THE RESIDENT (2011) Review

Directed by: Antti Jokinen

Starring: Hilary Swank, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Christopher Lee

Ok, I've decided that I will never live in an apartment building. After watching enough horror movies based in hotel rooms or apartments, it's no wonder why. There always seems to be a creepy neighbor or landlord involved. In this case it's the latter.

Another thing I've learned from watching horror films is that when something seems too good to be true, it usually is. 

So when Juliet (Hilary Swank) is offered a great apartment with a great view at a great price by the landlord, it's pretty obvious that something is not right. But Juliet doesn't notice, instead she starts to spend increasingly more time with her handsome landlord Max (Jeffrey Dean Morgan - a spitting image for Robert Downey Jr) and forms a close relationship. But at the same time she finds herself confused by the feelings she still has for her ex boyfriend Jack. Things become even more confusing when she starts to notice strange happenings around her apartment. Weird noises at night, doors hanging open, but most of all she all of a sudden finds herself oversleeping in the mornings for the first time in years. It soon becomes apparent that somebody has been creeping around inside her apartment.

The film reveals (a little too early in my opinion) that while a lot of incidents seem accidental or coincidental, they have actually all been set up by the cunning and perverted Max. Everything from Juliet getting the apartment in the first place, to Max 'accidentally' bumping into her outside. Rather than this being revealed only half an hour into the movie, I personally think that it could have and should have been left a little longer in order to build up the tension a bit more.

The film was a fairly generic obsessed stalker type of movie, with no real surprises, shocks, twists or turns. The climactic ending was a little frustrating, with a few of those scenes that leave you wondering just how stupid these characters can possibly be.

Another disappointing aspect was the role of Christopher Lee as Max's father, but only because I felt that he wasn't utilized nearly as much as he could have been. He also had a much more passive role than I would have liked.

All in all it was a pretty average movie, with no real unexpected moments. It's worth a watch, but don't get your hopes up.