The Resident

Plot synopsis:
The movie starts with newly divorced ER doctor Juliet (Hilary Swank) running through New York City and working in a busy ER. She is looking for an apartment to rent. After viewing one ridiculously small one, she looks at a stunning apartment with a lovely view. The owner, Max (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is renting it for £3800 she is surprised at the price and immediately takes it.Max helps her move in and while moving in her furniture, she meets Max's grandfather, August (Christopher Lee), they exchange pleasantries and continue to move the furniture in. Max and Juliet immediately hit it off and appear to be becoming good friends.That night, Juliet is alone in her house, as she gets ready for bed by taking a bath, the camera view looks like it's spying on her.The next day, she is persuaded by her friend to go to an art exhibition. While there, Max bumps into her and she asks that he walk her home. He is happy to do it and they take a long walk home, stopping to get coffee. As they sit in the park drinking coffee, they chat. Max then walks her to her door, and as they kiss on the cheek, she turns to kiss him, but he turns away. She is embarrassed, saying she read the signals wrong and closes the door.Juliet then prepares for a bath, we also see small, dark corridors and peepholes looking into her apartment. She pours a glass of wine and gets in the bath. While there, we can see her through a vent at the end of her bath. She ducks her head under the water just as a train passes and knocks her wine to the ground. After her bath she hears noises, she heads towards her bedroom window where it closes suddenly frightening her. She then turns in to bed.The next day her ex husband Jack calls, she answers the phone and he apologises and asks to meet up, she tells him she has to go and hangs up. Just as she hangs up, Max calls and asks her for dinner. That night she is in Max's house for dinner. After dinner, he walks her back to her apartment and they both walk in. They start to kiss passionately while taking each other's clothes off.Then the movie does a fast rewind past all of Max and Juliet's meetings right to the very start of the film where she was in the ER department. It shows Max there with August. August had just had a stroke. Max is watching Juliet work and starts to become obsessed, he clocks her name tag. While at the hospital, he notices a flyer from her asking for an apartment, he takes one of the slips with her number on it. You then see them meeting in the apartment. At the art show, Max followed Juliet in a cab and watched her go in, he then followed her in and pretended to bump into her. Afterwards you see their almost kiss. After she closes the door, he heads back to his apartment where he is watching TV, he then heads through the corridors and you see him looking through the vent at the end of the bath tub as Juliet's wine falls. You see Max then entering her apartment and watching her in the dark corners, he then hides under her bed as she gets ready and goes into it.The movie goes back to them passionately kissing and taking each other's clothes off. They head to the bed when she changes her mind, telling him that she is not ready to be with someone else after Jack yet. He leaves.That night, Max seals off the entrance to the peephole corridor by using a nail gun and planks of wood at the door, which we discover is in his wardrobe.The next scene shows Max with August, giving him his medication by syringe. August calls him weak like his father, and we see through newspaper clippings that his father killed his mother.Juliet and Max then bump into each other in a café, she apologises for the previous night and he tells her it probably wouldnt be a good idea and it could get complicated as they are landlord and tenant, she is happy he says this as she was thinking the same thing.That night, Max tears down the barrier to the corridor, and goes into Juliets apartment. She is sleeping and he goes into her bedroom and tries to kiss her, she turns round so he leaves. He creaks the floorboards and she wakes up and heads to the kitchen where she can hear a noise. You see Max watch her though a secret door in her kitchen cupboard, she goes into the cupboard and pushes against a wall, only for the wall to collapse into a secret wine cellar.The next day she calls Max about it and asks if she could keep it. He tells her he can fix it up but she has to go to work, he says he can do it while she is out, she is happy with that arrangement and leaves.After she is gone, Max studies her house, he goes into the bathroom and uses her toothbrush. He then goes into her bath and starts masturbating. Meanwhile, Jack is texting Juliet at work asking for a truce, she does not reply but smiles.Juliet comes home with groceries and Max is there to help her carry them in, she seems uncomfortable with him. He senses this and tells her that she kissed him first. She tells him that's what people do to see if they fit together. He tells her he doesn't do that and neither should she. He then leaves.That night, she is preparing dinner while Max watches her through a peephole in her kitchen. She receives a text message and then goes to her bathroom to get ready. While there, Max comes into her home to check her phone, as he is there Jack and his dog come to the door, Max hides. The dog senses Max and starts barking at the kitchen cupboard. Jack and Juliet have dinner and they have