Move over, Joe from ‘You’; Jeffrey Dean Morgan is the stalker from your nightmares in 2011’s The Resident. Starring Hilary Swank, Morgan, and Lee Pace, this psycho-thriller has some major twists and not all of them are good. This movie begs the question, how well do we know the people around us?
What You Need to Know
Swank plays an ER nurse who is just dealing with the break up of her ex-boyfriend Jack, played by Lee Pace. Desperate for a new place to live, Swank (as Juliet) finds a gem in New York City. A gorgeous, large apartment in an old building for only $3,800 a month. Believe me, if you saw what it looked like, it should have been something like $7,000 or more a month. On top of getting a great place for a steal, Juliet also has a very cute landlord. Morgan plays Max, a seemingly rugged nice guy who is charming as hell.
The problem? Max is, in fact, a psychotic stalker. Halfway throughout the film, you find out that everything Juliet has been through has been orchestrated by Max. Upon seeing Juliet in the ER, from afar; during a visit with his grandfather, Max becomes obsessed. He quickly finds out who Juliet is, sees that she’s looking for a place, and makes his vacant apartment nice enough that she would be tempted to move in. From there, he follows her to places she goes and makes it seem like it’s a coincidence. He breaks into her home to masturbate in her bathtub, watches her behind the walls, and even drugs her to molest her at night.
Now Things Get Complicated
Things get worse when Juliet’s ex-boyfriend comes back in her life. Max falls deeper into his obsessions while witnessing Juliet and Jack making love. Juliet begins noticing Max’s pushy behavior, the fact that she’s sleeping past her alarm, and that her toxicology has drugs in it. The icing on the cake? Juliet had installed cameras and watched, on video; Max sexually assaulting her. I cannot think of anything worse to see.
The movie served its purpose of being a creepy thriller. It plays on a very real fear, which is not knowing that the man who you think is charming, is actually insane. The reveal is a little too on the nose, but still surprising. The apartment was very old so it allowed for some really cool creepy scenes. And Morgan was really unhinged as Max, so I would say those are all positives.
Rating: 3/5
The negatives of this movie are the weird, abrupt shifts. As mentioned before, the reveal is not a smooth one. There is also a drag-out chase scene between Max and Juliet that takes up probably about thirty minutes at the end of the movie. It becomes tiring and Juliet makes a lot of rookie mistakes that would have you yelling at the screen to get the hell out of there. I wanted more of an ending than what we were given, especially after such a long, drawn-out scene. All in all, The Resident is a pretty good thriller, but certainly not the best because it doesn’t feel like a complete movie.
Have you seen The Resident? What were your thoughts?
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