Apartment 1303 (2012) Review

Movie: Apartment 1303 (2012)
By: Maniac E
Date: January 18, 2014

13 is a unlucky number in this case

With the many US remakes of Japanese movies comes now Apartment 1303. With the mediocre Japanese movie we now get a remake of it. But will they end up making a more promising movie with this remake? Let's find out.

Having grown up under the controlling grip of her fame-hungry mother (Rebecca De Mornay), Janet Slate (Julianne Michelle) jumps at the opportunity to move into what looks to be a great high-rise apartment in downtown Detroit. Yet some deals are too good to be true as one night her boyfriend Mark (Corey Sevier) finds her in the middle of the street - having fallen from the balcony thirteen stories above. When her sister Lara (Mischa Barton) tries to investigate the mystery of what happened, she moves into the same apartment. Lara soon realizes that her sister's death might spell the same fate for her unless she can overcome the strange events that are terrorizing the inhabitants in Apartment 1303.

With original not being that great this remake well actually makes it worse. The original had some good things like photography and vibe in this case it was just one big pile of nothing. There is no suspense, there is no good script, there is no good acting, and well not scary at all if you can only see this as a ghost movie. You would expect some of the good things of the original shine through but this is not the case and it all leaves it up to this mess.

A good thing is that it is no CGI fest which means it all is being kept very straight forward but still believable towards the audience. This makes room for own interpretation and that is a plus point to the movie. But we have seen way better movies than this as regarding to the ghost haunting movies. What I was hoping was some decent acting but actually all characters just fail to deliver. The family dynamics were also very different, particularly about the mother. In the Japanese version, the mother felt depressed out of her mind after her daughter's death, staying very quiet and withdrawn. In the American version, it could not be more different. The mother Maddie Slate was played by ex-vixen Rebecca de Mornay in a florid portrayal of an alcoholic ex-pop star at constant odds with her two daughters.

With this movie not having any pace, no real good acting and not being scary at all. It kinda is missing all the marks for a good quality ghost movie. I was giving this the benefit of the doubt purely because of the fact there was some decent trailers and marketing for it. But again it just falls short, let's hope Hollywood shall only remake that what was good instead of that was mediocre to begin with.

DVD REVIEW

Image quality

Crisp and clear images to be found here. This 1080P release makes sure you will see every detail!

Sound

The sound works in an effective DTS-HD master which makes sure you will hear each and every effect the film makers came up with.

Extras

Overall

A special shoutout goes to the lenticular 3D hologram cover this one has been differently. The full box is coverd with this plastic hologram which gives it a nice effect. Also a nice to mention thing is that the original apartment 1303 is coming with the bluray! Which are bonus points. But overall the movie isn't very good and goes to show it is better to just leave mediocre stuff.

Universal