a discussion about their break up. Jack tells her that she was never there and she asks him not to tell her he cheated because she works too hard. They have more of a discussion and then sleep with each other. Max is watching the whole thing from behind her two way full length mirror in the bathroom.Jack does not stay the night and leaves with the dog. Max pours something into the open bottle of wine from a syringe just as Juliet comes to pour herself another glass. Later on, Juliet is knocked out in her bed and her hand falls off the edge. Max is lying under her bed and starts licking her fingers.The next morning, Juliet sleeps in for work which she finds odd as she has never had a problem waking up before. She is finding a lot of things suspicious so she decides to install CCTV in her home looking onto her bedroom and her front door. It only records when there is movement and it has night vision.Max decides he is sick of looking after August, he injects him with his medicine in the neck and kills him.He then follows Juliet and Jack out to dinner. After they leave each other, Max bumps into Jack on the bridge and pushes him down the stairs. Juliet is at home checking her CCTV and it is only her leaving and coming back. She then pours herself a glass of wine. After she is sleeping, Max comes into her bedroom and unbuttons her top, he then kisses her. He lifts her up to cuddle her and as he holds her, he notices her eyes are open. He quickly drops her and inserts a syringe into her big toe while she watches him. She then closes her eyes.In the morning, she sleeps in for work again and notices a syringe cap on the floor. She decides to take a blood and urine test at work and sends them off to the lab for analysis.While she is at work, Max is in her home and he takes a dress from her wardrobe and lies on the bed with it. Jack comes in, with a sling on his arm from the fall down the steps. He notices the secret door in her kitchen cupboard and is attacked by Max.Juliet gets the blood work back and discovers that she has Demerol, valmid and valium in both her blood and urine. She then quickly calls Jack and tells him not to go to her apartment but she only gets his answer machine.After she gets home, she notices that the shopping bag that Jack brought is there. She also has several recordings on her CCTV. She watches them and notices Max coming in and raping her as she sleeps. Just as she notices this, Max comes into her apartment by the front door. She tries to act normal and they sit. Max has brought some wine and asks her to drink it. Juliet tells him she is not in the mood. She then gets up and starts to use her phone, Max tells her to put the phone down , he then forces her to sit down. Max then tells her that this time she is going to be awake and sticks a syringe in her thigh. She then stabs him in the shoulder with a small kitchen knife.They fight and she hides in the bathroom. After he stops banging on the door, she looks at herself in the mirror just as Max punches though it and drags her though. She fights with him and runs off. As she is running, she discovers all the peepholes into her apartment. She keeps walking until she hears a door ahead of her, it is Max coming in. He walks down the stairs. Juliet is hiding under the stairs watching him. He leaves and she walks back up the stairs into the kitchen cupboard in her apartment. She also picks up the nail gun from earlier. She walks back though what was her bathroom mirror and is attacked by Max. She shoots him in the chest with the nail gun and makes a run for it. He chases after her but she crawls through a small space. It takes her to a room with a steel door, she is able to slip through the small space and max tries to follow her, he pushes and pulls on the door until it has a bigger space for him to fit through but she pushes it back and locks him out. Max starts battering on the door loosening it from its hinges.Juliet, meanwhile runs towards the only window and smashes it through, she then notices Jack, tied up and bloody.Max gets in through the door and walks over to the window. He stands and looks out just as Juliet comes up behind him with the nail gun, he overpowers her and grabs her neck while holding his hand over the gun, she fires the gun into his hand and he recoils back. She then shoots him several times in the chest and once more when he is down. He jumps up for one last scare but she shoots him in the middle of the head. He falls back dead.Credits roll.

Tags: flashback

Review:
This could be a lot entertaining if Hillary Swank wasn't attached to it, and could be a lot interesting and nostalgic if the movie wasn't too serious.I can't blame the plot, which is very interesting though the great collection of clichés and some bad character's development destroy the main subject and entire movie.It has a good beginning and is never hidden from the audience the mad obsession of Jeffrey Dean Morgan's character.
Then everything become a completely mess and the movie transforms into another regular thriller with that ordinary 'cat & mouse' thing and Jeffrey's character, which was just a regular guy suffering from obsession, becomes an ordinary serial killer.The movie ends as it should exactly in the moment that you were expecting since the very first minute, or the very first trailer if you have watched.Is just an empty movie with some rare good moments and a lot of other lazy I've-seen-that-before moments, a waste in Hillary's career..
