APARTMENT 413 Film Review — One Man and One Apartment

In a one-bedroom apartment, two people review a resumé. The woman sits at the table making a list of people to contact, and the man walks around the apartment trying to do anything but go through that list with her. He opens apartment windows to let in some air, and spots a repair man through the bedroom window. They stare at each other. The repair man throws his red rag on the ground. The door slams behind him and suddenly the repair man’s red rag appears in the room before him. The woman calls for the man, asking him not to play around. He manages to get away from the window and return to the woman. They look at his resumé, which now, instead of a brief description of who he is, says how he wants to kill everyone at his prospective job if they hire him.

Directed by Matt Patterson, Apartment 413 is a psychological indie horror film that tells the story of Marco, a man who has moved into a new apartment with his girlfriend. Marco is a dropout, struggling to find the motivation to get a job. His girlfriend, Dana, is pregnant and still in school, so the pressure to find a job is immense.

But as he spends more and more time at the apartment,

he begins to see sticky notes on the door, each with a cryptic message. Then a phone begins ringing. It’s an old 90s phone, and the caller is telling him that his girlfriend is lying to him. More and more things start to happen in the apartment.

Is this all in his head or real?

APARTMENT 413 Uses Liminal Space to Show a Descent Into Madness

From the bathroom, and its close walls and usually drawn shower, to the sitting area with a window to the outside, the apartment is a well lived in space. However, it is mostly seen as empty, apart from Marco. Like Marco, we feel both boxed in and empty, as if something is going to happen at any moment.

Then, things do start to get strange. Random post-its appear on the door without anyone ever seeing them. Rooms that were clean, become dirty again. The camera follows Marco as he completes these tasks, only to reveal the trick as he passes. Like Marco, we never really leave the apartment. How we see it and how Marco sees it are linked.

Throughout the movie, an air conditioner is heard in the background, giving the place a familiar but ever-present and eerie buzz. It’s always there even if one tunes it out. The phones buzz too, but only when Marco doubts Dana. It’s loud and seems to come from everywhere. Music such as screeching violins and calming piano convey feelings of unease or calm respectively. In this writer’s opinion the movie’s use of room tones and sound effects is very effective to help build the feeling of horror.

 

Apartment 413 is recommended to anyone who is into indie movies, looking for something a bit more character driven and psychological.

RECOMMENDED

Directed by: Matt Patterson
Written by: Ronald Maede
Produced by Jon Micheal Simpson and Matt Patterson
Executive producer: Amanda Patterson
Director of photography: Rocky Conly
Edited by: Matt Patterson and A.J Edwards
Music by Jeff McQuitty

CAST:

Nicholas Saenz - Marco
Brea Grant - Dana
Dave Buckman - Mechanic

For more information on where to see Apartment 413, visit The Terror Films website

Images courtesy of Terror Films