Academy Award winner Hilary Swank should stay away from the horror/thriller genre. Hey, the girl can act. She's got two golden statues on display somewhere in her home that would argue anyone's theory to the contrary. But her two major forays into the genre with The Reaping (2007) and The Resident (2011) are both weak and embarrassing entries in an otherwise enviable work history.
In The Resident, Swank plays Dr. Juliet Dremer, a New Yorker that moves into a new apartment after separating from her husband. The room is being rented by the good-looking Max played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen, The Losers) and the price is beyond enticing.
But after moving in, Juliet realizes that it is truly too good to be true and Max and his elderly father (Christopher Lee is a throw away performance) are hardly the innocent warm-hearted individuals that they seemed at first introduction.
With a standard 90-minute running time, there isn't much in The Resident to recommend. Swank does a commendable job in a paper thin character but the movie really hinges on Max and JD Morgan is neither convincing nor as creepy as he needs to be to elevate the film above a one-and-a-half star rating.
As things begin to reveal themselves and the Max becomes more aggressive as the antagonist of the film, we just don't buy into the ideas represented in the script penned by director Antti Jokinen. Max's penchant for spying on Juliet and sneaking into her bedroom each night to hover, touch and exude creepiness just doesn't translate through Morgan's hunk-able looks. One could not help but remember why Anthony Perkins was so damn creepy in the Psycho films. He looked like a freak – an outsider that might be capable for such atrocities due to stark raving madness. Trying to believe that Jeffrey Dean Morgan would slip into Juliet's apartment to sniff and cradle her laundry is just not plausible.
But maybe our biggest argument against The Resident is its use of sound. There must be six to ten jump scares in the film and they are all a result of an increased musical blast when unnecessary shocks are infused. We know that Jokinen wanted to take the best parts from Psycho, Pacific Heights and to some extent, Through the Eyes of a Killer, but this one just doesn't work on any attempted level.
And when the final confrontation between the two leads occurs and needles and knifes are brandished, you just won't care what happens to any of them. And that is the biggest flaw a horror/thriller film can make.
www.killerreviews.com
In The Resident, Swank plays Dr. Juliet Dremer, a New Yorker that moves into a new apartment after separating from her husband. The room is being rented by the good-looking Max played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen, The Losers) and the price is beyond enticing.
But after moving in, Juliet realizes that it is truly too good to be true and Max and his elderly father (Christopher Lee is a throw away performance) are hardly the innocent warm-hearted individuals that they seemed at first introduction.
With a standard 90-minute running time, there isn't much in The Resident to recommend. Swank does a commendable job in a paper thin character but the movie really hinges on Max and JD Morgan is neither convincing nor as creepy as he needs to be to elevate the film above a one-and-a-half star rating.
As things begin to reveal themselves and the Max becomes more aggressive as the antagonist of the film, we just don't buy into the ideas represented in the script penned by director Antti Jokinen. Max's penchant for spying on Juliet and sneaking into her bedroom each night to hover, touch and exude creepiness just doesn't translate through Morgan's hunk-able looks. One could not help but remember why Anthony Perkins was so damn creepy in the Psycho films. He looked like a freak – an outsider that might be capable for such atrocities due to stark raving madness. Trying to believe that Jeffrey Dean Morgan would slip into Juliet's apartment to sniff and cradle her laundry is just not plausible.
But maybe our biggest argument against The Resident is its use of sound. There must be six to ten jump scares in the film and they are all a result of an increased musical blast when unnecessary shocks are infused. We know that Jokinen wanted to take the best parts from Psycho, Pacific Heights and to some extent, Through the Eyes of a Killer, but this one just doesn't work on any attempted level.
And when the final confrontation between the two leads occurs and needles and knifes are brandished, you just won't care what happens to any of them. And that is the biggest flaw a horror/thriller film can make.
www.killerreviews.com