Review by Karl Verhoven
Do we imagine the unimaginably rich as concerned for the welfare of humanity, wondering how they can use their fortunes to improve life for everyone? Or do we see them as delusional in believing immeasurable wealth renders them better than anyone else? Has there, for instance, ever been a better James Bond villain than Elon Musk? Rumpus Room is aimed at folk who can see that connection.
Bob Schrunk’s a social media billionaire with a bad skin condition, but fortunately for him he’s devised a treatment. Unfortunately for everyone else, keeping Bob’s complexion fresh means someone has to die, and he maintains a supply of victims beneath his palatial home jailed in what’s known as the Rumpus Room. It’s comfortable enough until the content of Bob’s skin cream jar runs out, when, as seen in the fine sample art from Ramon Rosanas, armed guards in furry cosplay wear drag away his next source of replenishment.
It’s a great concept for a dry black comedy from Mark Russell, who adds hilarity to Bob’s personality rainbow through his art collection. That allows Rosanas to design the hideous sculptures in Bob’s garden, and Russell solidifies Bob via his fine line of corporate bullshit. “I can turn liabilities into capital assets, capital assets into operating costs, and operating costs into a swarm of bees”, he smirks. Yes, we care for those trapped in the Rumpus Room, or some of them anyway, but the star turn is the hateful Bob.
Whether as a reflection of Bob’s world or via his own inclinations, Rosanas delivers an incredibly clean and antiseptic world. The guys are immaculately groomed, the women are immaculately coiffeured, and as terrible as they are, even the sculptures are neatly constructed. Rumpus Room looks great.
Bob and his appalling ways so dominate that at first it slips by that Russell is also commenting on humanity in microcosm as represented by those trapped. Bob is what he is and will never change, but will self-interest among others always prevail? You’ll think Rumpus Room is predictable, and one or two aspects are, but overall it’s a dark joy, and AWA provide their own entirely appropriate tagline by calling it “timely and thoughtful”.
