The Tenant (2010) User Reviews

Bad, but not in a good way.

[jasonkheller · 2/10 · 29 July 2011]

Well, yes this was a waste of time. I made it an hour in, I feel like I deserve an a award. I also only watched this due to it's high rating, I should have looked at the reviews, obviously by family of the crew. This film is wholly disappointing. Cliché ridden, poorly acted, atrociously scripted. It is dreadful, and I usually like terrible films. Unfortunately this is bad for all the wrong reasons.

As I need to fill the review out to 10 lines I would just like to say.... DON'T BOTHER! Watch Rosemary's Baby, watch The Hills Have Eyes, dig out some horror classics and enjoy yourself. Just don't watch this film.

Absolute rubbish! Laughable attempt at filmmaking'.

[rockycolby · 2/10 · 6 August 2011]

You know a film is bad when the producers get reviews deleted and post their own glowing reviews. All the good reviews here are from persons from Florida...hmmm!

This film has serious identity issues, despite paying homage to films like 'It's Alive', 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre', 'Frankenstein' etc, the writer/director is clearly devoid of any originality and throws cliché after cliché at the audience. It also goes from being gory and serious to comedic and back again.

It misses the only opportunity of originality again when a group of deaf (and seemingly mute) children show up. Instead of using their disability as an interesting new twist on old conventions, they are instead treated as sheep who are merely there to slow down and impede the others.

The plot also has two 'halves', which means you get to spend twice as long getting to know two groups of unrealistic characters. Some of the acting and dialogue literally had me laughing out loud. Some ridiculous casting choices are made, a balding, one legged Barney Rubble type is married to a hot woman. Some of the inmates at the mental asylum are...hot women. I'm certain a guy was the casting director here.

The 'hero' is one of the most unlikeable characters I've ever come across and appears to have the intelligence and personality of an immature schoolchild.

I'm uncertain of the budget but the film is fairly well shot and the special effects and sets are pretty good. It's just a shame that this creature feature suffers from multiple personalities and is let down by a terrible script and some bad acting along with some of the most hateable characters ever captured on film.

A totally shambolic effort. The creators of this film should be ashamed and crawl away quietly from this rubbish.

***I've had to re-submit this, as worse than writing false reviews about their own movie, the creators are getting bad reviews pulled due to being 'abusive', how pathetically sad.***

Don't believe the rating, this is unwatchable, I tried and failed.

[myloveincruz · 2/10 · 5 August 2011]

The only reason I'm writing a review is because I'm ticked off an hour of my life was conned out of me.

The premise and the IMDb rating got me interested enough to check it out. I stuck with it for one hour until I realized that is was an hour I will never get back and damned if I would poison my memories of all the great or decent horror movies I saw, with a movie that should have opted to be campy and maybe saved itself.

I have to agree with other reviewers that the 10/10 reviews it has were obviously from vested interests.

At the top of the what is so awful about this I would have to place the blame on 1. The directing: Ric La Monte(the ceaseless melodrama burned me out and made me not care) 2. The writing: also Ric La Monte (Started out with my kind of premise but it soon became clear the writer knew next to nothing about medicine, suspense, mystery or building empathy for characters. 3. The acting (Justin Smith played the only character that I wanted to give a damn about but, lets just say when he took a break from the film the only ones left I could care for were 4 deaf mutes, many of whom signed like they were competing to see who could make the worst shadow puppet.

Unless you enjoy watching painfully bad slashers with lousy effects while on so much mind altering substance(s) that you will not remember that you watched it, do yourself a favor and pass.

Terrible movie with no redeeming features

[fat-belly · 2/10 · 30 July 2011]

This film is dreadful.

I'd find it hard to enjoy even if I were a fan of cheap & nasty horror films. It really doesn't have a niche. The best description I could give is that it's a really poor late-night TV movie with horrendous acting. I would estimate that 97% of the movie has that 'gripping' horror score playing in the background. So overdone its laughable.

The plot is poor and unoriginal, the effects are pretty cheap too. It's full of the usually horror clichés and attempts at building tension.

I generally find IMDb scores to be a pretty fair grade to go by but this one has really slipped through the net. There is no way on earth that this junk deserves a 7/10 (at the time of writing this).

I can only hope that people are joking.

