DYING ROOM ONLY

US, 1973, 73 minutes, Colour.
Cloris Leachman, Ross Martin, Ned Beatty, Louise Latham.
Directed by Philip Leacock.

Dying Room Only is a brief enjoyable telemovie thriller directed by Philip Leacock. Leacock had directed many English films including the classic The Kidnappers. He then moved to the United States, directed effective small budget dramas and then moving into telemovies. The screenplay is by Richard Matheson and is based on one of his short stories. Matheson wrote several screenplays for Roger Corman for the adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe stories with Vincent Price. He has written quite a number of contemporary horror thrillers e.g. Duel, The Strange Possession of Mrs Oliver, The Stranger Within.

1. An entertaining short story, telemovie? The mystery and horror overtones?

2. How well did the film establish its atmosphere, the strange circumstances of the motel, the growing eeriness of the disappearing husband and the frantic wife? The strange characters out in the desert? The police? The solving of the mystery? The importance of mood and atmosphere for audience identification?

3. Colour photography, desert locations? The mysterious motel? The special effects - especially for scares and atmosphere of mystery?

4. The irony of the title - the possibility of this happening to a couple driving through the Arizona desert? The mystery - and the later ordinariness of the explanation? The plot of the people at the motel, the attitude towards the police, violence? How contrived did the plot seem?

5. The introduction to the squabbling couple? The audiences identifying with husband and wife in their holiday, their clashes? Their having something to eat and drink at the hotel? Their response to the hostility? The disappearance of the husband? The effect on the wife? The film asking the audience to Identify with Jean and her experience, fear, exasperation? Cloris Leachman's personality and style? Jean and the puzzle about her husband, the search? The open hostility of Cutler? King and his being pleasant, sending to collaborate, offhandedness? Vi and her offhand behaviour? The mounting tension with the action of the group in the motel? The arrival of the Sheriff and his search but not believing? The growing desperation? The taking of the motel room and her searching? The telephone calls? The seeing of the car drive off? Discovering her husband? The parolee? Her desperation, moving with the Sheriff and the violence of the finale?

6. The suspicious people at the motel - Cutler and his continued hostility. his arguing with Jean, lack of collaboration with the police? The revelation of the truth? Vi and her offhandedness, her part in the plot?


7. King and his being around the bar.. seeming collaboration, offhandedness.. impeding the investigation? His growing involvement? The parolee and his violence?

8. The Sheriff and his ultimate collaboration and the ugliness of his death?

9. The explanation of what was happening around the motel? The greed of the people? The eruption of violence and the deaths?

10. The comparative calm of the happy ending with Jean's telephone call - in the light of the violence, the meeting of Jean with her husband again?

11. The nightmare aspects of the plot - all the action happening during the night and the couple waking up to a new day and their ordinary life?

12. The value of this kind of short story for entertaining people, giving the audience a jolt - that this could happen to you?