Across the Hall (2009)

A thriller about a standoff between a young man, his fiancée and his best friend who comes to his aide.

Director:

Alex Merkin

Writers:

Alex Merkin (story), Jesse Mittelstadt (screenplay)

Stars:

Mike Vogel, Danny Pino, Brittany Murphy

Cast

Cast overview:
Mike Vogel	...	Julian
Danny Pino	...	Terry
Brittany Murphy	...	June
Brad Greenquist	...	The Porter
Arie Verveen	...	Lucas
Natalie Smyka	...	Anna
Guillermo Díaz	...	The Cook
Dov Davidoff	...	The Bellhop
William Stanford Davis	...	Custodian
Erika Ringor	...	Detective
Mark Engelhardt	...	Officer
Chase Kim	...	Police Officer
Erika Seifred	...	Dominatrix

Storyline

The unbalanced Terry calls his best friend Julian that is having a bath telling that his beloved fiancée June is cheating him. Terry has followed her to the decadent Riverview Hotel, where she checked in to meet her lover in room 507. Terry explains to Julian that he brought a revolver to shoot her lover and is waiting for him in room 508, but his friend asks him to be calm that he will meet Terry in the hotel.

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Plot Keywords:

hotel | based on short film | dominatrix | betrayal | bellhop | 

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Taglines:

Revenge is only one door away.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language throughout

Details

Official Sites:

MySpace Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 December 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

La habitación de enfrente

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Milk & Media, Insomnia Media Group, Godfather Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS (5.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was shot in 17 days.

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Goofs

Describing the hotel's early history, the porter tells June and Terry that the first guests included the conductor of the Chicago Philharmonic. The Chicago Philharmonic was established in 1989, far later than the hotel's apparent age.

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Connections

Remake of Across the Hall (2005)

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Soundtracks

Martini Breakfast
Written by Aaron Kaplan
Performed by Aaron Kaplan

User Reviews

Surprisingly good post-noir flick... but empty somehow

It's like a crossword - you can watch it to puzzle a little with the plot. But nothing more. No meaning, no deeper thoughts. Just simple mind-exercise. Very good acting though (Brittany Myrphy especially earns respect here. She adds complexity to her character, and deepens emotional dimension of this rather cold movie), witty directing and editing (it's a debut - bravo!), dark melodic music, and quite smart story, makes this movie... a good crossword.

Cinematography is rather poor though, contrary to what others here claim. Work of cinematographer is not based on choosing the angles and positions for the camera (that's director's part), but rather on choosing lighting for a scene. And this part sucks here - shitty lighting reveals cardboard origin of the sets, and reminds (oh Lord) "Saw" (2004). You can't focus on the actors, because you're constantly afraid of some wall being accidentally pushed to fall over. It COULD be bad work of the lighting team, or insufficient funds, but cinematographer is the one who gets the blame anyway in such occasion.

A nice touch is The Porter character, very nicely (yet a bit theatrically) played by Jamie Benge.

So summing up - very very very good B-movie and not so bad A-movie. Better to see it than not.