Sarah Jessica Parker's Face And A Waffle Iron Have A Baby That Kills Deaf Kids

[Philimac19-300-712012 · 1/10 · 24 February 2012]

I started an IMDb account just to review this movie. So let's see here:

1. I have never seen a movie where the back story took 45 minutes. I've seen movies where the back story was the entire movie, and the ending brought you to present day, or the back story took 5 to 10 minutes then brought you to present day, but this movie was two terrible movies lumped together in one big God awful abomination. The weird thing was it starts at present day for 2 minutes, then goes to the past for the first half of the entire movie. Heres the first 45 minutes: Doctors wife is pregnant. Doctor has crazy nurse who wants his penis. Nurse injects Doctors wife with crazy steroid horse face formula. Thats it. Heres the rest of the movie: See No Evil. But with deaf kids. 2. The woman who takes care of the deaf children is racist and here's how I know. Whenever a deaf kid gets abducted(slowly) the woman does everything in her power to get them back. When the mongoloid hits a black kid and takes off with some deaf girl, the woman follows him to get the girl back. The whole group completely left that deaf black kid to fend for himself for like 15 minutes. I had to rewatch it to make sure I understood. The creature walks into the room. Yeah, walks. Everyone stands up like "Oh no.... should of picked a room with a door or something" and the black kid tries to run out of the room when the creature throws him down. A small fight ensues between the beast and Lou Diamond Phillips's brother, then the creature runs away with a deaf girl and they straight up leave that black kid. As the movie goes on they don't even mention his whereabouts or the fact that he exists. Seems legit. Then when he does come back into the movie, freaking out waving his hands all willy nilly the woman just yells at him, and that was pretty much that. 3. This was one Baldwin brother away from being on the SyFy channel.

Poster

[djerutan · 1/10 · 20 August 2011]

The poster is better than the movie ... Very bad. The film tells of a deformed maniac who kills young donkeys that invade an enclosure. The special effects are primary and the performances of the actors are ridiculous. The film is divided into two parts came to explaining how a creature and another creature itself killing everyone. The first part is boring.The second part is full of inexperienced young actors doing those mediocre performances. And the end? The most likely possible... I wonder if this movie was not made by a student may work ... college ... I can not believe a professional director has managed to film edit and release this movie ... Sorry my English

Rubbish

[LOL101LOL · 1/10 · 3 August 2011]

The review on IMDb for the awful B grader was rated at a 10 out of 10, I am sure that person either works for the makers of this crap film or has poor eye sight.

The blood and guts looks like it is done in some one's garage, filmed by a 10 year old, acting is like those cheap 70ish and 80ish films we used to be bombarded with. The sound/music is terrible.

I am 30 minutes into this film and felt compelled to give my spin on this crap, and yes as soon as I am done typing this review this film will be deleted.

1 out of 10, I would have given it a zero, and it is in the running for the worst film of 2011, and damn that list is getting bigger and bigger.

And this has been re-admitted due to some one not liking the truth being told about this rubbish, could it be you that worked on this film?

AND IMDb I AM SICK OF THE FACT THAT YOU DELETE MY REVIEWS FOR NO OTHER REASON FOR IMDb PROTECTING THESE RUBBISH MOVIE MAKERS, I NEVER EVER USE BAD LANGUAGE, JUST RAW HARD TRUTH IF A FILM STINKS OR IF IT IS BRILLIANT, BUT IMDb ONLY DELETES REVIEWS WHEN YOU KNOCK A FILM ON HERE.

Don't watch it

[vcscarpa · 1/10 · 12 September 2011]

This is simply the worst film i've ever watched.

The Super Cliché, not creative, Bad acting and even worse script ingredients, make this film unwatchable.

I don't know how, but i managed to watch this to the end. But only to laugh out really loud. I was already disturbed with the bad quality of this movie, and when i thought it couldn't get worse, the final line simply made me cry.

The infinite Flashback is already ridiculous, but i was surprised how the second part of the film is incredibly worse!

The good comments about this are obviously fake. I really don't know if i laughed more with them, or watching the movie.

Don't wast your life with this.

Not bad enough to be recommended

[KentaroK · 3/10 · 5 July 2016]

This feels like a three-part story which could have been told in 15 minutes, but was extended to what feels like three hours.

The overall story was good enough and it was easy to follow the story but it was just too long and lacked much of interest. New characters were introduced by they were not expanded, no reason to care about them. Scenarios which came up did not seem very plausible. It seemed like each act was written as a complete movie.

In this day an age, you can make a shorter movie and distribute it digitally or something, no need to draw out a story longer than it needs to be.

Anyhow, about the actual movie... I enjoyed watching it with friends, but not as much as a movie that was "trying to be bad" or not as much as an actual good movie. It was my friends, rather than the movie, that gave me any enjoyment... so if you want something to help you bond, that you don't have to pay much attention to, them maybe this would be okay.

