TV: The Lost Room

Sci-Fi Channel puts out a LOT of miniseries and made-for-TV movies every month, and only a handful are worth commenting on. One of these is "The Lost Room," a miniseries starring Peter Krause, Julianna Margulies, and Kevin Pollak:



During Detective Joe Miller's investigation of a mysterious homicide, he comes upon a motel key that is imbued with the power to turn any garden-variety wooden door into a portal to a strange motel room with even stranger rules. After entering, you can exit the room to literally anywhere in the world with another wooden door, and things placed inside the room disappear when you close the door.

Unfortunately for Det. Miller, his daughter (played by Elle Fanning, who exhibits the same eerie precociousness as her sister Dakota) is accidentally lost inside the room. Now Miller must hunt down the remaining Objects that were taken from the strange motel room (each one of which has a different supernatural power) while avoiding those who would try to take the Key from him.

It's a great premise, and the execution is pretty good, which explains its high IMDB rating. Overall, it feels like a mix of the rules-based paranormal hijinx of "Death Note," the superpowers of "Heroes," and the detectivework and factional politics of "The X-Files." Some of the situations are a bit eyebrow-raising (enemies become allies and vice versa a little too often for my taste), but the DVD set is definitely worth a spot in your video rental queue.