Sunday 26 January 2014

Apartment 1303

"Apartment 1303" (2012, Michael Taverna) is the American/Canadian remake of the 2007 Japanese film based on the novel by Kei Ôishi.

Janet (Julianne Michelle) moves out into a new apartment of her own after a fall out with her aging-popstar alcoholic mother (Rebecca De Mornay), leaving her elder sister, Lara (Mischa Barton), to deal with her alone.

It isn't long after she's unpacked her stuff that she begins to freak out in the apparently empty flat, but it slowly becomes more obvious that there is something seriously wrong in the place. Her neighbours and superintendant aren't much help, as they are as creepy as the apartment itself, and her new boyfriend, Mark (Corey Sevier), is too busy to spend the night.

A few days into her lease Janet falls to her death from the balcony.

Lara moves in after the funeral to work out why her sister would do such a thing. But she soons begin to find out there is something sinister going on in 1303, and she may have put herself right in the middle of it!

Typical to other Western remakes of J-Horror, there's something lost in the translation. The creepy scenes feel like a lengthy episode of Supernatural but without the scares, wit or budget... The talking scenes feel hollow and forced and the mother is the most lively character, but her sole purpose is to be the driving force for the girls to want to move out.

I'm not sure why Lara would move into the apartment after her sister committed suicide in it and I'm not sure why she would consider staying after all the spooky crap goes on.... Honestly, the whole thing could have been easily avoided if Lara had just took her sister's belongings and got out of there! Or if Janet had been a bit wiser in choosing apartments in the first place.

Not a great film.


[Image: Gravitas Ventures]



Hani

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