Le quatrième étage

Enjoyed viewing this film and could not imagine just why Juliette Lewis,(Jane Emelin),"Daltry Calhoun",'05 put up with all the horrible creeps in her apartment dwelling. The landlord, Superintendent, and practically the entire building was a loony bin of all kinds of characters. William Hurt, (Greg Harrison),"Syriana",'05, lived with Jane Emelin and did not like the idea of her going off and getting this apartment; he even told her how much he loved her. As the film progresses, all kinds of strange and mysterious things seem to happen in the apartment and an old lady living on the floor below Jane really started to raise all kinds of hell for her day and night. All the actors gave a great performance and you will probably figure the ending out, but it was not the greatest of William Hurt films.

I was looking last night in my video shop and found this in the really cheap area and thought hmmm the story line looks ok, straight to video so I thought what the hey i'll get it out and see what it's like.

I strongly reccomend watching this film alone with the lights out. The film itself is nothing special no big special effects, but I still found it quite scary. The feeling of being alone and lack of privacy and conspiracy all seem like powerful points to this film. A definite Rosemarys Baby comes through with the strange characters all being possible suspects and the building itself almost feeling alive very shining. (Note the lens on the room 4's door).

The films has it all frights, the bad guy is truly crazy and the twist at the end leaves a nasty taste in your mouth.

If you have seen all the new releases definitly give this a try. I can't promise high budget but can promise you the creeps

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.

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.

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. (***)