The film uses many elements from Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Black Cat", and acknowledges this influence in the film's opening credits.
Vice President of the United States | Vice President | Miami Vice | Vice Admiral | Key West | Key West, Florida | Vice-Chancellor | Key Club | Francis Scott Key | The Room | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City | vice president | Vice admiral (United States) | Key Biscayne | Key Largo | Room 222 | John Key | A Room for Romeo Brass | The Viper Room | The Room (film) | One-room school | Key Largo (film) | Key | George Clinton (vice president) | Chroma key | Vice President of the Philippines | Vice-Chamberlain of the Household | The War Room | Purcell Room | Panic Room |
Writing for The A.V. Club, Noel Murray compared the film to Sergio Martino's 1972 film Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (Il tuo vizio รจ una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave), noting that "both take place among the idle European aristocracy, with vapid models, rugged motocross drivers, bigoted executives, and debauched artists wandering through a world of soft fabrics and bloody, gashed skin".