Product Details

• Actors: Peter Krause, Julianna Margulies, Peter Jacobson, Dennis Christopher, April Grace
• Writers: Christopher Leone, Laura Harkcom
• Format: Subtitled, Color, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English, Spanish
• Subtitles: Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Lions Gate
• DVD Release Date: April 3, 2007
• Run Time: 270 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (162 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000MMMTD2
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,834 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "The Lost Room" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

If you're a fan of NBC's 2006 hit show Heroes, chances are you'll get a similar kick out of The Lost Room, a three-part, 4.5-hour Sci-Fi Channel miniseries originally broadcast in December 2006. It's pure hokum (especially when compared to Heroes, which rises from the same creative zeitgeist), and not nearly as clever at it initially seems to be, but there's something undeniably compelling about its premise, which turns everyday objects from the Kennedy era into powerful talismans of supernatural force. The present-day story is rooted in a dark, terrible, and cosmically reverberant incident that occurred in a remote motel room in 1961. Now it's 45 years later, and Detective Joe Miller (Six Feet Under's Peter Krause) has acquired a motel-room key that turns any door into a portal to "the lost room," a kind of alternate-reality no-man's-land, where his young daughter Anna (Elle Fanning, a look-alike for her older sister Dakota) soon goes missing. In his quest to retrieve her, Miller attracts the dangerous attention of various secret factions (with names like The Order, The Legion, and The Collectors) in heated competition to locate the many objects that hold strange powers and could, when gathered together, yield amazing benefits or tear reality apart.

Beginning with Krause, superb casting makes The Lost Room constantly engaging, even when its logic borders on nonsensical. Clearly intended as a potential series, it leads to a let-down ending where too many questions remain unanswered, but getting there is a blast. And while the smart, beautiful Julianna Margulies seems cast adrift as Miller's bland love interest (and a member of the object-seeking underground), the story grows increasingly intriguing with the introduction of a wealthy father (Kevin Pollak) obsessed with curing his cancerous son with the objects; an unstable nebbish (Peter Jacobsen) who's been driven nearly mad by his visits to the lost room; a devious doctor (Dennis Christopher) who falls in with a group of religious zealots convinced that the lost room leads to God; and various supporting characters (including comedian/monologist Margaret Cho) and subplots that lead you to believe this is all leading to something fantastic. That The Lost Room fails to deliver on its early promise doesn't mean it's a waste of time; it's got the same clever appeal as Heroes and Lost, and one can easily see how it might've made a more rewarding long-form series. Individual reactions will vary, but fans of supernatural sci-fi will want to check it out for themselves. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

In the 1960s, an unknown event at the Sunshine Motel caused ordinary things in Room 10 to transform into items of wonder. The room and its contents gained unique and inexplicable properties, transforming them from mundane things into indestructible Objects with extraordinary powers that are sought after by anyone who knows their secrets. Police Det. Joe Miller (Peter Krause) first learns of The Room when he unwittingly comes across the most powerful and coveted Object of them all: the Key. His life immediately turns upside down as his young daughter becomes lost in the room and Joe is the target of shadowy figures who will stop at nothing to take from him his only hope of saving her - the Key.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

97 of 103 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Miniseries.....but why is this DVD so poorly executed! April 10, 2007

By R. Hiltz

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed this Sci Fi miniseries. It was an original concept with a well developed plot and generally good acting. Being from western Pa, I enjoyed the fact that it was set in Pittsburgh. I won't describe the plot, that's already been done in previous reviews. So let's describe the DVD. I had recorded the complete series, but enjoyed it so much I decided to spring for the DVD. Now you would assume that the manufacturer would take the time to insure all the features, menu options, etc. worked as displayed on the screen. You would however be wrong. I knew I was in trouble when removing the security stickers. There is so much glue on them that you get a thick layer of sticky goo on the top and bottom of the DVD case. Great start. When you load Disc 1, you get some previews for some other Lionsgate productions. A Bermuda Triangle (another Sci Fi miniseries) preview is included and the transfer looks like it came from a VCR. Anyway, you get though this stuff (the menu button is disabled) and are presented with THE LOST ROOM. There are 4 "episode" radio buttons and a Play All radio button. As you step through these, you will note that the "highlight" doesn't match the radio button. (but surprisingly, go to an episode and back and it does) As noted in another review, the Play All button does not work and takes you back to the previews. Really frustrating. However, the worst part, is that the video transfer quality is horrendous. I am so disappointed, I haven't even bothered with disc 2. So be warned, if you buying this because you enjoyed "The Lost Room", you will be really disappointed in lack of effort Lionsgate put into this DVD. Review: Miniseries 5 stars - DVD 1 star = Average 2.5 stars (rounded up).

