The Resident

Plot

Juliet Devereau (Hilary Swank), an emergency room surgeon, rents an apartment in New York City from Max (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Juliet has recently broken up with her boyfriend Jack (Lee Pace) after she caught him having an affair, but she still has feelings for him. Unbeknownst to Juliet, someone is stalking her, observing her from across the street and apparently entering her apartment.

At a party, Juliet bumps into Max and flirts with him. As they walk home, Jack follows them from across the street. Juliet attempts to kiss Max, but he pulls back. They later go on a date. A flashback reveals that Max is the one stalking Juliet. He has rebuilt her apartment to include secret passageways and a one-way mirror, which he can use to watch her.

Juliet breaks off her romantic relationship with Max because of her feelings for Jack. Max continues to observe Juliet and watches her and Jack have sex. Afterwards, he begins drugging Juliet's wine so he can be closer to her while she is unconscious. After oversleeping for the third time in two weeks, Juliet becomes suspicious that she may have been drugged and has security cameras installed in her room.

After a date with Juliet, Jack is attacked and injured by Max. That night, Max drugs Juliet and attempts to rape her while she sleeps, but she awakens and he flees after giving her an injection. The next morning, Juliet finds the cap from the hypodermic needle. At work she has her blood and urine analyzed and discovers high levels of Demerol and other drugs. She rushes back home and finds Jack's possessions there but no sign of him. A nightshirt of hers is in a location where she did not leave it. She checks the security camera footage and sees Max assaulting her.

Max enters her apartment and tries to get her to drink some wine, but she refuses. He then assaults her, attempting to stab her with a hypodermic. She gets away and locks herself in the bathroom, but Max breaks in and pulls her into one of the secret passageways. There she sees the body of Jack, who has been murdered by Max. Juliet fatally shoots Max with a nail gun, and escapes.

Cast

Production

Shooting took place in New York City and New Mexico from 21 May to 11 July 2009.

Release

The film was shown in a limited number of American cinemas on 17 February 2011 and was then released direct to DVD in the United States on 29 March 2011.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 37% of 30 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 4.5/10. Cath Clarke of The Guardian rated the film 2/5 and called it "generic and intermittently silly". Katherine Murphy of Trinity News said "The Resident is a voyeuristic thriller that never actually scares, thrills or excites."

On the other hand, Nigel Andrews of The Financial Times gave the film 4 stars (out of 5) and praised Swank's performance. Total Film were also fairly positive: "A sturdy cast and moody camerawork propel this taut, slow-simmering thriller out of the exploitation gutter; the gonzo psycho-killer climax drags it back in. Generic, yes, but gleeful with it".

Novelization

A novelization of the film was written by Francis Cottam and published by Arrow Publishing in association with Hammer and the Random House Group in 2011, ISBN 978-0-09-955625-1.