I expected Hilary Swank to produce so much better, but this film was merely a vehicle for her to show off her body which is a surprise from an Oscar-winning actress.The direction and atmosphere was suspenseful, but the lack of depth to the plot and narrative was such a disappointment given such good production.
As it was, with control of the fast forward, I could skip the repetitive hide and seek.There was no satisfying explanation for this perverted stalking landlord choosing his tenant, and no intelligent reason for wanting to watch until the end, unless you just enjoy gratuitous violence.Suitable for post-pub group viewing, Resident is fine for mindless scares; but the lack of whodunnit and whydunnit just leaves the viewer wondering why did I watch it..
In New York, Dr. Juliet Bliss Devereau (Hilary Swank) of the Brooklyn General Hospital has ended her relationship with her boyfriend Jack (Lee Pace) and is seeking an apartment in Brooklyn to live alone.
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.
The plot summary from The Resident did not sound very interesting to me, but my suspicions of mediocrity were not enough to dissuade me from watching it, because the presence in the cast from the good actors Hilary Swank, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Christopher Lee suggested enough talent in order to compensate the potential fails from the story; besides, the fact that it was produced by Hammer Films touched a nostalgia factor to me.
Unfortunately, the screenplay wastes any chance of making something original or unexpected, preferring a predictable ride through the clichés from this kind of movies: romantic moments illuminated by candles; fleeting glimpses to the villain's psychosis (moments which reach the involuntary humor); disgusting invasions to the privacy when the villain spies the main character naked in the bathroom, or kisses her furtively while she sleeps...and, sure, the unavoidable acts of violence when the intruder feels that his "real love" is not answering as he wants to.
While the stalker is said woman's new college roommate in the other movie, it is young doctor Juliet Devereau's landlord here in "The Resident"- and a male at that, in contrast to "The Roommate's" female.Juliet is played by Oscar-winning actress Hilary Swank, and while this thriller could not be further from her "Million Dollar Baby", the box-office reception to her movies in the years since (e.g.
Indeed, she lets her audience feel her character's naivety, helplessness and desperation keenly, which makes the eventual denouement between victim and stalker much more engrossing.The stalker is the landlord of the building in which she rents an apartment overlooking New York's East River, having just separated from her boyfriend (Lee Pace).
Big mistake- turns out Max ran into Juliet months ago at the hospital she works, decided he liked her, and deliberately set things up so she would come knocking to rent the apartment from him.With the villain revealed within the first half-hour of the film, Finnish director Antti Jokinen- who makes her feature film debut- has an uphill task keeping her audience's attention on Max's increasingly intrusive and even violently obsessive ways.
One wonders if it would have been better if the writers had simply left out Max and Juliet's brief fling and cast someone more credible, like Morgan's fellow "Watchmen" actor Jackie Earle Haley, as Max.Yet in spite of its flaws, those looking for a little counter-programming opposite "Thor" should find this a effective thriller that has its moments of genuine suspense and excitement.
Being the center of almost every shot and probably being the largest single dollar amount in the budget would be appealing, sure.The whole thing finally turns into protracted and not well done slasher chase scene inside the apartment's confined inner recesses.Though the same director went on to do PURGE--leading to a successful theatrical run of movies--he does little here to show he has much interest in the genre.
Number one: this is supposed to be – along with "Let Me In" and "Wake Wood" - the comeback movie of the legendary British production studios Hammer and, number two, it stars the legendary Hammer horror icon Christopher Lee. From the early fifties until the late seventies, Hammer Studios pretty much embodied the genre of horror and almost single-handedly skyrocketed the popularity of classic monster stories (like "Dracula", "Frankenstein" and "The Mummy") amongst wide and versatile audiences.
After having left her unfaithful boyfriend, hard-working hospital doctor Juliet Devereau (Swank) seeks a new apartment and falls head over heels in love with a large and beautiful Brooklyn flat that is astonishingly cheap considering its shape and location!
As the doctor Juliet Devereau at the Brooklyn General Hospital, she thought she got herself a good deal with a rustic looking apartment with a great view to move into, despite having to put up with the creepy looking aged owner August (Christopher Lee) and a stalking ex-boyfriend Jack (Lee Pace).As a side incentive to move in, the owner's grandson Max (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is the handyman and focal point for the apartment, and being incredibly good looking means new opportunities in the romantic front, although having a landlord-tenant relationship tended to be tricky.
