount of
action within this series except for the first and last few episodes,
but the 5.1 surround mix does come alive during these scenes. Lionsgate
was nice enough to include both English and Spanish subtitles for those
that require them. This may not be the best DVD presentation ever, but
it’s pretty damned solid.
And the Extras Are?
“Inside The Lost Room” featurette – (18:09)
A typical production featurette. The cast and crew discuss the
origins of the project and what attracted them to it. There is some
cool set discussion about how they build the motel and a candid conversation
about what everyone’s favorite Object is. Very little is revealed
about anything aside from that though.
Lionsgate Trailers –
DVD trailers abound for the miniseries The Triangle, The
Dead Zone – Season 4, Death Of A President, Alien
Invasion Arizona (apparently the space aliens, not Mexican – you
know it’s awesome when it’s not even on the IMDB.) and Whiteboyz
In The Hood.
The Bottom Line
The Lost Room more than impressed me with the excellent
pacing, intriguing characters, and simply cool premise. I recommend the
series to anyone that appreciates good storytelling, not just science
fiction. The acting is well done, the direction is superb and it’s
constantly beyond engaging. Plot wise, The Lost Room leaves
some room for self-interpretation, as well as continuation opportunities.
You will have questions remaining after you’re done with the series.
This is somewhat maddening, (especially when you’re a DVD reviewer
who knows no one that has watched the entire series so he can discuss
it without worrying about spoilers) but it shouldn’t make anyone
shy away from it. It’s been a long time that there has been logical
thought-provoking television and if that’s something that something
that interests you, The Lost Room is not to be missed.
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