The Resident (2011)

Why so much hype?

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I found this movie on Netflix and saw that Jeffrey Dean Morgan was in it, and that was more than enough of a sales pitch to make me sit down and watch "The Resident".I have to admit that Jeffrey Dean Morgan was amazing in this movie and he really carried the movie quite nicely. Hillary Swank is certainly not among my most favorite of actresses, and she wasn't outstanding in this movie. 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.

Personally i liked it very much. A movie that kept me guessing.

I'm quite surprised by the general poor reviews here. Must be me but I found The Resident really tense, particularly towards the end, and it had me on the edge of my seat. Fine performances from Hilary Swank and Jeffrey Dean Morgan with a small cameo from the great Christopher Lee as Morgan's spooky grandpa. Swank is a surgeon by profession and moves into a new flat owned by Morgan and a relationship gradually starts to develop, however she's on the rebound from the man she really loves, so it can only really be platonic with Morgan. This brings out the worst in this disturbed character, who at first seems charm itself, but that's all I can say without spoiling the plot. I really loved this movie and there are quite a few shocks, unless of course you're used to the constant bombardment of CGI from teen movies like the dreadful Transformers, in which case it's probably tame to you. It reminded me a lot of Audrey Hepburn's brilliant thriller Wait Until Dark from many years ago.

In the deja vu land of recycled horror motifs comes a reboot of sorts for the legendary Hammer Studios. Cheated and needing a change of scenery Dr. Juliet Devereau (Hillary Swank) seeks a new apartment to fit within her 'meager' earnings as a New York surgeon (poor girl). Seemingly per chance she is offered a spacious apartment in a building owned by the charming, if somewhat off-beat Max (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his eerie grand-father August (Christopher Lee). Given the affordable cut-rate price Juliet decides to move in. Voyeuristic camera angles soon however suggest that someone lurks behind the wall of the apartment following every move of the unwitting object of obsession.Barely featuring the slightest hints of originality retreading well known thrills "The Resident" fails to offer any fresh resolution, somewhat surprising that Swank decided to personally attend to producing the stale script material. Disjointed at best the sole saving graces are the distinctive crazed gazes of Christopher Lee, which brings quality within his limited screen time, and a decent outing by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Max is initiated as an intriguing well-defined introvert with severe social disability, perfunctory suggestions as to his strongly skewed upbringing giving some slightly contrite backdrop. However any psychological depth offered by the oddly affable, if deranged, Max takes a hit, when the movie takes a utterly predictable turn into "Fatal Attraction" brutal denouement, throwing any pretence of a more complex thriller into the rabbit cooker.Derivative at best Swank fails to truly register, instead showing up as a cardboard character with no real impact on proceedings. And not even showing off a bit of naked flesh helps her case (or the movie in general for that matter). Several high notes of suspenseful build-up are registered, but far more memorable is the completely misplaced moronic concept to do a 'flashback' sequence, which 'unearths' the depths of Max's obsession. Not only is it overly long rehashing multiple scenes already shown to extend runtime by some 5 minutes, but additionally it is strikingly redundant, as the flashback adds absolutely no meat or true reveal to the story.