Cinema adaptations of theater plays have always been a pretty used resource for inspiration for filmmakers, both newby and veterans. And some of them had become essential films in the history of cinema, bing A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), 12 Angry Men (1957), Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), American Buffalo (1996), or Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) some of the few that come into my head and that without a shadow of a doubt have to represent the perfect link between a stage and the silver screen.
The Oak Room (2020) is an upcoming film that also happens to be the adaptation of the theater play of the same name. With the notorious fact that one of the stars Peter Outerbridge, was also the director of the pay, and Ari Millen reprising the same role he previously played on stage. Together with them, RJ Mitte, Nicholas Campbell, Martin Roach, David Ferry, Amos Crawley, Avery Esteves, Coal Campbell, and Adam Seybold also star.
The movie is set during a raging snowstorm, where a drifter returns home to the blue-collar bar located in the remote Canadian town where he was born. When he offers to settle an old debt with a grizzled bartender by telling him a story, the night’s events quickly spin into a dark tale of mistaken identities, double-crosses, and shocking violence.
Awards-winner filmmaker Cody Calahan, director of the horror films Antisocial (2013) and its sequel Antisocial 2 (2015), and horror thriller Let Her Out (2016), has been responsible for the adaptation of The Oak Room (2020). Peter Genoway, who wrote the original theater play, is also the author of the movie screenplay.
The Oak Room (2020) premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival in August 2020. After that, it was part of the line-up of international festivals Grimmfest International Festival of Fantastic Film, Telluride Horror Show, Ramaskrik Film Festival, Torino Film Festival, and Soho Horror Film Festival. It is scheduled for a digital release on April 26, 2021. Here you can watch its official trailer.
