It’s actually an ode to the pricey security measure used by many rich folk who worry about being abducted.
Otherwise known as a panic room, a safe room is a fortified room installed to provide a safe hiding place for inhabitants in the event of a break-in.
Don’t panic
Not being the sort of thing you can buy in Ikea, most of us wouldn’t have had a clue what this was until it was made famous in 2002 by a thriller starring Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart.
Panic Room tells the story of a mother and daughter who are burgled the day they move into a new house. Unbeknownst to them, the previous owner has stashed millions in his safe room, and this is what the thieves are after.
The unlucky pair lock themselves in the ‘golden cage’ (see what I did there?) to wait it out. However, due to the immense amounts of cash being stored inside, the thieves have no intention of leaving. It’s a stake out.
Syringes and fridges
Meanwhile, in the room the daughter suffers a seizure due to hypoglycemia caused by her diabetes. Unfortunately, her emergency glucose syringe is in the refrigerator, which is kept in her bedroom upstairs.
Then a whole bunch of other stuff happens and someone gets their fingers chopped off, lots of people get quite cross and shouty, etc.
Cue police, sirens, crying, messed up hair and mascara that still manages to look quite nice.
Are you still following? Good. Hopefully now there’s no need to watch it.
Escaping pirates
It’s not just millionaires and celebrities who use these rooms. They’re an increasingly common feature on ships to protect crew members from acts of piracy.
Only this week, in fact, did a crew use a panic room to escape Somali pirates that took hold of their ship while it was navigating the North Arabian Sea.
It meant the crew retained control of their tanker, and the pirates went home empty handed. Yeah!
So let’s hear it for golden cages.
