The boundaries between the comic book industry and other mediums often feel like a dotted line. It is no strange thing to see an artist try their hand at a limited series; in the past few years, horror favorites like Kid Cudi and David Dastmalchian have published original series for like-minded comic lovers. But it’s a rare thing to see creatives leap the other way, which is what makes Room Service – the brainchild of comic writers James Tynion IV and PK Colinet and comic artist Elsa Charretier – such a fun exercise in form.
Room Service debuted on Kickstarter, with the campaign successfully funding in November 2022. As with many crowdfunding projects, Kickstarter serves as its own production diary, with updates from Charretier and others on the production. And like so many other shorts, Room Service was released on YouTube in May 2024, allowing fans of the creators and general horror enthusiasts a chance to dig into the world that Tynion, Colinet, and Charretier have created onscreen.
Room Service opens on a hotel room in disarray. Plates of spaghetti have been scattered across the floor; clothing and garbage follow in their wake. Soon, we are introduced to a pair of hands in black, latex gloves. These hands belong to the Caretaker (Nans Pierson), a man in a crimson suit and matching face mask. Slowly, meticulously, the Caretaker cleans the room, restoring it to its proper condition – and, finally, setting out a new portrait for a smiling family of three.
But what seems like a hotel room on the inside is revealed to be a hidden room buried in the bowels of an industrial site. Soon we are introduced to the man in the photo (Richard Keep), disheveled and desperate, who shows up clutching a set of unseen instructions. Under the watchful eye of the Caretaker, the man cleans himself up before meeting his patron (Angela Sichanh), an unnamed movie star who is determined to get exactly what she paid for.
Part of what makes short films so appealing is the process of discovery. As noted by The Hollywood Reporter, Room Service was a departure for each of its three primary creatives. Tynion had never written a screenplay; Colinet had never directed a short film; Charretier tried on the role of storyboard artist and producer. These modes of interdisciplinary swings – where creatives in one field roll the dice on their filmmaking prowess – make short films a compelling place for discovery and exploration.
And as always, the genre remains the star.
Because this trio is best known for their work in the comic industry, Room Service enjoys a few benefits right out of the gate. The first is the world-building. Tynion is the gold standard of comic book creators, bringing his signature blend of sexual violence and secret societies to ongoing horror series like w0rldtr33 and The Department of Truth. Those who backed the project at a certain level were also treated to a standalone prequel comic, which (one assumes) further explores the bespoke murder experiences provided by the Caretaker.
Not much more is needed than what exists on the screen. Tynion has spent his career unearthing secret worlds beneath our own; Exquisite Corpses, his newest series, pits the secret ruling families of America against each other in a premise that is one part The Hunger Games and one part The Running Man. Here, we are presented with a cool mask and a fastidious nobody, as well as a line about the “other services” that mirror the hedonistic horrors of the Caretaker’s firm.
Audiences can tell the difference between gestures at a bigger world and actual glimpses at a more complete concept. Room Service slots nicely alongside Tynion’s other work as a story of power and powerlessness in equal measure.
But Tynion isn’t the only one proving his worth in a new medium. As a film school graduate and YouTube creator, Colinet certainly demonstrates the cinematic chops needed to be a successful director, but there’s also a stillness in the staging that speaks to the background of Charretier and Colinet as comic book creators. Comics are a medium told in static images, and Room Service smartly recognizes the power of a still camera and a good frame. A masked face in profile; a pair of bloodied bodies sprawled; a naked frame sitting atop a bathtub. Each of these images feels, in the best possible way, like a panel lifted directly from the page.
Room Service imbues its visual language with the kind of tableaus representative of two-dimensional space on the page. But rather than reduce the project, it heightens it, affording Room Service a measure of restraint shorts and first-time features sometimes lack. There is no showing off in the film; the framing exists solely for the benefit of the story. Nothing more, nothing less.
Whether Room Service serves as a proof of concept or an exercise in filmmaking, it hardly seems like the last time Tynion and Colinet will wear their respective hats as screenwriter and director. Tynion has too many in-demand projects to stay out of the writer’s room forever; in fact, Netflix is in pre-production on a series adaptation of Something Is Killing the Children as we speak. Meanwhile, Colinet has already gotten farther than most filmmakers get, with a short feature and a Hollywood Reporter write-up to his name.
But if Room Service does ultimately prove to be a short detour in their respective bodies of work, it will remain a fun experiment that fans of all three creators should seek out. Even in an era where horror is dominated by eat-the-rich hooks, it is nice to remember that there’s a difference between dipping into a Hollywood trend and playing from a position of strength. Here’s hoping more stories set in this posh Purge world find their way into our eyeballs.
When even the best features can be forgotten by audiences, short films hardly stand a chance. Short Cuts, a new series by Matthew Monagle, digs into some of the notable short horror features of the 21st Century, exploring their appeal as experiments or concepts and explaining why horror fans should consider YouTube for their next movie night.
