Apartment 1303 3D (2012) User Reviews

Apartments don't kill people. Boredom kills people...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 21 July 2013]

Another one of those "let's make a foreign movie into a Hollywood version", and yet again, as with so many other such attempts, it failed and was put to shame by the original.

Given the fact that the original Japanese "Apartment 1303" wasn't particularly much to write home about, then you would think that director Michael Taverna would have it nice and easy here to make it into a better remake. You would think so! But wow, this American version of "Apartment 1303" turned out to be even worse and more boring than the original Japanese version.

The storyline is essentially the same as in the Japanese version, a woman movies into an apartment that is haunted by something sinister because of a tragic event that took place in the self same apartment.

This American version of "Apartment 1303" was nowhere even remotely near being scary or spooky in the least bit. And it was a rather pointless and dull experience to sit through. I had initially hoped that Rebecca DeMornay would be able to lift up the movie even just a bit, but that proved not to be the case, as she wasn't given much to work with in this movie.

Some times it is better to not meddle with original versions of movies, and just leave them to what they initially were and are. I strongly suggest that you watch the Japanese version of "Apartment 1303" if you absolutely have to watch this story. However, be warned, you are not in for much of an improvement.

Lame Remake

[claudio_carvalho · 2/10 · 2 August 2013]

In Detroit, Janet Slate (Julianne Michelle) is happy since she has just rented the apartment 1303 of the Lake View Residence and will leave her alcoholic mother Maddie Slate (Rebecca De Mornay). She calls her sister Lara (Mischa Barton) to tell the news and she meets the girl Emily, who is her next door neighbor. Emily tells her that a girl, Jennifer, has killed her mother many years ago and jumped off the balcony, committing suicide. She also tells her to leave the apartment.

Janet hears strange noises in the apartment and she calls her boyfriend Mark Taylor (Corey Sevier) to spend the night with her. When Mark leaves the apartment, Jennifer throws Janet off balcony. The detective (John Diehl) in charger of the investigation tells Lara that there are several cases of women committing suicide in that apartment, but he believes that someone has filled them. Lara decides to move to Janet's apartment despite what has happened there.

"Apartment 1303" is a lame remake of the Japanese American horror movie "Apartment 1303" by Ataru Oikawa. This remake has awful story, poor CGI and terrible performances and I feel sorry for Rebecca De Mornay in the worst role of her career. The original movie is only reasonable but my suggestion to the reader is to not waste your time with this remake. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "1303 - Apartamento do Mal" ("1303 – Evil Apartment")

An insult not only to the movie it's remaking but to all horror films in general!

[Hellmant · 2/10 · 3 September 2013]

'APARTMENT 1303 3D': One Star (Out of Five)

American remake of the 2007 Japanese horror film ('APARTMENT 1303'), which was based on the book by Kei Oishi. It tells the tale of a haunted apartment that drives it's residents to suicide. The sister of it's latest victim investigates her death and falls victim to the disturbed ghost as well. It was written and directed by Michael Taverna and is his second feature (after the 1996 drama 'MANAGUA', 17 years earlier). It stars Mischa Barton (who's most well known from the popular TV series 'THE O.C.'), Rebecca De Mornay, Julianne Michelle and Corey Sevier. The film is one of the worst horror movies I've seen in years!

Barton stars as Lara Slate, a young woman who's still living with her alcoholic mother, Maddie (De Mornay). Maddie was a successful musician who now drinks her days and nights away, out of depression. Lara and her younger sister, Janet (Michelle), have long had troubled relationships with their mother and Janet has finally decided to do something about her's. She's moved out of her mother's home and into a creepy apartment (1303) in downtown Detroit. She's warned, by a nine-year-old neighbor girl named Emily (Madison McAleer), that several other residents (in that apartment) have committed suicide there. Janet soon winds up having the same fate. Lara is crushed by the news and moves into the apartment to investigate (and away from her abusive mother). She has help from her sister's boyfriend, Mark (Sevier), but soon finds herself haunted by a troubled ghost as well.