Otherwise, just skip it.

starsIT'S ALIVE!

[nogodnomasters · 5/10 · 30 December 2018]

A teen couple waits outside what appears to be a home, but is actually an abandoned mental institution. They wait for a woman to show up and undo the padlock on the outside of the door. They want to make love in the building. They go in and get slaughtered. Cue credits. We are now 28 years earlier. Randy Molnar plays Walter, a doctor at the sanitarium. He is doing unauthorized genetic experiments. His wife, who is pregnant with twins, (girl and boy) wants him to stop. Michael Berryman plays a cannibalistic inmate, or "tenant" as the doctor calls them, from whom Walter extracts fluid for his experiment. A nurse, a rival to the wife, wants Walter to continue with his experiments. Got the plot figured out yet?

We now go back to the present. A van, carrying deaf mute girls has trouble in front of the abandoned asylum...with no cell phone reception due to the rain. One of the girls grew up near there and looks a lot like the aforesaid wife. They break in and...

This has all been done before, except for maybe the deaf-mutes, which didn't really add anything to the story. Had we not seen these other films, this one would have been fine, even if it was grossly predictable. When the baby is born, the nurse proclaims, "It's alive!" Yes, we know it's alive and we can even tell you how it is going to end up. Overly predictable.

This Is Mostly Just a Nerd Rant

[sierra-houk · 27 August 2011]

There were quite a few moments in this film that stuck out for me and distracted me from the story. The main thing was that they established Newman's wife is barely 4 weeks pregnant. They then say that she knows she's having twins, can feel them moving, is showing baby weight and can see them with an ultrasound. Uh, guys, at 4 weeks an embryo is about the size of a poppy seed. This is the curriculum of a High School health class. It just bothers me that movies can be made, and have money put into them, and these kind of details are just ignored for simplicity's sake. I understand suspending your disbelief when watching a fictional movie, but at what point is it just lazy?

Cool monster flick

[horrorfilmwhore · 8/10 · 5 August 2011]

Why is this being reviewed if its not out yet?. Strange, strange.

I caught this film at Comic Con, must admit I saw it from a screener on my laptop, not the best way to review a film in my book, but, it was like that. Came here to check out release date and I see all these lovely negative reviews. Wow. did you guys actually watch the film?. Guess TIME is something abundant in your lives..

Where do I begin?, yes, The Tenant is actually a solid horror film. Director Ric LaMonte might not be the slickest director in the block, but I was actually intrigued with the structure of the film. The first half details the story of our protagonist, the scientist, and its only until the second half of the film that the real "horror" part begins. But I loved the first half more!, very moody, good acting, nice photography, pretty ballsy considering how pace has to be real fast now days.

Overall, a very nice effort, and I know it should do fine out there. THIS is how an indie horror film should be crafted, with class.

Not an Oscar winner, not even a classic, but a solid piece of entertainment. When it does come out, please give it a spin:)

Peace out brothers and sisters.

Could have been better - what a shame

[roberthaynes · 3/10 · 28 August 2011]

What a shame - this could have been so much better in more capable hands. The writing and direction here falls very flat as well as some of the "porn level" performances.

The story however is an interesting if somewhat schizophrenic one. A weird mix between it's alive and a slasher film the biggest problem with this film is the pace- it's all over and it's often dull which a gruesome slasher film shouldn't be.

A shame since the film looks good - is technically slick with solid effects work and has some very novel ideas - what a pity - better luck next time though guys. Some lame plot contrivances here and there but overall it could have been much worse, but should have been much better.

This review is as schizophrenic as the pace of this film :)

awful

[ccullen82-1 · 1/10 · 25 August 2011]

Do not waste your time with this film. I usually find some saving grace in films that others term awful but not with this one. It was almost interesting at the beginning of the backstory, but then that backstory took 40 minutes to tell, about 30 minutes too long with an awful character like the Dr. The character was very unbelievable. How can someone so "simple" (as they called in in the description) become an MD in the first place, much less one who is conducting scientific research. The character was just plain stupid, you couldn't understand his actions and therefore couldn't have any kind of connection with him.

The second half (present day) was worse. The only character I felt I could connect with was the leading female. All the rest were poorly written. There is absolutely no suspense. Do not waste your valuable time. I would have given it 0 stars if possible.

A solid indie

[glorifiedcameraman1 · 5 August 2011]

Been reading these reviews and It is very funny how obvious some of these trolls are, lol.

