THE 4th FLOOR
US, 1999, 90 minutes, Colour.
Juliette Lewis, William Hurt, Shelley Duvall, Austin Pendleton, Tobin Bell.
Directed by Josh Klausner.
The 4th Floor is a small horror film. Juliette Lewis plays an interior designer, in a relationship with an older man, a weatherman on local television, played by William Hurt. She inherits an apartment from her dead aunt and moves in. The landlady is played by Shelley Duvall. The residents of the block are odd, one whom she suspects of sabotaging with bugs and lice, is a recluse. Austin Pendleton plays a friendly neighbour – who turns out to be the arch villain. It is interesting to see the actor Tobin Bell as a sinister character in an apartment across from the window of Juliette Lewis. In scenes reminiscent of Rear Window, he seems, like Raymond Burr, to be murdering someone and getting rid of the body. However, he turns out to be the locksmith who fixes Juliette Lewis’s apartment. He was soon to appear in the central character of the Saw series. There is a slight twist at the end when it appears that he has also been sketching what he sees from the windows – and finds that the weather anchorman is close to Mr Collins. In the meantime, Juliette Lewis moves in with her boyfriend ...
The film is written and directed by Josh Klausner who also wrote Date Night and Shrek Forever. The film relies on a creepy atmosphere rather than straight-out horror.
1. The impact of the film? The atmosphere of the apartment, haunted, threats, creepy?
2. The American city, the television stations, the apartment block, apartments? Authentic atmosphere? Musical score?
3. The introduction to Jane and Greg, their relationship, the argument, Jane inheriting the apartment and wanting to live there? Greg and his reaction? His visits to her?
4. Greg, William Hurt and the comic performances as the television weatherman?
5. Jane, moving in, the landlady and her concern? Explanations? The apartment itself, Jane as a decorator, her plans for the apartment? The meeting with the recluse, living in the basement, suspecting him of the sabotage? The eighty-year-old old lady who is never seen? The knocking on the floor? The arrival of Mr Collins, his friendly visit, his interest in antiques? The Cambodian protective frieze?
6. Jane, at work, her assistant, helping her out, with contracts? Her ordinary life compared with her experiences in the apartment?
7. Jane looking out the window – and the echoes of Rear Window? The people in the opposite apartments, the man and his putting on the wig, the locksmith and his seemingly sinister behaviour?
8. The lice, the bugs, the tormenting of Jane? Her suspicions? The lock, the locksmith coming over, seeming sinister, his friendliness? His reminding her that he had seen her from his window?
9. Mr Collins, his friendliness, the revelation that he was mad, his violent attack on Jane? The fight, the broken glass, her foot, his knife? Greg’s arrival – and Mr Collins seeming to know him? The struggle, his falling down the stairwell?
Jane, her moving from the apartment, moving in with Greg? The locksmith – and his sketches, the irony of the conversation between Greg and Mr Collins? Jane’s future?
