The Perfect Tenant

This 2000 supposedly thriller was by M. Todd Bonin and Jim Vines from a story by Mark Castaldo and directed by Doug Campbell who also was co-writer. So many guys involved with this and what a mess they all turned out. Won't belabor the story but it's all about deception. In this case a nice all-American good looking young man who rents the guest cottage from a lovely young thing who lives with her father and daughter in the big house. The rest is all suspense, or supposed to be. Linda Purl, as the woman of the house, is not the best of actresses. She was also slow on getting what was going on around her. Why is it the heroine is always brain dead? And then in the end she suddenly gets all this courage and intelligence to do our villain in? Maxwell Caufield, as the young man who moved in, was very good as the villain. I was hoping he'd get away with the crime with all the stupidity around him. Stacy Hogue as the daughter had a few moments, but only a few. She spent most of the time spying on our villain until she finally got the message but too late. Oh, well. Tracy Nelson, Ricky's daughter, I've seen before in something where she was psychotic, but not sure what. She did the most stupid thing by escaping, not outside and she could have, but upstairs where she could get caught. Another stupid mistake. Oh, and the boy friend to Stacy, makes the most stupid mistake. When he's spotted by the killer in the woods, and gets the chance to escape, he grabs the gun and chases him till he's out of bullets. Another stupid character and choice. Melissa Behr plays an interesting role convincingly. However, at first you think she's on our side until she begins to get in trances, one after another. And finally there's Earl Holliman, who's body of work is amazing. His work is respected by many (GIANT, RAINMAKER) but what a waste of that talent in this. However, even in the small role he played, he was the most convincing. Caufield wasn't bad. That's why I wanted him to win. So, I give this 2 stars for Holliman and Caufield, two interesting actors.

i have to admit i'm not a real fan of thriller movies or any movie with violence (but i liked Silence of the Lambs!)...I'm mostly into romance movies like When Harry met Sally, etc. But I really like Maxwell Caulfield (I don't care what anybody says, he was good in Grease 2!) and Linda Purl is always good and so pretty to look at (rememebr her on Happy Days?) So I rented Perfect Tenant and I really enjoyed it. Maxwell is so bad. I mean this in a good way. He's a bad guy. HE's really creepy and sinister. I watched the movie alone and had to make sure my doors were locked. Maybe I'm just paranoid, who knows. But I liked this movie and recommend it!

"The Perfect Tennant" can perhaps best adequately be summarized as a run-of-the mill thriller. While it is not unwatchable, it is not particularly good either and it contributes nothing to the genre

Most of the actors perform their roles well. Maxwell Caulfield does a good job in portraying a psychotic and cold-blooded individual haunted by memories of his childhood and determined to act upon his beliefs. Earl Holliman is also excellent and very convincing as Jessica's father and gives a great deal of depth and dimension to his character –even though it is a relatively minor one in the whole scheme of the movie. Tracey Nelson does a fine job in her role as a mental patient who is being used and manipulated by Caulfield The actress who plays Caulfield's character's sister also improves in her acting toward the end of the movie.

But unfortunately Linda Purl does not perform well in her role as one of the major characters. She appears much too stiff and wooden and lacks the depth and the emotion required to be a success in that particular character role. The same is true of the actress who plays her daughter.

In all fairness to the actors and actresses, however, they are not given a very good script to work from. The dialogue is quite often clichéd and tedious and some of the one-liners are so melodramatic and over the top that they are absolutely hilarious. The whole plot is predictable if you're a fan of the genre and you can more or less guess what will happen long before it unfolds. And the first part of the movie is disjointed and confusing and hard to follow Probably due to the performance of Caulfield and the supporting cast against all the odds, this movie is not as bad as it could be. But there are much better movies in this genre –"The Hand that Rocks the Cradle" comes to mind

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.

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.