I haven't seen the Japanese original but I imagine it has to be a lot better than this turd (fans of it must be outraged). This movie feels like something I could have written in middle school; it pieces together a bunch of random nonsensical scenes that aren't scary and just don't add up to anything. By the time it's over the viewer is thinking 'what the hell did I just watch and what was the point?'. It has no point, it's just a complete waste of time. The acting is atrocious, the mother/daughter drama is painful to watch and both Barton and De Mornay look horrible in the film. The movie just has no redeemable qualities whatsoever. It's an insult not only to the movie it's remaking but to all horror films in general!

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Hard to describe how bad this is!

[iraz · 1/10 · 17 June 2013]

I just finished watching this film. There is absolutely no aspect of this film that I can praise. It's one of those films where you realize you are in trouble about five minutes in. The acting is wooden and not believable. The writing and direction are not at a professional level, to put it nicely. The plot is ridiculous and there are no scares whatsoever present in this movie.

By highlighting well known actresses, they are hoping to cash in on their names. However, don't be fooled by that. It is the worst film I've ever seen Rebecca DeMorney in and Mischa Barton is an embarrassment. When you watch a film like this, the inevitable question is "did they realize how bad the film is?". I cannot answer that question, but once a project is a go and the actors don't back out, I guess they just hope it will find a market. This film deserves no market, it is that bad!

Worst EVERYTHING!

[VickiDK · 1/10 · 4 August 2013]

Worst acting Worst directing Worst editing Worst *everything*

I watched because it starred (supporting role) Rebecca DeMorney (sp?). But I was really taken back by her AWFUL acting as well as the awful acting of every other actor in the movie. I was so embarrassed for her performance and wondered why she agreed to play this tacky, tacky part.

Had her acting career started with the caliber of this example, she would never have even met Tom Cruise. (Yes! THAT bad.)

I knew within 10 minutes that this movie was bad. We stopped watching, but I have a hard time leaving a movie unfinished and went back to see the rest of it. HOPING it might improve.

It didn't. Not . one . bit.

No. Just no.

[david-646-964923 · 1/10 · 31 May 2013]

It is always nice to discover a well directed horror film. This isn't one of those though. You know those movies where you see the first scene and you know right then and there that it will suck all throughout? This is one of them. It is the kind of movie Hallmark channel would make if Halmark made horror movies. It has the feeling and directing of a Hallmark channel movie, but with a ghost sitting on the toilet. Seriously, it is that bad.

Embarrassingly poor script, acting and directing - along with hardly any 'scary' bits - made watching this movie a chore. I started playing Angry Birds half way through. And I hate Angry Birds.

Awful, simply awful!

[byroti · 1/10 · 1 June 2013]

The mind boggles as to how this move was able to get made. The actress who played the first sister to do was embarrassingly woeful. Too much collagen in the lips too. Just awful acted and just a mess as to who it played out. It felt like it started 20 minutes into the movie. And why did she have to talk to herself so much? Apparently this was a remake of yet another Japanese horror movie and is yet another case of...why? Can't the Yanks let the original just be? Or was it that because they had "names" like Mischa Barton and Rebecca de Mornay that a film can be green lit? I don't know.

Stinker! Do not hire! Stay away!

oh my god this was horrible - i had to turn it off

[debraskent · 1/10 · 4 July 2013]

I can't imagine how desperate the Rebecca DeMornay and Mischa whatever her last name is must have been to sign on to do this movie - everything is wrong with it. Script, direction, sound, photography, plot -- literally every aspect of the movie stinks.

This movie is so terrible that it made me appreciate all the skill and talent that I had always taken for granted as a viewer, the things that add up to making a decent movie: sound, camera angles, lighting, music -- not to mention the obvious: acting ability and plot. This movie had none of it.

I love a good ghost story so we ordered it on demand without considering the possibility that it could be so unbearably bad we would actually decide to stop watching. I don't hesitate to cut my losses and stop watching a bad movie partway into it, but my partner rarely does -- her attitude is, how bad can it be? Yet, even she agreed that we couldn't watch it for a moment longer.

Who cares if the actors are gorgeous, as another reviewer felt compelled to point out twice. What on earth does that have to do with anything? I know a lot of gorgeous people - that doesn't mean I'd want to endure two hours of watching them in a terrible movie.

I have never posted a movie review before but felt compelled to do so, just to save someone else from making the same mistake. What a waste of time and money. THE WORST.