I was told this film was finally out on DVD, but I guess not just yet..., I had seen it in Orlando at one of their screenings and I thought it was a solid flick. It wasn't perfect, but it was a great throwback to the old "scientist and monster" films that Hammer studios used to put out.

No it wasn't a quick cut, ADD crap film like the ones we see weekly, or one that the retarded SAW fan boys will like. But it was a well constructed, well shot, and actually a well acted film.

For the budget, it is quite an achievement. Unfortunately some of the younger "horror" fans might not like the pace, or the fact that the film actually has character development...but, please, if you do wonder around here looking for a review... (and if you are..why?, these forums are mostly infected by morons with nothing to do) do yourself a favor and go to a legit review site, not a forum.

Again, THE TENANT is good solid effort, and one that plays out very well with a crowd, as I witnessed. Check it out when it comes out....ah, and please don't download illegally!!!, wait for the damn film to come out!

Is it horror ... or just horrible?

[nightjester138 · 1/10 · 29 May 2012]

I will keep this short and simple, this movie is one of, if not THE worst movie I have seen in the past 15 years. The acting is on par an elementary school production, the special effects are pathetic, and the dialog is even worse. No attention to details, not sure if this really counts as a spoiler or not but its merely and example of the lack of attention to detail. The fist portion of the film takes place 28 years prior to the latter portion, yet a nurse who appears to be in her mid 30's and the doctor who looks to be early 50's look EXACTLY the same 28 years later, lol. I know I said I would keep is short, but when writing about something as pathetic as this film one tends to ramble on as just a few words can not express the horrendous outcome of the end result.

A recipe for greatness!

[sbp999 · 2/10 · 4 August 2011]

Creating a film from start to finish is an amazing accomplishment within itself. Now creating a film that you are proud of and it exemplifies the essence of your genre, then a true miracle has happened. Now that being said, I believe that just like an exquisite meal needs the right ingredients so does a film. It needs a good story-line, three dimensional characters and most importantly an iconic villain.

The TENANT has the right ingredients. A powerful story-line, interesting characters and a KICK ASS villain. This film truly was a recipe for greatness!

I still have no idea what I just watched.

[savage6980 · 1/10 · 8 July 2012]

Worse than awful. Where to begin? I guess first I have to say- if you wander into an abandoned asylum on a rainy night and a monster starts attacking your group, leave and go back to the van you came in. Of course, we wouldn't have had this abortion of a movie if the characters had been smart enough to think of that. Also deaf kids were used as props, and they didn't even use ASL, they pantomimed like kids pretending to sign. The funniest part is, I thought the backstory was bad until I watched the last half of the movie. Only then did I realize that the backstory was merely bad, while the modern day portion of the story wasn't even campy enough to be entertaining. I enjoy a good cheesy "horror" movie. This isn't one. Do not pay attention to all the fake reviews on here. Nobody can possibly enjoy this.

This movie sucked and I would rather watch a movie Id seen 50x than suffer through another second.

[Jadeddakota · 1/10 · 23 June 2012]

This movie was terrible in every way possible. why two middle aged women are fighting for a mad scientist experimenting on human heads and making little income anyway is beyond me. Add that to the fact that the "flashback" lasted forty minutes, the actors sucked and couldn't use a more inventive word than 'dummy', the effects were poor and the plot was predictable and terribly thought out. 2 of the 4 people I was watching this with actual left the room. To sleep. The people didn't even seem concerned when one by one their friends were picked off or their brains picked out, but this was probably due to the terrible (and more than half deaf) characters. who don't even try to find weapons or escape and are more worried about hiding the dead bodies. I actually created an account on my phone just to say how much it sucked. If you choose to watch it anyway..good luck.

OK set-up followed by an atrocious second half

[movieman_kev · 4/10 · 21 July 2012]

Decades ago, Dr. Walter Newman faces a moral crises, continue on with his grand but macabre experiments in an attempt to cure all diseases or save his marriage to the cuter mother of her child. Fortunately (or unfortunately given one's deposition) his nurse has no such dilemma and seeks to continue the experiments in secret. Experiments that have dire effects for the doctor's unborn child.

This B-movie actually wasn't too bad until about 40 minutes in it morphed into an uninspired, by-the books slasher. Basically if you choose to watch this movie, do yourself a favor and just flip it off at the moment that the movie switches over to the present day. You'll save yourself some time and will possibly like the movie better that way.

Avoid The Tenant

[BooFez · 3/10 · 30 March 2013]

The Tenant takes you to Edgewood Asylum where Dr. Walter Newman (Randy Molnar) is experimenting with genetics to try and find a cure for genetic mutations. Dr. Newman remains oblivious to the fact that his nurse, Ms. Tinsley (Sylvia Boykin), is so obsessed with the doctor that she would do anything to make him happy. Before Dr. Newman knew what was going on, his worst nightmare becomes reality.

