The Lodger - Il pensionante

When a prostitute is found slain in West Hollywood, the veteran Detective Chandler Manning (Alfred Molina) investigates the case with his rookie partner Street Wilkenson (Shane West). Manning is facing a domestic problem with his wife that had had a nervous breakdown and is interned in an institution and his daughter that blames him for the situation of her mother. Meanwhile, the unstable and disturbed housewife Ellen Bunting (Hope Davis) and her frequently absent husband Bunting (Donal Logue) are facing financial problems and need to rent a guest house in the backyard. When the mysterious writer Malcolm Slaight (Simon Baker) rents the house, Bunting never sees the lodger and believes his wife is fabricating the tenant and her family has given the money to them. When a second hooker is found dead on the street, Manning concludes that the killer is copycatting the crimes of Jack the Ripper and is the same serial-killer that had murdered other streetwalkers seven years ago. Further, he concludes that the criminal Alonzo Rodriguez was wrongly sentenced to death for the murders.

When I decided to watch "The Lodger", my expectation was low and I expected to see a conventional thriller full of clichés. Fortunately I was wrong and I had a great surprise. This low-budget film has a good story and screenplay that keeps the mystery until the very last scene. There are subplots only to create diversion to the viewer and keep the mystery of the identity of the killer. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Inquilino" ("The Lodger")

Tense film about murders with thrills, chills , suspense and an amazing final . This intriguing and exciting story is based on a successful novel and it deal with a serial killer in L . A . executing his crimes like Jack the Ripper . An enigmatic lodger ( Simon Baker ) living in a Guesthouse whose owners are a grumpy security guard ( Donald Logue ) and his wife ( Hope Davis ), booth of them involved an uneasy relationship . Meanwhile two detectives are investigating a series of grisly neighborhood murders , a veteran Detective ( Alfred Molina ) and a rookie (Shane West).

This is a thrilling story about astonishing murders in West Hollywood whose elusive killer is imitating to Jack the Ripper , it has two converging plot lines with various suspects and red herrings . Story's core is interesting and script is dense with information and drama . Good performance by Hope Davis as the psychologically unstable landlady . Excellent Alfred Molina as troubled Inspector engaged in a cat-and-mouse game and fine Simon Baker as suspect lodger who may or may not be guilty of a series of gruesome killings. The picture is packed with an adequate musical score by John Frizzel and colorful cinematography by David Armstrong . The motion picture is professionally directed by David Ondaatje .

The Jack the Ripper character has been adapted on several occasions for cinema from the silent as ¨Pandora's box (1929) ¨ , multiple versions of ¨Lulu ¨ a prostitute killed by Jack , ¨ From hell (2001) ¨ played by Ian Holm and for TV in which appears as character in numerous series as ¨Jack the Ripper (1988)¨ played by Ray McNally and recently in ¨Sanctuary ¨ played by Christopher Heyerdahl .

I would say The Lodger is a good mystery/thriller but only for television. Just relax in front of the telly and try to figure out what is happening. I thought I had it figured out after twenty minutes but I was wrong and that is what I like about mystery/thrillers. The actors are okay in their roles. They might not be the best actors ever but they are certainly worth a watch. There are enough turns and twists to keep you guessing in what's going on. Some people might think there are too many but I thought it was fine. I was only a bit disappointed at the end. I thought it was just a bit too confusing. But other then that The Lodger is an okay movie to watch once or if you have nothing else to do.

Jack the Ripper continues yielding many remakes and related fictional movies like this, are countless until now and growing, The Lodger is based on the book of Marie Belloc Lowndes who wrote it in 1913 exposing an alleged theory that a London's landlady had rent a room to heinous serial killer, who already had took to the large screen by the master Hitchcock in 1927 as silent movie, upon this premise the director David Ondaatje built up an intricate and so complex screenplay to translate to Los Angeles's district nowadays the newest Jack the Ripper, stuffed of sterling actors as the British Alfred Molina, the pretty Hope Davis, the veteran Philip Baker Hall, the newbie Shane West and the Australian Simon Baker as the Lodger, it's a thriller movie, just displaying the misdeeds in succinct way, few drops of blood are shown implicitly, the modus operandi also follows the steps in chronological order of British Slasher at small district West Hollywood whereby has a sameness of the Whitechapel Londoner, starting with Ellen Bunting (Hope Davis) and his drunkard odd husband Bunting (Donal Logue), due they have financial problems she rents an outside room to the smooth outsider Malcolm (Simon Baker) who require strict privacy, meantime appears many butchered corpses of prostitutes on the district, the Inspector Chandler Manning (Alfred Molina) in charge of the inquiry who had in the past a resembling case, meanwhile Ellen has been involved sexually with the young Lodger, his bad temper husband also has a suspicious behavior as well, then the smart director puts several potential suspects including the weird Inspector Chandler Manning, who are in trouble with his wife on collapse breakdown at hospital in recovery, calls attention of his newcomer partner Street Wilkenson (Shane West), scored by a splendorous opera music the movie flows easy, by the way utterly underrated !!

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First watch: 2021 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.25

This is not really a remake of the previous movies concerning a mysterious lodger at an Inn that might be Jack the Ripper. This takes place in modern Los Angeles, and concerns a couple that need to rent their guest house, and the Wife (Hope Davis) rents to a mysterious stranger that might be responsible for a series of Jack the Ripper type murders occurring. Alfred Molina is the detective in charge of the murders who brought a suspect to court 7 years earlier, who was then executed for similar murders, but now the murders appear to be exactly the same as the executed guy. In fact, as the investigation goes on, the killer is following exactly the Jack the Ripper killings. This is a good one, the whole premise is very interesting, especially to fans of Jack the Ripper movies. Simon Baker plays the mysterious lodger, but then again, nobody has seen him except the Wife, and when an investigation takes place, developments dictate, everything is not as it suggests. Good mystery, check this one out.