The 4th Floor - Haus der Angst

If the majority of these reviews were written by people under 28,you're forgiven.If not,well-there's a monstrous gap in your film education.

Since every last plot line,lighting concept,and even verbatim dialogue was copped directly from Polanski's "The Tenant"(masterpiece)and Hitchcock's "Rear Window"(another masterwork),a proper homage should have been done here,since the control-maniac weatherman boyfriend went to all the trouble to re-create the paranoid world of the film,"The Tenant",in order to force his independent girlfriend to move back in with him,including the elaborate hieroglyphic hallucinations(courtesy of Ms. Simone Schuul,of "The Tenant").The 2 films should have been featured as "characters" in the movie.Of course,this would require the film to elevate itself to black comedy,which requires talent,none of which was present here,except 2 talented actors selling out to do a parasitic piece of cr_p like this.If you want to see a way better ripoff of "The Tenant",see "Apartment Zero"(1987?),a South American production with Colin firth and Hart Bochner.At least there's an original twist there.

What is happening on the 4th floor, halfway in this movie you will not even care. What do we have here, a young girl is going to live in the appartement her late aunt lived in, when she arrives the blood from the fall that killed her aunt is not even removed yet and everybody in the appartement has the looks of an axe murderer; and is trying to act as creepy as possible, welcome home dear. If you can swallow this there is also William Hurt who is acting like he fell asleep at the beginning of this movie and never woke up, and who can blame him. This is the kind of movie that builds up to the grand finale, and everybody who watches it is trying to bite through the cheap plot twists (maggots anyone, and what the hell are they doing in the curtains, flying maggots??) and is trying to stay awake for that great finale, but here is a surprise, there is no climax, at least not one that I could figure out. The only thing that saves this movie (a little !!)is one of the very last scenes, but hell, all the viewers are sleeping by then or are teaching maggots to fly.

The 4th Floor(1999) Inane suspense about young woman(Juliette Lewis) who moves into her late Aunts walk-up apartment in New York City. Since this is a fairly short movie, it doesn't take very long for Ms. Lewis to find that she has some very bizarre neighbors. She is warned by one (payed by an almost un-recognizable, Shelley Duvall) to stay away from certain tenants and is given a list of rules of the building that would choke a horse. All heck breaks loose from there. The film is very predictable and the stalker of Ms. Lewis should be learned of by mid -film for many viewers. Lewis is an interesting actress and is not hard to look out but the real disappointment is William Hurt who plays Lewis' weatherman boyfriend. Hurt looks bored, has a very bad hair weave and its sad that an actor with his status has been reduced to second rate roles. No fire in him at all. Overall '4ht Floor' is a mediocre flick and cant be over soon enough. rated 2 of 5 stars.

About The 4th Floor, first of all Juliette Lewis plays the main character, so that's already a major plus point. I might be a bit biased as I love Juliette Lewis but there you go I just think she's a good attractive actress. She has that little something that makes her a good actress. The rest of the cast did their job as supposed to so no complaints there. As for the story there is definitely a suspenseful atmosphere throughout the whole movie, with a good soundtrack you can already achieve a lot. I would watch it again, just to see Juliette Lewis again.

When the build-up of a movie is as good as it is in "The 4th Floor", the third act will almost inevitably have to be somewhat disappointing. The director, who is a first-timer to boot, does a very good job of creating a sinister, eerie atmosphere and keeping us hooked, always in doubt about who the guilty party is. Then in the last 10 minutes, it all becomes a routine slasher film, complete with half-baked plot "explanations" and a gratuitous "twist ending". Still, for the most part this an excellent little thriller, and definitely worth your time. (***)