Wow!!!!! How did they even let this go on DVD, really?

[jane_vasso · 1/10 · 6 June 2013]

This movie was awful! Funny thing is, I couldn't stop watching it just because I couldn't believe how bad it was and it was such a laugh! What in the hell were they thinking when they made this movie? What on earth is it with Janet talking to herself so much throughout the movie? All of it, the whole movie was so lame, so corny & so dumb! The people who are rating this anything above 1, obviously don't watch many horror movies. I have seen many bad horror movies, but this one really tops them all by far! If you are up for a good laugh then this movie is for you! The director of this movie must have been on drugs or something, really.

Self Indulgent Acting & Lame Direction Make this Movie flop Hard

[blushok-1 · 2/10 · 4 June 2013]

This movie sucks. Period. The characters are vapid and uninteresting and compete undeveloped. The attempt at scares are amateur at best. This felt like a vanity project funded by washed up actresses. Literally no redeeming qualities in this movie whatsoever.

It felt like the movie was had over by the time the first sister was done talking with herself and the movie tried to be scary.

Rebecca Demornay even sings. Sad, sad, sad.

Skip this movie. Or maybe make up a drinking game for it. Something like take a drink every time you realize what a terrible film this is- seriously. Lol

Oh dear!

[aussieparrothead · 27 July 2013]

I am watching this DVD right now and felt the urge to post a review half way through. This is the worst movie I have ever seen. I have read screenplays by Labradors that read better than this. I love the horror genre so I was hoping this would be good but now I have to go to Blockbuster in the morning and demand my 6 dollars back. How does Mischa Barton get a gig when she obviously cannot act? All the good writers in the world that can't catch a break and someone give this trash a green light....it just makes no sense at all? Hopefully it gets better otherwise I may have to take it back tonight and I don't really want to drive to the video store at 1am.

So bad you need to watch it

[rcheng82 · 10/10 · 25 November 2020]

My subject says it all. It is so bad it will make you appreciate the good movies more or even mediocre ones. It starts off normal and interesting but it gets stupider and stupider until it maxes out to the point that you want to stop watching but you are torn since you invested some time already so you give it a chance that maybe it'll get better but no, the stupidity goes beyond max or over 100% and you'll just be happy that the movie is over and will promise yourself that you will value your time from then on. Basically the movie will change your perspective in life and you will never take your time for granted ever again.

A movie that doesn't deserve all the bad reviews. Not really scary or original but it is entertaining. I liked it. I say B.

[cosmo_tiger · 6/10 · 23 July 2013]

"Apartments don't kill people, people kill people." Janet (Michelle) is excited to finally move out and get her own apartment away from her overbearing mother. Soon after she moves in she starts to see and hear strange things. Her sister Lara (Barton) is stuck playing the go between with Janet and her mom and doesn't take Janet's concerns serious, until it's too late. I have made a habit of not watching trailers or reading reviews before I see a movie. To me that helps me to go in with a blank slate and not any real expectations. When the movie is over that is when I look at the reviews for it. I thought that this was actually fun to watch. It was fast moving and entertaining. What it wasn't was original, I know it's a remake but even so this type of movie has been done a million times and most of them better then this. That said though again this was pretty entertaining and kept me watching and interested the entire time. Almost all the reviews that I read for this really roasted it and I'm not entirely sure it deserves all the bad press it got. Its worth watching but nothing I would buy. Overall, nothing original or really scary but it was entertaining like a movie should be. I give it a B.

Don't waste your money

[keithbro · 1/10 · 22 March 2013]

OK, my Summary basically wraps it up. Remember Eddie Murphy's joke about white people moving into haunted houses? "Oh, nice House." "Get out." "just a few ghosts we can handle that.' This movie is an embarrassment. I mean name one person in their right mind who would move into an apartment that four women committed suicide and one was murdered? Who in their right mind would after being attacked by your sisters ghost and then decide to still spend the night? The acting was horrible, writing was terrible, the police wore no uniforms, I can go on, just don't waste your money on this movie. Do yourself a favor and don't see this movie.

I wonder how a movie studio can put out such trash and remain in business. This movie is horrible, terrible and a waste of 1 1/2 hours of my life. The only thing I regretted during this movie was my seat was facing the screen.