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars worth watching January 26, 2007

By a movie fan

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I don't disagree with the previous reviews, but I think the unresolved mystery at the heart of the show is best left that way. The joy is in the journey. The peculiar characteristics of the objects have a surreal quality, an exercise of pure imagination, that is very engaging (Andre Breton would probably have loved this story). The really compelling aspect of Lost Room, I think, is the variety of reactions to these objects. People band together to collect them, worship them, or suppress them; individuals seek them as personal talismans, weapons, valuables, or just to enhance their own self-worth. It gives the story depth, and lifts it into the realm of intelligent SF. Fans of PK Dick, Star Trek, Firefly, and the golden age of SF would probably all enjoy this show. I don't usually watch the SF channel, but this show was simply too good to dismiss. Recommended.

93 of 108 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The glass eye's my favorite January 14, 2007

By H. Bala TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

LOST ROOM is an intriguing, thought-provoking science fiction mini-series which was shown on the Sci-Fi Channel from December 11th to the 13th in three parts: "The Key and the Clock," "The Comb and the Box," & "The Eye and the Prime Object." This show offers up a neat-concept, sci-fi mystery that'll keep you guessing and glued to the set; and the good news, so far, is that there's nary a mention of that played-out plot about space aliens conducting experiments on unsuspecting Earthlings, a card which I was half-expecting this show to play.

Here we go now with TONS OF SPOILERS: In the 1960s, a mysterious event transpires at the Sunshine Motel in Gallup, New Mexico, off the famous Route 66. Since then, various everyday objects that had been in Room 10 of that motel - objects numbering around a hundred and now scattered to the winds - seem to have inexplicably gained vast and wondrous powers (a comb that freezes time for 10 seconds when run thru one's hair, a pen that, when clicked, microwaves your enemies, a radio which, when tuned to the right station, grants 3 inches of height, a deck of cards which will disable onlookers, a nail file which induces sleep, etc.). A belief circulating underground is that a grouping of these objects will cause them to exhibit new properties and grant their owner god-like powers, even possibly allowing the owner access to the mind of God... Inevitably, over the past decades, disparate groups have sought these objects for their own varying purposes. Which then brings us to the show's protagonist: Joe Miller....

In the course of investigating a baffling case involving two men found burned to a crispy death in a pawn shop, Pittsburg homicide detective and single dad Joe Miller (Peter Krause, SPORTS NIGHT, SIX FEET UNDER) comes upon a magical motel room key which, when used on any convenient door, gives him access to an eternally sun-drenched motel room frozen in time since the 1960s. Miller discovers that, from this motel room, he can reach any destination he calls to mind. He learns of another odd quirk of the room: no matter what he does to it or in it, the room resets itself to its original composition the next time he enters.

His digging of clues leads him to an eccentric named Wally (Peter Jacobson), who owns a bus ticket which teleports whosoever is smacked on the head with it. Wally proceeds to unload pertinent info on Miller regarding the motel room and the amazing objects which had been occupying it. Wally further informs Miller that these indestructible artifacts are drawn to each other, then warns him that people will soon come looking for him - "bad people" who are desperate to possess the key. Rapidly after, Miller's quest for truth finds focus tragically close to home when his charming, young daughter, Anna (Elle Fanning, Dakota's younger sis), vanishes in the mysterious Room 10.

