The Resident is a nice creepy thriller that will keep you interested throughout the movie. However, it becomes very cliche about 3/4 through the viewing. A good thriller and popcorn flick none the less, and a nice return from Hammer Films who recently came back with the recent “Let Me In” remake of the Swedish flick. (Let the Right One In) The Resident boasts a great cast with Hillary Swank (2 time Oscar winner) leading the way.
The lead man is Jeffrey Dean Morgan who plays the part of the stalker who stalks Juliet Devereau the ER Doctor. (Hillary Swank) After a break up with her significant other Juliet goes out and rents an apartment that is basically an old style Victorian looking apartment that is just basically creepy. Why a newly single lady would be a renting a creepy apartment is beyond me. However, she starts a flirting relationship with her landlord (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) which is not beyond me and just cliche.
From here he stalks her and films her bathing and makes noises and such that startle her to the point that she feels the urge to buy a camera system and set it up to a computer. Juliet sets out to figure out what is going on in this house. Uhmmm yeah. So you can see where illogical decisions are made through this film that take it from good to basically tired. Though again I said this was a good popcorn flick. ie. Numb-fun. So depending on what you are expecting from this is what you will get. The cast however does a fantastic job and makes up for most of any redundant moments.
I’ll admit, I really didn’t think the video quality was going to be this good on this film. I was definitely blown back as the video quality is top notch, especially if you take into account the plethora of dark scenes as well which obviously had a great source material for the technicians to make it look so good on blu-ray. If you are a fan of crisp pictures, then you’ll definitely be happy with this. I saw some slight instances of unintentional grain during some of the bright outside scenes but the average viewer would probably never notice. The blacks are deep and look great whilst the smallest of items have incredible detail. Overall great job for this title.
Blu-ray Screen Shot Gallery:
The Resident comes smashing it’s way into your home via a very nice DTS HD-Master audio track. Although most of the film is vocally driven it’s the scores and sound effects where this one really makes waves. The soundtrack has plenty of creepy noises and hearing them in HD bliss really adds to the atmosphere that this thriller intends to set. I never found anything wrong with the audio track and think they did an exceptional job in this regard. Mission accomplished.
It really doesn’t surprise me for their to be no extras on this release, but with the incredible cast you’d have thought perhaps a commentary or interview. It would have been intriguing to hear what Swank had to say about her character and especially funny to hear from Jeffrey Dean Morgan on his portrayal of the Landlord Max and the creepiness and mentality of the character.
So what does the disc have? Well it has the theatrical trailer in HD, that’s it.
If you are a fan of Hammer Films from the olden days then you may not find this to measure up to that magnitude of class, but new comers and casual horror/thrill seekers should definitely give The Resident a chance. The cast performs awesomely (yes, I said awesomely!) and the video quality and audio quality on this blu-ray disc are far above average! It’s hard to say how much replay value this title will have in each and every home but it’s a decent film none the less. Hillary Swank and Jeffrey Dean Morgan do a fantastic job and if it weren’t for them it could have possibly seen tiring with the plot. The scores and sound effects are awesome and set a great tone for this flick. Sadly there are no supplements besides the trailer. I recommend at least a viewing, if not a purchase. (Seeing as how it’s properly priced.) I did not take into the account my opinion on the film in the final rating. It was based on VQ, AQ and Supplements.
