Review of The Resident (2011) by Luke B — 01 Apr 2011

Psycho stalker movies are great fun, even if they aren't always that good. By the end of the movie you'll be rooting for someone to die, even if it isn't whom the filmmakers intended you to side with.

The Resident is obvious, and sadly, doesn't know how obvious it is. From the get go the film sets Morgan up as a creep. He has sinister glances, and a grandfather that lurks behind half open doors, played by Christopher Lee.

Lee is one of the best things about this film. He's just ominous. Like a scene set during a thunder storm, you know this is all going to hell. Which makes it even more confusing as to why the film takes a sudden break in narrative to rewind and show us Morgan being a weirdo all along.

It treats it like some big reveal, but we all knew it was coming. We also have Swank's unlikable heroine. She patronizes Morgan like he's some retarded child that loves kittens. She is also very suddenly forgiving of her cheating boyfriend.

This makes her out to be some just some dumb bitch that deserves everything because of her lack of common sense. She rushes into trouble without calling the police, she installs cameras and doesn't check the videos etc.

There's still some tension, but Morgan's descent from creepy loner to mad killer bastard is also handled very quickly. The last 20 minutes is a boring smackdown where people just don't die.

I got exactly what I expected from this sub-genre.