Apartment 1303 3D is an horror film directed by Michael Taverna. The US-Canadian co-production is the English-language remake of the Japanese film of the same name. It is an adaptation of Japanese author Kei Ôishi’s novel. The film stars Mischa Barton, Rebecca De Mornay and Julianne Michelle. The film officially went into production in Montreal in early November 2011. The film was released theatrically in Russia on December 6, 2012. In the United States, the film will be released on the VOD platform on June 17, 2013 followed by a theatrical release on July 25, 2013.
Following a family dispute, Janet moves out of the home she shares with her older sister, Lara and their single mother, Maddie. She moves into apartment 1303 on the thirteenth floor of a downtown Detroit apartment building. A nine year old neighbor, Emily, explains to Janet that a previous occupant of her new apartment killed herself. Strange things begin to occur in the apartment and when Janet appears bruised at work, she rebuffs concerns that her boyfriend, Mark, is abusing her and blames the marks on sleepwalking.
Janet is shaken by the strange events that are happening preferring to stay late at the office rather than return to apartment 1303. She calls her sister, Lara, to ask if she can return home but Lara informs her this would be a bad idea as their mother is having another “drunk psycho rant”. Janet suggests going to a hotel but this is quickly dismissed as Lara is not able to pay for it.
Janet then calls Mark who is back in town and he agrees to call round. Later that night, Janet is awoken by supernatural elements in the apartment but unfortunately Mark is no longer around. A supernatural force takes hold of Janet’s body leading to her suicide. Her sister, Lara, later arrives to gather Janet’s belongings and begins to experience the same terrors.
A detective that was on the case talks to Lara and she believes Janet was murdered. He agrees since he’s been investigating unknown suicides with other tenants. Lara discovers the name of the first tenant from 20 years back, Jennifer Logan. The detective tells Lara the sad story of what happened to Jennifer. At the age of 12, she moved in to apartment 1303 with her mother, Mary, a respectable school teacher and recently divorced. For the first few years in the apartment, they lived in peace and Mary was a loving mother to Jennifer. However, the peace was shattered when Mary lost her job as a teacher during a dispute with a parent in a parent-teacher conference.
She found work as a prostitute to pay for the apartment, became an alcoholic and brutally abused Jennifer. This leads to Jennifer murdering Mary and burying her in a built in closet. A few years later, neighbors complained about the smell of the apartment, causing the police and the health department to investigate. By the time they got to the apartment to confront Jennifer, she had already committed suicide by jumping out the window and the police found the decomposed body of Mary. In the years that followed more tenants was thought to have committed suicide with Janet being the recent one.
While taking a bath, Lara gets a cryptic warning from Janet to leave the apartment and never come back. However, another dispute with Maddie has Lara to moving in the same apartment and unintentionally ignoring Janet’s warning. Jennifer soon arrives and kills Mark by throwing him out the window. Horrified, Lara tries to escape the apartment complex to avoid Jennifer trying to kill her and permanently stay away from the complex for good.
However, she catches Emily and the landlord, O’Neill in front of her. O’Neill reveals that he and his daughter, Emily, were previously killed by Jennifer during their first year in apartment 1303. Since then, they and Janet had been warning others to never move in to apartment 1303 to no avail. As Maddie tries to talk some sense to Lara, Jennifer pushes her towards the knife and kills her. Just before she can finish the job to kill Lara, the police arrive and Jennifer disappears. Lara is arrested for both Maddie and Mark’s murder and is taken away to be booked. Jennifer is last seen sitting on the same spot where she committed suicide: an unseen warning of what happens when anyone moves into apartment 1303.
Apartment 1303 3D
Directed by: Michele Taverna
Starring: Mischa Barton, Rebecca De Mornay, Julianne Michelle, Corey Sevier, John Diehl, Grace Savage, Katherine Cleland
Screenplay by: Michele Taverna, Kei Ôishi
Production Design by: Louis-René Landry
Cinematography by: Paul M. Sommers
Film Editing by: Edward Brizio, Roberto Silvi
Costume Design by: Suzana Fischer
Set Decoration by: Muriel Espic
Music by: Davy Bernagoult, Yoann Bernagoult
MPAA Rating: R for language, some violent content and brief sexuality.
Studio: Gravitas Ventures
Release Date: July 25, 2013
Visits: 59
