The 4th Floor (2000)

Very disappointing...

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

** THIS REVIEW COULD CONTAIN A LOT OF SPOILERS. I RECOMMEND THAT THE READER VIEW THE FILM FIRST IF THEY PREFER THAT THE FILM NOT BE SPOILED FOR THEM. THANK YOU. **I really liked this film, even though the mass majority leaves it with a 5.7, I say it was a 7.I believe the movie is severely under rated. It was a great story. Not only great, it was realistic. It isn't your everyday slasher/monster movie. It's very original. Juliet Lewis plays a great character, and you know what, she kind of looks like she would be an interior designer, like she is in the movie. She plays the part perfect. The only thing that I DON'T like about the movie, that isn't realistic, is how she just inherited her aunts apartment. You don't just inherit apartments. Unless the law is different in New York, I thought only something you owned directly could be written in a Will? I'm not sure, but if it were a condo it would've been more convincing, which is one reason I gave the movie a 7 instead of an 8. Juliet Lewis is trying to settle down in her apartment, after the murder of her aunt. As she moves her belongings into the apartment, weird stuff starts happening. A neighbor starts destroying the floor from a bottom apartment, rats start showing up by the hundreds, and other weird notes start appearing. Apparently, someone doesn't want her there. At this point anyone would know it's one of the people living in the building. That's a given. It's just who? She meets all of them, and they all seem nice. However, that's not enough to convince her to move into her weather broadcaster boyfriends country home. She wants to stay where she is, and live on her own for awhile. As she does, she continues to experience these weird encounters. She eventually gets a package that reveals a picture of her dead aunt buried under a bunch of packing peanuts. This freaks her out. There's rumors throughout the building that floor floor houses this person who never comes out. A homebody who she thinks is trying to sabotage her. Of course the person is on the fourth floor...Towards the end, she breaks an entering into the infamous apartment four. She discovers who ever lives there is a psycho path. You get to find out who this is, and when you do, you'll be surprised. Although, what I like about the surprise, is that there's a surprise behind the surprise. It's definitely a eye opener to Juliet's character. Juliet Lewis eventually gets in a fight with this person, and a guy comes and knocks the person out from behind. Then, the person gets up again, runs after her, and is threw down the stairwell by her boyfriend who decides to visit. She then decides to finally move in with him on the country side. At the end, a certain person watched what went on in the fourth floor apartment, and painted a picture on a canvas of what he ob served earlier. It was a painting of her boyfriend negotiating with this psychopath. So, the boyfriend is willing to do anything for possession. The certain person he negotiated with was nuts, and used the whole building as a fortress. I will not give the reader all of the the person did, it is worth watching for.An overall summary would conclude that the acting was good and the story was believable. There was just some parts that the viewer would be saying "yeah right." Some logic was just poorly used in the script. All in all, I think this movie deserves more than a 5.7 rating. It's good for a one time watch.

A young woman inherits an apartment on "The 4th Floor", and discovers some deadly secrets. Jane Emelin's grandmother passed away after a bizarre accident in the building, so she gets the apartment on the fourth floor. Immediately she meets her crazed and wacky neighbours, some of whom seem very off. She also has a slew of people doing weird things across the street from her, she has a perfect view from her place into theirs. It has a "Rear Window" feel to it, very well done. Pretty soon after, her neighbour below begins banging on the ceiling scaring Jane late at night and even during the day telling her to keep quiet. The person below soon fills Jane's apartment with rats, frightening her! But this person's issues go much deeper than wanting Jane to keep the noise level down... and the person goes further than simply putting a few rats inside of the apartment.I liked 'The 4th Floor', it was a pretty well done suspense film. Jane is basically being harassed by her neighbour below in an attempt to get her to move out. We get some suspects; her boyfriend who wants her to move in with him, a creepy female neighbour, a locksmith who lives across the street and a nice but odd male neighbour who takes a liking to Jane. According to everyone in the building, the neighbour below is an old lady who NEVER comes out. We of course find out differently, and also discover what really happened to Jane's grandmother. Lots of mystery.Acting was well done by all in this one, with Juliette Lewis in the lead heroine role. "The 4th Floor" doesn't have all the blood and special effects that others have, but it doesn't need it. It's story and very creepy conclusion/twist that make this a must see!6/10

I was confused from the beginning of "The 4th Floor" because, fool that I am, it never once occurred to me that this young woman talking with William Hurt (who is my age) was actually his girlfriend. She looked like his daughter and in fact, with the 23 year difference in their ages, could have been. Once that was out of the way, I started to concentrate.This is a pretty scary movie if you like the genre, but it doesn't make any sense. I can understand Jane moving into her late aunt's apartment - it's New York City, after all, reasonably priced apartments are hard to come by, and she doesn't want to move in with her boyfriend. But no matter how reasonable the rent, no one would have stayed in that building. The neighbors are all totally bizarre and someone - she thinks it's her neighbor on the 4th floor -- is tormenting her. Aggressively.There are sometimes one can put these problems in a film aside and sometimes that one can't. This would be one of the times that one can't. It really stretched all reason. If it was the type of film where one just had to suspend belief, that would have been another story, but it wasn't.I figured the plot out long before the denouement, although the ending is ambiguous in a way. The acting was mixed. Lewis sounded like she was imitating Jennifer Elise Cox's character on Lovespring, and Hurt's role was beneath him. The supporting players were the marvelous Austin Pendleton and Shelley Duvall who gave wonderful and interesting performances.All in all, scary stuff, good atmosphere, an okay rental.

if u like Juliette Lewis, you'll enjoy this film I love the movies she has been in, she always picks great movies. This is a very colourful film, there are many aspects to this film that are enjoyable The character she plays is unique and entertaining. Another thing that i liked about the movie is that this is a who-donnit type of movie. Through out the movie you'll be asking this question and it's not who you think it's going to be. The end is great, if you haven't seen it, you ought to go get the video or dvd!