[.ca] The 4th Floor

From Amazon.com:
When interior decorator Juliette Lewis inherits a handsome, huge New York apartment at the rent-controlled monthly bargain of $400, it looks too good to be true. It is. Walking into the creepiest collection of neighbors since Roman Polanski's The Tenant, she's accosted by nosy first-floor busybody Shelley Duvall ("Is that your boyfriend? Oh, you like older men?"), a surly superintendent who isn't allowed his own set of keys, a mystery tenant who flees at the sight of her, and a reclusive fourth-floor neighbor who turns a war of wills into an all-out guerrilla campaign of terror. When her place is overrun with rats and maggots (yech!), pushy boyfriend William Hurt insists she leave, but she's determined to continue her first bout of independence...even if it kills her. First-time director Josh Klauser manages an entertaining if not quite engaging bit of urban paranoia--what apartment dweller hasn't worried about a secretive neighbor?--but lets it all slip into a silly, half-baked climax and a thoroughly predictable final twist. He also slips in references to Rear Window and Pacific Heights (two other paranoid tales of nasty neighbors), but none of it compares to morning-show personality Hurt's creepy TV weather clown routine: he sings, he dances, he chirps "Rise and shine" with the droopy-eyed intensity of an over-caffeinated drug addict. Now that's scary. --Sean Axmaker

Works well for a while, falls apart in the end...:
If it wasn't for the way it totally fell apart in the end (specifically the last 20 minutes), "4th Floor" could've been a cool thriller well in the lines of films that exploit the haunted house theme or that of the psychotic neighbor. It's more the psycho-neighbor theme here, but set up in a building that's got "weird" written all over it, and actually, except for the character of Juliette Lewis everyone else in her building seems to have gone off to the other side. That's what keeps the film interesting and entertaining for the most part: weidos living on its floor, each of them obeying some kind of bizzare "rules" and each warning the new tenant to abide by them too "or else". All this complete with worms coming out of bathtub holes, mice infesting the new tenant's apartment, threatening notes infront of her door and other oddities. Lewis plays the part very convincingly and all that really remains is for the resolution in the end to bring sense to the whole sum, but alas, this doesn't happen. The never-to-be-seen psycho from the floor below does appear, but not in a way that makes too much sense really, and even if (out of good will) you'll be willing to overlook that part, the final confrontation between the new tenant and the villain is almost farsical (i laughed through a couple of scenes) spoiling the goods. Overall, not one worth shedding money to buy, but probably worth the rental on a rainy winter night....

Superb Thriller:
I am reviewing the budget version of this film which is available on the Sterling label. I paid about $6 for this dvd which I thoroughly enjoyed the first time I rented it. This budget version differs from the original A Pix version: There are no commentaries/alternate endings with this Sterling version. If you want those extras, you'll have to buy the other version. No captioning bothered me since I am so used to having that option. But since I listen with headphones, this isn't a problem. Picture quality is very good with some slight grain. Audio is 2ch despite what is printed on the keep case: Dolby Digital Stereo, it isn't. Minor complaints however considering the first-rate cast and excellent performances by all: Juliette Lewis as our victim-who-gets-run-through-the-mill by a creepy neighbor(Austin Pendleton), William Hurt as her 'I warned you' boyfriend, Shelly Duvall as the nosy oddball landlady. There is of course the apartment building with a long history and sinister feel about it, darkly-lit as well. I was reminded a lot of 'Rear Window'. I should also mention Tobin Bell as the beady-eyed handyman who has a secret. A perfect mix of atmospherics, characters, mood, pacing, score and the suprise ending. Quite a lot of six bucks.

Put on your seat belts and get ready for a thrill ride!:
In one word, you can describe "The 4th Floor": INTENSE! In this not quite new thriller, Juliette Lewis (Kalifornia, The Other Sister) plays as Jane, a woman who moves into her dead aunt's recently vacated apartment only to find out that she is surrounded by a whole lot of really nosey people. Things really start getting exciting when she starts getting terrorized by the person on the 4th floor. Some people say this movie is a waste of time, well I have to say, that this movie is worth it. Just rent it or buy it. Buy it on DVD for the alternate ending that should've been left in the finished cut.

As far as thrillers goes this rocks:
Its a thriller, not a horror picture so dont expect gore. I like how the story flows and Juliette makes any role worth watching IMHO. Here, she gets an apartment and all this weird crap starts happening. It all leads up to a great fun ending. Grat movie, lots of fun

An average thriller:
A good movie, good direction, good acting but the end is just a bit too weak. A lot of scenes will remind you masterpieces such as Rosemary's baby and Rear Window. Impossible not to think about them. Anyway, the end could have been 10 000 times creepier. A pity ! Finally the lack of several individuals make easy to guess who the bad guy is.I would have loved to see more of the tenants and if possible created by David Lynch ;o)