As the adage goes, if it's too good to be true, then it probably is, because Max hides a deep dark secret in having to retrofit all the rooms in the apartment with secret peepholes, two way mirrors and passageways to feed his obsession and perverse pleasures, and not to mention being the recipient of all the wrong signals as sent out by Juliet.So remember girls, control yourself during a rebound and not give the wrong ideas to strangers, because you really do not know if they're mental, and when they'll snap.
Christopher Lee the Hammer Horror Icon makes a cameo appearance.The film is directed by débutante director Antti Jokinen, who has never before directed any feature film.Plot: Dr. Juliet Devereau rents an apartment in New York, large and affordable, but with the nearby subway causing noise and vibrations, occasionally even causing objects to fall off the table.
OK,so maybe this isn't the most original movie around,but how many of those are there ,if you really think about?this was a well acted suspenseful,thriller.it kept me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what was going to happen next.one thing that separates this from many suspense thrillers is there are no jump scares,where the music builds to a crescendo and then suddenly a cat jumps out at you or some piece of equipment falls down in front of you.so no cheap scares.Hilary Swank and Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Christopher Lee are very good.all in all,i enjoyed this film.it comes by its thrills/scares honestly.for me,The Resident is an 8/10.
Both of them done justice to their roles.Though we don't expect Christopher Lee in a greater role here but we generally think such a big star to be an important twist in the story but the answer is he is not...and another role of Jack ex of the heroine has a very less screen space in the movie.The only nice and can be a worse thing in the movie it focuses to much on the leads.On the whole the movie appears to be a neat thriller but you find some 'x' factor to be missing in the story.
Too bad that Christopher Lee wasn't given a bigger role in the movie, because he always brings something unique to the movies he was in.The Max character was just genuinely disturbed and creepy, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan was really nicely cast for this role.The storyline in "The Resident" was quite good and captivating, which made for some adequate entertainment.While "The Resident" is indeed and entertaining movie, then it is hardly the type of movie that has enough contents in its storyline and plot to support more than a single viewing..
The Resident (2011) I heard some descent comments about this movie, i had put it on watch list for a while.I now that seen it, i felt it was very disappointing movie , it had some nice tension in the movie and some nice setting which did make some what creepy.I found the rest of movie really dull and boring as you could tell how all these well going pan out and there were no surprises in this movie or anything really shocking as the plot was little to thin.The last scenes were entertaining however it just ended there with no real end to the story, This movie had some really good acting in and the Landlord was really good as the creepy guy.
Hilary Swank stars as an ER doctor who moves out of her home with her cheating partner and finds an apartment that seems too good to be true, along with a helpful, charming landlord (Jeffery Dean Morgan).
Now they release this voyeuristic thriller starring Hilary Swank, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Christopher Lee (a Hammer studios regular in it's heyday).
That's what a good horror film should do so I have to give it credit for that.The film was directed by Antti Jokinen and written by Jokinen and Robert Orr. It tells the story of an emergency room doctor (Swank) who follows her boyfriend Jack (Lee Pace) to a new city, Brooklyn, only to discover he's been cheating on her.
I actually had a thriller movie night where I had watched a few crazy killer psycho films like RELENTLESS, BAD DAY ON THE BLOCK and RESURRECTION, then the last film I watched was THE RESIDENT and I have to say it was the least entertaining film of the bunch.The good points about it is the great production value, the scene settings and the cinematography, the bad points are the plot which is easily predictable and doesn't really develop the characters a whole lot.I can't be too critical on the acting because basically the material they're given isn't really much to work with, for example Hilary Swank plays a young doctor looking for a new place to stay and has been cheated on by her ex boyfriend, Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays a generic psycho who develops an obsession with Swank's character and pretty much the majority of his behavior is never explained and lastly Christopher Lee plays Morgan's creepy grandfather and that's the character development.Overall, its not a bad movie but its also nothing to rave about and it brings nothing new to an already familiar formula, I'd recommend the other three films I've watched with this one, they were at least more entertaining..
The Resident would perhaps be best described as Hitchcock-lite as it is a schlocky, old fashioned, psychological thriller that falls short of providing Hitch's trademark inventiveness but never fails to engage and entertain in equal measure.Academy Award winner Hilary Swank exec-produces and stars as Juliet Devereau, an ER doctor recently separated from her husband after she discovered him in their bed with another woman.
