The Resident Directed by: Antti Jokinen Starring: Hilary Swank, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Christopher Lee Rating: NR Release Date: Spring, 2011
TRAILER SCORE: 5/10
MY THOUGHTS: I'm trying to keep an open mind, but may I remind you of Ms. Swank's last foray into the world of horror? Well, actually I probably do because The Reaping really was that forgettable. But maybe I'm too quick to judge. I mean, after all, with horror veteran Christopher Lee on board, how bad can it be?
Unfortunately, if we're going off of the trailer (which is kinda the point of a trailer review) it's not looking too good for Mr. Lee's credibility. Then again, if Sean Connery can live down "retiring" after making The League of Extraordinary Gentleman and John carpenter can still cling to the fame of his glory days by referencing Halloween in every single trailer, I'm sure Lee will manage.
From the beginning of the trailer, we start off with one of the most generic introductions horror movie trailers have to offer these days. From there the movie stumbles through a number of cliches including the dreaded line, "What's the catch?" For starters, who even says that anymore? Horror movies would have you believe that it's the most common question asked next to "Hi, how are you?" Furthermore, if you have to ask what the catch is, it's probably not a good sign to stick around. The rest of the trailer waddles through lame dialogue and cheap scares, some even directly lifted from better horror movies. Candyman anyone? What we're left with is muddled imagery and standard scares that are giving most horror movies these days a bad name. Do yourself a favor, watch the first 20 minutes of Dark Water to set the mood, reverse the gender roles of Fatal Attraction and then, what the hell, just toss in a few other generic horror flicks and I bet you'll have a pretty similar experience to watching The Resident.