Apartment Zero (1988) | DVD Review

Sometimes naivety and lack of funding can ruin a filmmaker’s career, other times it can launch a classic. Enter screenwriter/producer David Koepp, and director Martin Donovan. The two collaborated in 1988 for Koepp’s first venture into film with Apartment Zero; a riveting, edge of your seat exercise in suspense that would even have had the master Hitchcock standing and applauding. Filled with the type of psychological games that will enthrall the most callous, Apartment Zero rightfully launched the careers of both its writer and its star Colin Firth.

In Apartment Zero, Adrian LeDuc (Firth) is an obnoxious, introvert whose world is limited to the revival film house he runs, and the world that inhabits it. The failure of his theater forces him to take in a boarder to occupy the former room of his dying – and insane – mother. Following the dismissal of several prospective tenants, Adrian discovers Jack Carney (Hart Bochner, Anywhere But Here, Bullworth), an American with a sadistic charm that runs to his core. Adrian’s reclusive nature has isolated him to his own apartment, where he frets about his mother’s illness and contemplates the possibility that he too may succumb to the disease. Jack quickly charms the neighbors, much to the dismay of Adrian, whose fondness for his boarder elicits a sexual tension in the plot that is nearly palpable.

As the friendship of Adrian and Jack develops, the surrounding area of Buenos Aires begins to succumb to the terror of a serial killer. Adrian’s affection for his friend is complicated by his fear that Jack may somehow be linked to the rash of killings ongoing in the community, lending to a fast paced and interwoven plot that twists and turns with shock and suspense until it reaches its demented and shocking climax.

Koepp and Donovan met in the Argentinean capital to discuss cooperative projects in the director’s native country and gradually worked out the story for Apartment Zero. The project was the first for Koepp who financed the entire project himself; a gamble he very nearly regretted. The experience helped Koepp to appreciate the gifts and talents of the studio system while maintaining within him a firm independent foundation, which would prove to serve him well in future projects. Koepp went on to pen such blockbusters as Spiderman, Jurassic Park, and Mission Impossible.

The ensemble cast pieced together by the production team brought to the project a vast array of skill, talents, and experience to the film. The variety of the personalities inhabiting the flat, who ultimately fall prey to Jack’s charms, add depth and intensity to the story at a level that is seldom seen in modern filmmaking. The depth of Jack’s charm is evidenced when even a cat, stranded on an alcove in the buildings foyer, succumbs to him and allows itself to be gingerly plucked from potential disaster; all within sight of the awestruck residents of the building. All that is, except Adrian, whose hermit-like lifestyle is threatened by the mystique of the new stranger. As Jack continues to weave his web of allure through the tenants, Adrian finds himself feeling more and more constricted by strands that build tension between the two.

For Apartment Zero, Koepp tapped not only his affection for the works of early suspense classics, but also a bravado that can only be encapsulated by one who is truly working the independent genre. The filmmaker’s seat-of-his-pants style, the daily budget dramas, the allusion of blackmail tactics by the Argentinean film industry – when Koepp’s tried to import film from the states, the locals warned that they would have the shipment x-rayed in customs, effectively ruining the celluloid – and the limitless drive of a young director all add up to a must see for any aficionado of suspense thrillers.

While the newly released DVD does not offer much in the way of special features, at least not by the standard set by mass market, major studio distributors; it does continue the effect of the independent nature of the project by including two fascinating commentary tracks. The primary, and most effective, places Koepp with fellow auteur Stephen Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven; Sex, Lies and Videotape). The insightful banter of the two leaves the viewer with a feeling more akin to being privy to a private screening in a smoky Hollywood backroom, rather than listening to a filmmaker explaining the how and why of his choices. The second commentary with director Martin Donovan, while enlightening, was more rigid and intellectual than the producer/screenwriter track. The film comes with the standard subtitle options and Dolby sound. While more special features would have been nice on this release, the budget constraints Koepp faced, along with the extensive work and love put into the feature itself more than make up for the lack of extras.

Apartment Zero is a must have for fans and students of classic suspense and great storytelling.

Movie rating – 5

Disc Rating – 4