In his efforts to find his daughter, Miller becomes hunted by his fellow police, who come to believe that he has kidnapped Anna; he also runs afoul of other organizations - various shadowy cabals, some of them despicable and ruthless, bent on collecting the items to gain incalculable powers (such as the determined Karl Kreutzfeld's group) or to talk to God (such as the nutjob Order of Reunification) and the Legion, a supposedly more benevolent group who seeks to protect humanity by destroying these items. Miller must evade the clutches of the cabals and remain vigilant against the Legion as he drastically attempts to unearth the history of the enigmatic Room 10 and the Sunshine Motel. Things get more chancy as it seems the only way to retrieve his daughter is to ferret out the Primal Object, the controlling item which holds dominion over all the other items. But which one is it? Can the aid of several quirky characters and the beautiful Jennifer Bloom (Julianna Margulies, ER), who seems to have secrets of her own, be enough for Miller to survive and gain back his daughter? Well, with the possibility of an ongoing series on the Sci-Fi Channel, I'd bet on it.

Viewers seeking a quick and easy resolution to the mystery will be disappointed here as the mini-series concludes with plenty of questions left unanswered. In fact, the last half hour of Part 3 engages more in launching new plotlines than in closing the book on existing ones... again, paving the way for a regular series. The cast is pretty darn good. Peter Krause as the desperate Joe Miller plays up just the right amounts of panicky fatherhood and resourceful detective and does it with a relatable, down-to-earth panache. Kevin Pollak plays the cold and deadly, mob-type boss, Karl Kreutzfeld, with charm and civilized vindictiveness. Pollak, a comedian turned very capable actor, makes you actually feel compassion for his character once you find out his real motivation. Sleazy operator Howard "the Weasel" Montague is played with zest by Roger Bart, while Elle Fanning (Dakota's younger sis) is okay as Miller's cute kid. I do feel that Julianna Margulies could've done more with her part; she seemed quite disinterested in the goings-on, but I acknowledge that her role was pretty thankless.

The powers-that-be made a good decision in allowing the involving story to become the star of the show, as opposed to bludgeoning us with multiple, flashy special effects. As it is, the effects that do pop up are nicely executed and are perfectly in tune with the story. The budget must've been nice.

As I've mentioned, this mini-series is intriguing, and part of the intrigue is that it deliberately chooses to leaves holes in its storyline. Part of whether the viewer ultimately sees this show in a positive light will depend on his or her reaction to the barrage of questions that are left unanswered. The series is wagering that the audience will be so caught up in the mystery that it ultimately chooses to support it. LOST ROOM will have those inclined thinking in philosophical and metaphysical terms, and there might be a bit of quantum physics thrown in that mix, too. And for we lesser mortals - who just aren't built towards intellectual ponderings - fear not; there is enough steady infusion of uneasy alliances, betrayals, plot twists, action, and cool f/x to satisfy our craving for low-brow entertainment. Now, I don't know how well this premise would work as a regular television series; there's a danger that things might get too predictable and stale after a few showings. I'm assuming that each episode would involve the hunt for an empowered object, and really, how many curve balls can you throw to make that consistently interesting? But wouldn't it be nifty to find out? Read more ›

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best sci-fi show I saw in 2006 February 7, 2007

By Sam Lowry

Format:DVD

This mini-series really stuck with me. I rarely recommend shows to anyone, but this one I did to many people. There are some unnecessary plot points which seemed to be setting up a future series, but other than that- great cast, intelligent and creative writing, cool locations, and more.

Hopefully this is released widescreen as well, a cropped version would not do it justice.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I missed work because of this show February 13, 2007

By J. K. Lee

Format:DVD

When SciFi was blasting promo after promo of this show from TV to the sides of city buses, I thought it was going to be another SciFi Original Piece of crap, but within the first half hour, I was hooked. I watched the entire series on my DVR in a row and had to call out sick from work. Awesome premise and the perfect cast for each role. If I have to find one fault, is that the ending was left wide open -- too open. They could have made a full season out of this, maybe more. Either way, get it. I was surprised they didn't have this in my OnDemand list.