p-stepien One of those films, where the least said about the plot the better, so in an attempt to refrain from giving any spoilers I boil it down to one sentence. Julian (Mike Vogel) attempts to stop his best friend Terry (Danny Pino) from any making any rash choices after he follows his fiancée June (Brittany Murphy) rent a room at the River View hotel.Given the low IMDb ratings I didn't really expect much from this below-the-radar thriller. The movie itself is heavily influenced by two great directors. One of them is Alfred Hitchcock. The attempt at replicating the style of 50s and 60s thrillers is visibly apparent not only in the cinematographic style ripe with noir overhead shots, neons, stylisations and a need to push the suspense and tension ahead of action and cheap thrills. The whole movie itself if an old-fashioned hotel with a outdated bell-boy playing a key part in the build-up and story. Overflowing with a retro feel it becomes a stylish homage aimed at those who miss the good old days.On the other hand you can see the strong impact that Christopher Nolan has in updating the thriller genre and fully using the superior technical capabilities of modern film art to increase the mystery, growing tension and keep tabs on the plot. The whole story is expertly told in a non-linear fashion, where scenes from the past and present intermingle forcing you to logically put the pieces together (in a well-done mix-up of Innaritu storytelling and "Memento" type editing). Directed with swagger debutant Alex Merkin shows a lot of confidence and immense promise with the use of tools at his disposal.That said the movie does seem a tad overlong and given this was based on Merkin's short film it seems he essentially should have met somewhere in between at around 60-70 minutes. The movie tends to drag on incredibly as the script is pulled out in order to somehow reach a proper running time. The suspension drastically drops, although manages to get back on track with the final resolute bang of an ending. Basically a poster movie for the need to be able to be a bit shorter than the standard 90-120 minutes of the Hollywood 'full length feature'.Honestly the script itself is in the most part wildly predictable, as the movie is mostly pushed ahead thanks to its style, while not putting enough pressure on the story itself. The mismatch of the mediocre story and the overstretched plot almost derails the meticulous set-designed and claustrophobic noir feel to the movie.Acting creds are generally fine with Brad Greenquist as the Porter giving the best performance of the lot. All in all worth a watch and I could see Merkin making a name for himself given a script with actually can fill-up the required runtime.

Micz Kicz 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.

James Virginia Have to agree with several others that this is not a movie for the fast paced movie goer. This is a slow suspenseful film along the like of an Alfred Hitchcock film. There is a great plot twist that while somewhat obvious is still enjoyable. The characters are believable and the acting is well thought. Brittany Murphy...cute, but luckily doesn't really have enough lines to spoil the film. =) If you like simple films with a minimal amount of frills and just a simple storyline then you may really enjoy Across the hall. This is a great way to spend your time. No sex, no nudity, just a great film for those with the time to appreciate it.

zufre Really boring movie. The story is too slow and predictable. All that jumping back and forward made me think the director wanted to make the movie longer. And every scene seemed never to end.They could maybe make a real movie with this story that lasted let's say 10 minutes.The hotel is a terribly dull place to shot this yarn, every place is dark and red and looks just the same than the previous tedious space. They must have read somewhere that red excites people and you will probably need encouragement like that to get to the silly end of this movie. I fell asleep twice before reaching the end.So, if you have 3 days to spare to watch a single movie or you cannot get asleep this might be the movie for you. Otherwise keep well clear of this piece of trash.