In these days of kidnapping and terrorism, people will often jump at anything that will make them feel safe. In Panic Room, the latest film from director David Fincher, newly divorced New Yorker Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) is no different. She and her daughter Sarah (newcomer Kristen Stewart) are looking for their first house on their own and find a huge, beautiful brownstone with everything they could ever want, including a panic room – a hidden room that includes four concrete walls, a buried phone line, and a bank of surveillance monitors. Concerned for their safety since it is just the two of them, this unexpected amenity helps them decide to buy the house. But on their first night there, they get some unexpected company – three intruders (Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakam, and Jared Leto). The women make it to the panic room, but when they discover that what the intruders want is in that room, they begin a deadly game of cat-and-mouse to try to get out alive.

David Fincher is no stranger to intense films, having directed Fight Club and Seven among others, and he doesn’t disappoint here. He and writer/producer David Koepp keep you on the edge of your seat, never quite sure where the story is going next. Jodie Foster gives another excellent performance, reminiscent of her Oscar-winning role in Silence of the Lambs, and Forest Whitaker, who has played a wide variety of different roles in the past, actually makes you almost understand his character’s motives. The film is quite graphic in parts, which may make the audience a bit panicky at times, but overall, Panic Room is a well made, roller-coaster-ride thriller.