If I say it's horrible and you still go and see this so called movie, you been warned it's horrible.

Ummmmm. . . . yeah.

[Danniboi · 1/10 · 31 August 2013]

WARNING - SPOILERS!

The only scary thing about this film is the fact that it managed to get even 3 stars on IMDb.

Stupid annoying characters, badly written script - ("Apartments don't kill people, people kill people"), awful acting and tired old horror movie clichés that aren't even meant ironically.

The bint who moves into this place was on the verge of a nervous breakdown just because the lights went out, an ironing board fell on her and a supervisor asked to see her tits. When the ghost (who also isn't scary) does eventually makes an appearance she doesn't even attempt to save herself and basically turns into a whimpering, crying rag doll. Somebody that useless would not have made it to adulthood.

And finally and perhaps the thing that irks me the most, playing scary suspense music over scenes that aren't scary does not make them frightening. it's just kind of insulting to the person watching, as though we need to be told when to be afraid.

Do not encourage people who make movies as bad as this. Watch something else - you deserve better.

Waste of time!! Mischa Barton can NOT act!!

[Michael-Hallows-Eve · 1/10 · 8 June 2013]

Where to start. This movie was crap!! The acting from Mischa Barton is horrible!! That girl can't act!! She sounds mannish and so mono-toned throughout the movie. There is a part there where she >> SPOILER ALERT << has to talk about her sisters death and she doesn't even sound or look sad about it, and she is meant to be very close to her!! But when she >> SPOILER ALERT << kills her mother accidentally (who she doesn't like), she cries like a baby!! Really?!! And I know this is a remake of a Japanese film (which I haven't seen, so sue me), but the plot is crap and predictable and the movie has so many clichés its not funny (or maybe it is because of that)! If the original is like this only with Asian actors, then it will be just as bad because the plot is too predictable as I said. Avoid this at all costs! I wasted 90 minutes of my life as a result. Wish I turned it off after 10 minutes, but thats my fault. All I can give this is a lowly 1 out of 10.

So so so SO bad!!

[jue133 · 1/10 · 30 June 2013]

Although there are enough reviews on here telling us all how incredibly awful this film is I still felt compelled to write another. After 5 minutes... maybe not even that long honestly, I had to check online in the vein hope the initial "actors" weren't in it for long then decided to write this as I got more and more offended the lamer the plot line got.

My thoughts that I might be placated when the worst one bit it quickly diminished, they're all terrible, so it does nothing to improve the film.

?.. and who thought it was a good idea to have the first girl having an actual conversation with herself like a random the entire time she was moving in?

FAIL!

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME

what?

[jmos03 · 1/10 · 19 March 2014]

What...just what?

Everything about this movie is just bad. The plot is a whole bunch of what, and the ending is a whole bunch of what the f***! The acting sucks...like was Mischa Barton always this terrible at acting? And the actress who plays the younger sister is just as bad. The plot is nonsensical. Character development is at a zero. Script is garbage. And why the hell does everyone talk to themselves so damn much?

Also, this is suppose to be a scary movie, but not much scare. Seriously whenever they do try to scare viewers, they use every cliché scare attempt in the book, it's almost embarrassing. The lights shut off, is there going to be something in the dark? There's a noise coming from the closet, is something going to jump out of it when she opens it?

Save your time and your money.

Truly awful

[Mcgolj · 16 June 2013]

Truly awful movie, never made it past 15mins, even that was kind. Acting? What acting? . You have been warned!. I watch and love a lot of horrors, trust me, this shambles was ruined by too much talking to ones self, too much inane shouting "hello, who's there". Shes just moved into an empty apartment! . I can sum it up really by saying, the acting made me cringe, it really is that bad!. Rebecca da mornay, oaft , whats happened to you. Or were you really always that bad? Poor acting, directing and butchering of what probably coulda been a good movie. Another lazy missed opportunity by American cinema, as i have said, i tried and tried to push through and watch it, but could not fulfil that one simple task, the laziness reeks ouuta the entire production, the dialogue, just makes you feel uncomfortable and not in a suspenseful or deliberate part of the movie, i mean, it just doesn't make sense.