To describe any more of the plot would be to reveal too much, but if you're looking for pointers as to what to expect here look no further than the likes of Pacific Heights, Single White Female, Sliver or an innumerable other late nineties thrillers.Traditionally the sight of a stars name in the credits as a producer is the sign of a deeply personal passion project, more often than not telling a true-life tale of a character that overcomes great struggle to beat the odds whilst fighting poverty, illness, disability or a mixture of the lot.
The plot had potential as it sets out a modern day horror idea that could be very realistic however the casting of the villain was poorly allocated and generally the film will be one of those ' the resident, oh yeh i think i've seen that, what happens in it again?' type of movies.
I decided to watch this movie because it had Hillary Swank in the lead.And i have to say i wasn't completely disappointed.Swank has done a pretty good job in this movie.movie is kind of predictable but not a cliché.Movie has got a couple of good moments.Swank plays a doctor who recently broke up with her boyfriend and needs an apartment.And she gets a new one with its owner as the neighbor.but as time passes she feels someone else is also there in her apartment apart from her.movie is interesting and even though its predictable, i found it pretty entertaining.Still not the best you can get.watch it if you got nothing else to do..
I particularly liked the actors in the movie, who all played their parts very well especially Juliet Devereau (Hilary Swank)and Max (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) I was really pleased to see Christopher Lee who played August in the film.
Things are further compounded by the fact that Morgan's villain (it's signposted a mile away) is about as scary as a puppy letting out its first bark.Swank gives it a good go as the woman in peril, while Christopher Lee is a reassuring presence even if he is utterly set up as a token character.
The sexual violation angle feels like a lame attempt to put some horror into a standard thriller set up, while the script is wooden and kills what chance of suspense there briefly was.Some impressive cinematography and camera techniques keep it interesting to the eyes at least, but this is a waste of acting talent and a waste of time for those looking for something to chill the blood.
Dr. Juliet Devereau (Hilary Swank) is recently broken up with her boyfriend from Jack (Lee Pace) and rents a place from Max (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).It's your basic lone-girl-in-big-bad-world horror.
The Resident (2011) ** (out of 4) Really disappointing film from Hammer about an ER doctor (Hilary Swank) who moves into a lavished apartment in Brooklyn and soon discovers that her kind-hearted landlord (Jeffrey Dean MOrgan) is actually obsessed with her.
With some brilliant thriller potential and a magnificent cast, maybe next time they would get it right!Title: The Resident Directed by: Antti J Jokinen Starring: Hilary Swank, Jeffery Dean Morgan & Christopher Lee Rated: R for violence, language and brief sexuality/ nudity Rated:4.5/10 91 Minutes.
The cast includes a seasoned and accomplished cast including Hilary Swank, Christopher Lee as the creepy building owner August and his son Max played excellently by Watchmen's (2009)  Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan (who plays the landlord) the only reason why I really wanted to watch this film has succeeded in making me see him in a new light.
Swank does her best as the woman innocently settling into her new place unaware of the dangerous man watching her through the walls, Morgan does alright as the Norman Bates like character with the dangerous obsession for her, but Lee hardly seem worth casting with such a small amount of time on screen, but this is a Hammer film.
A pretty young emergency room doctor, Juliet Devereau(Hilary Swank), fresh from a break up from long-time boyfriend Jack(Lee Pace) shops for a new apartment closer to work.
The Resident: ER doctor Juliet Devereau (Hilary Swank) has left her cheating husband and moved into a huge loft apartment, that's surprisingly cheap, and too good to be true.
So this is like a double helping of sexiness to me before we even start the movie.I was not let down in the slightest in spite of the fact I had read some good and some not so good reviews and seen a clip already.Its a short movie and you soon get into it - there is a strange creepy quality from the start (maybe the music etc)and seeing Christopher Lee (legend) leaves you in no doubt something sinister is lurking somewhere beneath the surface.The dearest most beautiful Hilary Swank is soon into her special talent that no other actress can manage to pull off the same IMHO- this is the fact you really want to love her and **** her but at the same time you feel protective towards her and sorry for her too.This is how I saw her in Million Dollar Baby and with The Resident you could not get a better setting and role to invoke these emotions- I think she was chosen for this part for this reason.Jeffrey Dean Morgan does a great job too in being her landlord come stalker.