Directed by Ric La Monte, The Tenant, gives us a look at how mutation can affect an individual and the ones around them. This movie needs a lot of work. The story was mediocre and mixed with weak acting that really showed. I could never really get into the feel of the movie for a couple reasons. Character development was non-existent. Half of the movie focused around the doctor and the other half focused around a group of deaf children running for their lives so, we never had time to truly understand them. Liz (Aerica D'Amaro) and Jeff (J. LaRose), the heroes and the chaperone's for the deaf children, didn't draw me into the feel of the movie, I found myself very detached throughout.

The camera and lighting work was done fairly well. I recall a scene where the mutated being was bashing a wall and the camera would shake with each swing. They did a nice job on the design of the mutated being, wasn't too cheesy and actually peaked my interest when we finally got a look at him.

Overall The Tenant wasn't the worst movie I have seen. It had its moments with the mutant but isn't going to make me go out of my way to find another movie directed or written by Ric La Monte. There are far better movies from this genre if you are looking for your inner mutation.

Outstanding Movie

[plusk · 9/10 · 29 August 2011]

The basic setup of THE TENANT uses a classic genre plot-line. To its credit, the production has added some twists and turns that make the movie not only very innovative, but well-timed, too. The acting and cinematography were also superb.

What I don't get is that despite the top-notch reviews from the world's top horror web-sites, some IMDb geeks are unjustly slamming this movie with unqualified and vicious comments.

As this movie has only been released in the USA, based on their locations, these people must be viewing it as a pirated, illegal download. Shame on you, and please return to your village as its idiot is missing...

Something's...WROOONNNG!!!

[moonmonday · 1/10 · 8 March 2014]

I'm not even kidding, but the title of this review actually happened -- and was delivered exactly that way -- in the film. The acting is perplexing, because you can see some ability there, it's just applied in all the wrong ways. All of the characters are extremely unlikable, all of the women are controlling and contentious, all of the men are stupid and irrational, and no-one involved seems to have any self-respect or dignity...much like the film itself. It takes nearly half the film's running time to do a flashback, which would have been more effective spread out over the film or slowly developed as it came to a climax.

I think most of the blame lies in the awful script and the confusing direction, because you have occasions like a man reacting to the death of his...girlfriend? Wife? Booty call? We don't know, because the script wasn't there. Anyway, he reacts to her death about like most people would react to their new puppy having an oopsie on the carpet.

Why did we have a bus of deaf-mute students? Was it because you couldn't afford to pay them for lines? Probably. Why have thoroughly unlikable characters who nonetheless somehow manage to survive -- through no real merit of their own -- but yet again because the script dictates it?

This is a turd. It's unwatchable even as background noise. Please do not spend the time on this. There wasn't even a good idea there, it was a series of terrible ideas turned into a terrible movie.

Creature Feature Fun

[filmlover12-135-945371 · 8/10 · 27 August 2011]

Did not really know what to expect with this film and once I got into it saw that it was really a good quality independent film that has some interesting story lines and characters. I'm a real horror fan and see lots of these films. Thought this one captured the whole dilemma of the Doctor doing genetics experiments in his asylum that pretty much go wrong and then has to figure out what to do. His evil nurse, Tinsley, is pretty awful and you really feel bad for the Doctor's situation. The film flashes forward to modern day with young people who get trapped in the old asylum where the Doctor did his experiments and something is still there that is not quite right. If you like surprises and a story with a little more to it than your standard horror film, you will enjoy this one.

Great story line... enjoyed the film!

[ScottduPont · 10/10 · 4 August 2011]

I was lucky enough to see an advance screening of the film "The Tenant" & thought the story line & characters were very well developed. I wish more filmmakers these days spent more time developing a solid script before they start production. These film producers started with a great concept and a well polished script. The film had some known actors like Bill Cobbs (who happens to be one of my favorite actors), Michael Barryman, and J. Larose as well as other solid veteran actors including: Randy Molnar, John Kyle, Georgia Chris & Justin Smith who all gave solid performances. This film does not feel low budget at all, and serves up just enough blood & guts for die- hard slasher fans to get their fill as well. Overall I would rate the film 9 on a scale of 1- 10 and would recommend this film to anyone who likes a suspenseful movie. The cinematography by Jose Cassella (I have seen his camera work before) was brilliant and combined with the original music made the film move right along.