Watched this against my better judgment

[nickbroombaugh · 2/10 · 1 September 2014]

The only way this movie could have entertained me any less, would have been to remove the actors completely and film the empty apartment. This would have, at least, fixed the terrible script and awkward, unconvincing character interactions. I would literally have rather watched Rebecca De Mornay get drunk and play the guitar for an hour and a half.

The acting was terrible, aside from De Mornay, but even she hardly gave a star-worthy performance thanks to awful dialogue and poor direction. The boyfriend, apparently played by Colin Ferrel's stunt double, seemed bored and lethargic, while his girlfriend, played by Julianne Michelle, seemed more than content to make up for his lack of emotion. Overacting is an understatement. Mischa Barton, on the other hand seemed to labor through each scene, struggling to make her lines work and her character appear deeper than the script allowed.

Two stars is generous, afforded by decent CGI effects, though even those were unoriginal, borrowed and slightly improved from twentieth century horror films that, sadly, did a better job of it fifteen years ago. The plot was facile and underdeveloped, the characters hollow and dull and the overall experience was similar to watching a high school drama class practice their roles in a gymnasium.

Occupied

[kosmasp · 2/10 · 14 August 2014]

There is a reason some remakes do not work (though I had no idea this was one, until I checked on IMDb to write this review). So while I can't compare this with the original, I know that the filmmakers saw something in it. And the idea is not bad at all. The movie itself sometimes also does have some nicely set up shots. You might even be scared once (or twice).

But while you may be fond of the actors involved, this should not be included in their portfolio. Especially the scenes where they are talking to themselves. Not cool and not necessary and yet we find ourselves annoyed by it so many times. The script was either weak to begin with or they made it that way, whatever the case, this movie should be avoided

Why does this exist??

[wormsoftheerth · 1/10 · 8 June 2013]

I honestly have to wonder how this was allowed to see the light of day. The script was absolutely horrendous - it was one bad, corny line after another. So much pointless dialog that went nowhere and added nothing alongside lots of ultra bland lines like " you have to get out before she kills you too" - seriously, was this written by a middle schooler? Somehow the acting actually rivaled the script in ridiculousness - not a single person in this movie provided anything that could be considered decent acting. The script has 0 depth, and doesn't provide any significant plot or development, so we barely know anything about these 1- dimensional characters and, as such, could care less about them and the supposed bonds they have with one another. Many character actions seem to have no rhyme or reason and the viewer is constantly left to wonder "why was that scene in there" / "why did they just do that?". After about 20 minutes my girl and I were laughing at almost every scene - this film works much better as a comedy, whether its awful performances; poor, nonsensical writing; over/under acting, or the awkwardly bizarre ghost encounters, this movie provides tons of unintended laughs. There are so many absurdities here, it's hard to choose the best, but I think my picks would include: 1. Misha Barton's characters name - some people call her Laura (lore-uh) and some call her Lara (lah-rah). wtf? 2. at one point someone dies in the apartment, yet in the very next scene the main characters are hanging out in it again like nothing happened - no police, no investigation, nothing. the dead person's significant other is one of the main characters yet this person is never questioned or anything (and there is good reason to suspect they would be involved). 3. the fact that in a movie with a multi-million dollar budget the film crew somehow could not be bothered to film an actual apartment balcony - in at least two scenes someone is on the balcony and both times everything around the balcony is CGI (baaad CG too)...one girl looks over the balcony and the view of the street is completely CGI. Seriously. So. Awful. Avoid this at all costs. I have to assume that there is no possible way the original is this bad and that they really butchered this. Whomever green-lighted this should be ashamed and removed from their job.

I liked Apartment 1303. Two female stars saved it, Michelle and DeMornay

[tomcloon · 8/10 · 4 June 2013]

I saw this movie yesterday and I enjoyed it. The acting was good. The stars who played the younger sister, Julianne Michelle, and the mother, Rebecca DeMornay were especially good actors. They saved the picture and made it enjoyable. I am tough on Horrors. Most are made for little boys by little boys, sex, nudity, gore. In this one you will actually see people acting without sex and gore. The young sister, Julianne Michelle, has a great body and her clothes stay on during a sizzling scene with Corey Sevier. They are both so great looking, exciting to watch and should have been longer, much longer. The acting was very good especially by DeMornay and Julianne Michelle. Rebecca DeMornay has done horror before and she is still nice looking. The director and actors did a good job considering the script seemed weak. My two guy friends and I actually had fun watching this one.

