Across the Hall

An interesting story, though a little predictable.

The suspense was upheld throughout the movie, and there was real tension in many scenes, accomplished through a nerve-wracking score and drawn-out scenes that got my teeth grinding.

I immensely enjoyed the cinematography and effects .. it created a dark and brooding atmosphere that had me mourning the conclusion before it came about.

The acting was fairly good, no real complaints. I especially enjoyed the hotel concierge character, who added an old-school feel to the film.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed the movie, although I found the story to be almost too simple for its length; it felt like a short story stretched to fit a feature length film.

there's only one thing i can say about this movie - "WATCH IT"!!

what a great story and great acting. i noticed some of the other reviewers labeled this movie as predictable and boorish. i completely disagree. this movie has great style and personality and a consistency that never changes.

the setting is an old (but once very nice) inner city hotel going to seed and it lends to the story just the level of character needed to support the background of our characters - Julian, Terry, and June. none of these characters come from a desperate or needy background and are most likely normal middle class people that find themselves in a desperate, needy, and dangerous situation. and they are unprepared for the consequences of their actions - maybe!

one more delightful element in this movie is the use of color! a great job in lighting and photography!

This movie may not have gotten very high marks, but if you love film noir you will probably like it. It's actually a good movie, I think you just have to really appreciate the cinematography and the dark ambiance of film noir, as well as the sort of slow pacing as well. But the film is well done, it creates intensity through its slow build up, as well as the scoring, acting, and the way it was edited and produced. It also stars brittany murphy in one of her last roles who is plays the role very well. I like how the film is really about the subtle nuances of how the characters deliver lines and interact and little mannerisms and such. It also has a sort of old timey look because of being filmed in an old hotel so that contributes to the ambiance quite well. While it may be a small independent low budget film and not a big production I think that all of the artistic integrity is there and that it was a very enjoyable watch. I think that a lot of people don't appreciate that old style and are looking for something more fast paced. But if you are looking for something a bit more laid back and appreciate the finer art of film making I think you should give it a try.

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.

Okay being 100% truthful, I expected nothing of Brittany Murphy... I do not dislike her, in fact I rather enjoy her but her roles are often up in the air... NOT HERE. She was good where it mattered here and all characters were believable. Yes, clearly it was a film noir Type horror, some people missed that but seriously, if you wanted a cheesy comedy or perhaps some more unrealistic plot twist a cringe scenes or a fake horror movie with vibrant with colors, perhaps you should've went for Saw or Scary movie. Bottom line it was well made and very suspenseful. Less predictable then the usual horror film. I gave it an 8 in consideration to the category this falls under, A film Noir type Thriller. Tasteful in my opinion, it will seem slow if you are looking for action but if you want deep, suspenseful, well written horror and you have 1 hour and 30 min... Go for it... maybe not on a first date but still worth the watch.

Fun Fact(lol): In any case, well done and for those who missed it, this was a ReMake of a 2005 short film (for those who wanted a shorter version your wish came true). Then got funded and made a full length version (The original June came back as Anna).