The Resident: Like in the Good Ole Times
Movie Review
By Ludmila Rishkova
June 1, 2011
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a horror movie that scared me to the point where I wouldn’t want to go to bed with the lights off, and yet this is so elementary a function of horror movies that it makes me wonder how and why so many productions cannot reach and touch the fear button of their viewers. Are we a jaded audience? Perhaps, as the only thing that scares me on TV these days are the reality shows. We are jaded. Full on gore is not enough, and so called Suspense movies are no longer what they used to be as they hardly involve any attachment whatsoever to the characters. Directed by Antti Jokinen, The Resident somehow avoided all of the blunders above, and took the simple story out into the light of true horror.
The subtlety of character, the realistic, believable element of the characters’ daily routine, and the presence of daily dilemmas allow the viewer to get attached. Everyone can relate to the fear of being alone, to sorrow and pain of separation, the excitement and anxiety of moving from one place to another. These are also the things that allow the viewer to connect with the plot and identify with the character be he the ‘good’ or the ‘bad’ guy. The viewer gets to create an attachment, to like, to care, to worry and fear for the character’s future. True suspense is created.
Max the Landlord (Jeffery Dean Morgan) is charismatic, charming and sexy without the Hollywood gloss and shine. He is likeable; landlords like this do not come along easy, every single gal knows that. He builds a level of trust, and because he is so nice, so sweet, so shy and somewhat awkward, we want him to be good. We think he deserves good things and it becomes a major disappointment when he moves away from the initial impression that he has built. A guy like this should not have to resort to stalking to get what he wants. And yet he does. And he escalates. Our feelings change and so does he. We think that we trusted him and he betrayed us. We step into the victim’s shoes.
Juliet (Hilary Swank) is the essential component to a good horror movie. That is, she is the essential Hot Chick, but she is also infinitely more. She is sexy, natural, sweet. She is likeable and accessible unlike so many airbrushed honeys who convey nothing beyond good (and doubtfully natural) looks. She is smart and cunning with the inherent flaw of naiveté and trust. A good girl who believes in good, she stumbles into evil, and becomes a natural conduit to the plot.
While definitely not character driven, the movie is not plot driven either, but a collaboration of the two. Juliet does not mould to the events. She creates and responds to them in an individual fashion. Same goes for Max.
The Resident may have only gotten 5.2 stars but it deserves at least two or even three more because it does so much more than most movies produced these days. It keeps one awake and entertained, enthralled from beginning to end. It offers a good plot and believable, likeable characters that come out of the cliché moulds and rather than shocking the viewers with overt crudeness and violence it plays with subtlety, and hits with the psychological aspect of the events. It seems to emphasize that violence is subtle, not blatant, and it may escalate so slowly that by the time one reacts, it is fully blown and it is almost too late to get out.
A movie that makes one want to reach out towards the characters and shake them, tell them that something is wrong, that something needs to be done, is a rare movie, and a good one, as it leaves one truly troubled by the end. The Resident is such a movie.
Learn more about the film on its IMDB page.