Limpid clone of Japanese horror film saved by De Mornay's performance

[gstepup · 7/10 · 25 March 2013]

The Hollywood remake of APARTMENT 1303 (2007), a Japanese horror film making the lists of favorite J-horror cinema, but for the life of me, I can't understand why some Japanese directors are stuck into cloning/replicating the hugely successful RINGU (1998, directed by Hideo Nakata). The 2007 Japanese film was penned by three people, Kei Ôishi , Ataru Oikawa and Takamasa Sato, and was directed by Oikawa -- with the by-now familiar tale of a haunted house, a mother and daughter's complex and murderous relationship, and a vengeful ghost wreaking havoc with the new tenants' lives.

Michael Taverna directs the Hollywood remake (produced by Monte Cristo International Entertainment, which was also behind the original), with a limited story arc and almost cardboard characters to work on.

(SPOILERS) Creepy atmosphere is established, and the audience (Westerns just love Asian horror films!) feels the mounting terror (that it has come to expect after an explosion of J-horror products like RINGU, THE GRUDGE, DARK WATER, ONE MISSED CALL), but the actual apparitions are scarce, as opposed to a lot of 'exposition' and conversational folderol, and the stubborn, sometimes stupid behavior of the three lead actresses are as mind-boggling as the existence of a matricidal ghost.

Julienne Michelle is Janet Slate, a rebellious teenager who moves out of her mother (and sister)'s house and rents an apartment that immediately gives her the creeps (why do heroines of ghost movies insist on staying in a house, even after strange and frightful encounters?). Janet is the latest victim to fall prey to a 'curse' that claims the lives of female tenants. Michelle and Mischa Barton (as elder sister Lana, a role that seemingly channels the Vera Miles role in Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece, PSYCHO) make do with the thinly-written characters, but Rebecca De Mornay (my favorite actress since 1991), as their seemingly spaced-out rocker (!) mother, steals every scene she's in. De Mornay's rocker attire reminds me of her turn as a singer in THE SLUGGER'S WIFE (1985), and I think those are her real vocals on APARTMENT 1303's soundtrack. Her performance as a self-absorbed, often drunk mother who would rather play the guitar and sing, is bulls-eye.

Corey Sevier (playing Mark) is a sensitive and handsome leading man; the 29-year-old Canadian had a shot at stardom as "Apollo" in 2011's IMMORTALS and a lead role in AWAKEN (2012) but has been acting since 1993. This guy will go places.

Writer-director Taverna and Kei Ôishi, as screenwriters, take the Japanese script almost at face value (merely changing the characters' names) and hardly improves on it, but what seminally worked for Japanese (and Asian) audiences is hard to replicate with Hollywood remakes (wit, THE RING with Oscar nominee Naomi Watts), and once again, we come up with a clone of a genuinely scary yet unoriginal Japanese cinematic work.

De rigeur characters are typically written in: a strange and perverted landlord, a sinister young-girl neighbor who speaks cryptically about dead tenants, the boyfriend who may or may not believe (in this case, Sevier is actually an undercover cop, and has a sizzling love scene with Michelle before the poor girl gets bumped off), and the detective cop (John Diehl) bugging the surviving sister.

But who am I to argue? I find myself watching both original Japanese-horror films and the Hollywood versions. By far, THE GRUDGE (2004), with Sarah Michelle Gellar, is better that the rest.

Why oh why did I watch this

[livnay · 1/10 · 25 August 2013]

I didn't even want to give this film 1 star it was that bad!! This was possibly the worst film I've ever watched... Film felt like it started 20 minutes into the film. Mischa Barton's acting was truly atrocious. I found myself huffing, puffing, sighing and rolling my eyes up to heaven near enough the whole way through!! Janet the sister annoyed me constantly throughout also. The film was long, boring, unrealistic and just plain rubbish. Nothing scary about it whatsoever. Poor acting all around felt like a really bad low budget movie!! Save yourself the torture and watch something else!! Not worth losing 2 hours of your life for