Der Tod lauert nebenan

Jessica, a working mother and landlady has got to be the most dumbest character I've seen in a film. She took on a new tenant without checking him and then dropped her daughter into trouble by informing this evil tenant what she heard. This woman and her moron father ignored the warning alarms that tenant was giving off. Only the daughter grew suspicious but her mother wouldn't believe it. A silly and predictable film. Also it annoys me that Hollywood thinks mental illness is evil and that evil runs in the family.

This one has flaws for sure. The writing is lazy and lackluster. Note how almost all of the characters use the line "What's up?" and "No problem." This includes the young Jessica in the flashback. It's also nauseous how Jessica calls her dad her "best friend" and Laura calls her and her mom "friends." With the poor writing also comes some cheap, campy gems from Caulfield. First, when Holliman says jokingly about his daughter "she is evil!" and Caulfield replies "I know." Then, when Holliman says to his daughter "I'm not dead yet. Tell her, Brian." This sets up Caulfield for a smirking "He's not dead......yet." Quality laughs.

The daughter Laura also has a strange taste in males. The goofy boyfriend is a riot , and nobody is sorry when he gets shot. But also, at the beginning, she tells her mom "I can't belieeeeve you broke up with Frank. He was sooooo cooooool." This is referring to the biggest straight-laced stiff in the whole movie....the emasculated ex who keeps trying to crawl back to Jessica. Also, Laura slowly walking to the closet when she has no idea that Caulfield is hiding in there was a completely unnecessary thing; bad directing.

All that being said, this is enjoyable and has no down time at all. Caulfield carries the movie with his funny lines and tone throughout. I add this to my Christmas films and watch every year since it does have to do with Christmas.

I wasn't expecting much when I rented it but I was fairly surprised. Overall, "PT" is a solid little flick that accomplishes exactly what it's supposed to. Great performance by Maxwell Caulfield. Linda Purl and Earl Holliman (as daughter and father) are quite good, as is the rest of the cast. Script and all technical aspects are above par. Definitely engaging and worth watching.

It was strange seeing Earl Holliman playing an old man having a heart attack: I remember him as a two fisted hoss playing alongside The Duke and other action heroes from the past. Good to see Linda Purl again also; can't forget her memorable performance as Superbitch putting the bad hurt on Jane Seymour in "The Absolute Truth". This film, however, will not find a place on my list of favorites as it was merely a run of the mill multiple murder yarn. It was nevertheless entertaining and well done - just bland. The sins of the father were visited on the son who grows up to be a total nutcase who plans revenge on an innocent woman for his father's suicide. Max Caulfield was effective as the smiling tenant with a heart of evil.

Jessica Michaels (Linda Purl) rents her guesthouse to Daniel Winters (Maxwell Caulfield), unaware that he is is the son of the school teacher who molested her as a child. Daniel has been in a psychiatric institution (the reason for his commitment and his method of release are unexplained) and is set on avenging the father that hanged himself before he could be charged.

As an associate producer, Purl possibly influences director Doug Campbell in giving her two slow motion admiration shots - Daniel's first look at her, and her memory as she passe her former school in a car. Purl lends her strong presence and has enough technique to put a spin on the ordinary lines she is given. In one scene Daniel hugs her and the combination of neuroses says more than anything else that Campbell can muster.

The teleplay by Jim Vines, M Todd Bonin and Campbell, based on a story by Mark Castaldo, is lightweight, though it does have 2 funny lines. When Jessica sees that Daniel's book collection is stamped with the name of the psychiatric institution, her daughter quips `I hear it's not easy to turn pages in a straitjacket', and fellow former inmate Rachel (Tracy Nelson) says to Daniel after he tries to strangle her `I know this is only a temporary situation for us'. The appearance of Daniel's sister in the narrative prefigures the conclusion, though his one controlling way of treating her sets up an expectation which is not fulfilled.

Campbell seems more interested in creating a horror movie than a psychological study. He dwells sadistically on Daniel's killing of the former tenant and attack on Rachel, and uses an appropriately unsubtle music score by Richard Bowers. In spite of Nelson's quirkiness being under-used, Campbell does defy expectations with her entrance in the way she uses Daniel's gun, gets a laugh from the cartoon chase Daniel has with someone tracking him, and provides a cut from the boy seeing his hanged father to the boy's eyes becoming Daniel's in close-up. Caulfield may not be convincing as a traumatised person, even given he may have been released because he is thought to be better or at least on medication. Presumably he is cast because of his fading pretty boy looks, though Campbell does allows him to parody Purl's anguish in the climax.