THE RESIDENT
DIRECTOR: Antti Jokinen
CAST: Hilary Swank, Christopher Lee and Jeffrey Dean Morgan
CLASSIFICATION: 13 SVL
RUNNING TIME: 92 minutes
RATING: **
It comes from Hammer and features Christopher Lee, but this psychological thriller honours neither the studio’s Gothic tradition nor the pointy-toothed legend himself.
Directed by Antti J Jokinen – he’ll never be allowed to make a comedy – it stars Hilary Swank as an ER surgeon who rents a large Brooklyn flat but doesn’t question its suspiciously cheap price.
She is befriended by the hunky landlord (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his ailing grandfather (Lee), but soon discovers something creepy is afoot: who’s the peeping tom watching her at bath-time and why does she feel so drowsy in the morning?
Morgan and Swank starred together in the non-com PS I Love You, so in that respect alone this marks an improvement.
The director likens his film to Polanski’s The Tenant – he must be Jokinen – but his feel for suspense is nil and his drooling over Swank’s half-clad body is frankly lascivious. – The Independent
If you liked… Obsessed or The Roommate you’ll like this.