THE ROOM

Playing Friday Apr 5 at 11:59.

Hailed as “the Citizen Kane of bad movies”, The Room first screened in 2003, and has since become something of a cult phenomenon. An amateurish psycho-drama devoid of stars, talent or anything resembling artistic merit, it continues to play to packed midnight crowds across the world.

The Room tells the story of Johnny, a successful banker in San Francisco, whose fiancée gets cold feet and seduces his best friend, Mark. Aspiring to be an erotically charged drama in the vein of Tennessee Williams, the film stumbles at every hurdle, blissfully unaware of its nonsensical plot, woeful performances and complete lack of cinematic competency.

Tommy Wiseau, The Room’s lumbering lank-haired lead, also serves as the film’s writer, producer, director and primary investor. Claiming to have been in his 20s and to hail from New Orleans, on-screen Wiseau is clearly in his mid-40s and speaks with a thick East European drawl that accentuates his uniquely inaccurate command of English.

The origin of the film’s finan­cing remains a mystery, but Wiseau poured more than US$6 million into realising his dream of becoming a Hollywood star. Once The Room was complete, he again shelled out to keep the film playing in one Los Angeles cinema long enough to ensure it qualified for the Academy Awards.

Soon, ironic movie-goers searching for their next so-bad-it’s-good hit began to take notice and Wiseau’s sincere attempt at (largely auto­biographical) drama became the must-see movie on LA’s midnight circuit. To this day, gleeful audiences recite the risible dialogue along with the actors, interacting with the film as fans have with the likes of Showgirls (1995) and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).