The 4th Floor
Encyclopedia
- For the Spanish film "Planta 4ª", see The 4th Floor (2003 film).
The 4th Floor is a 1999 film, written and directed by Josh Klausner. The film stars Juliette Lewis
Juliette Lewis
Juliette Lewis is an American actress and musician. She gained international fame for her role in the 1991 thriller Cape Fear for which she was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress...
, William Hurt
William Hurt
William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...
, Shelley Duvall
Shelley Duvall
Shelley Alexis Duvall is an American film and television actress best known for her roles in The Shining, Popeye, Thieves Like Us and 3 Women....
and Austin Pendleton
Austin Pendleton
Austin Pendleton is an American film, television, and stage actor, a playwright, and a theatre director and instructor.-Life and career:...
. The film was released in 1999. It was filmed on location in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Saint John, New Brunswick
Saint John, New Brunswick
City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The original music was written by Brian Tyler
Brian Tyler (composer)
Brian Tyler is an American composer, producer, conductor, and film producer most known for his scores of Eagle Eye, The Expendables, Battle: Los Angeles, The Final Destination, Rambo, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, and Final Destination 5. Tyler is a symphonic conductor and conducts his own scores....
.
Plot
This film follows Jane (Juliette LewisJuliette Lewis
Juliette Lewis is an American actress and musician. She gained international fame for her role in the 1991 thriller Cape Fear for which she was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress...
) who has inherited a rent-controlled brownstone apartment from her aunt, and, despite her boyfriend's (William Hurt
William Hurt
William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...
) appeals, has decided to move in and live on her own for the first time. Almost immediately she is introduced to the pleasures of living in an apartment building, as she quickly draws the ire of her downstairs neighbor (on the titular 4th floor), who pounds on the ceiling when she makes any noise at all. The next morning, she finds a warning note on her door, which she quickly dismisses. However, as more drastic actions seem to be taken against her, such as infestations of mice and live maggots, and even break-ins, Jane begins to suspect that her neighbor wants her out. Determined to stand her ground, Jane ignores her boyfriend's pleading and decides to stick it out. But when she is attacked in her home, Jane decides to take action herself.
The attacker is revealed to be a seemingly-kindly older man who warmed up to Jane and seemed to look out for her initially. He invites her into his apartment and when Jane realizes that his ceiling is "mapped" with the layout of the apartment above - just as she discovered in the apartment beneath hers - she sees the truth of what's going on. After being knocked out, she fights her way through a room full of packing noodles, injuring her attacker by hitting him in the head with a metal rod she finds in the room. She then runs to her apartment and locks herself in.
She soon realizes that she is in effect trapped and can't leave because her attacker has tied her door knob to the stairway railing. Seeing that the window is the only way in/out, she decides to hide in the fireplace, behind the fireplace shield. Her attacker breaks through the window and eventually finds her. After a brief struggle - involving a creepy locksmith she called on earlier, (Tobin Bell
Tobin Bell
Tobin Bell is an American film and television character actor. After years of work doing stand-ins and background work on films, he got his first major acting job in Mississippi Burning and went on to star in made-for-television films and guest star in television shows throughout the 1990s.Bell...
) who comes to her rescue but is quickly subdued - Jane stomps on the floor until a large decoration hanging over her doorway falls on the attacker. She then runs out the door which had been untied by the locksmith and is quickly caught again in the hallway. Suddenly, Greg, (William Hurt
William Hurt
William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...
), her boyfriend, appears and asks the attacker to hand over the knife he is holding against Jane. During the pause, Jane suddenly lunges at her attacker, pushing him over the stair railing and down 5 flights of stairs to his death.
Later, as Jane is continuing to unpack boxes and put things in their place, she is talking to her attorney in the office. The attorney tells her that the locksmith, (who lives across the street and within view of Jane's apartment), had something to show Jane. She says that was good because she meant to thank him. The final scene reveals that the locksmith is looking through the window and sketching/painting what he sees. The camera pans through the room and we see him working on a new sketch as well as several of the pictures he's already completed from what he's seen in Jane's building. The camera stops on a picture showing Greg and Jane's attacker talking at a table in front of the typewriter used to type threatening messages to Jane.
Cast
- Juliette LewisJuliette LewisJuliette Lewis is an American actress and musician. She gained international fame for her role in the 1991 thriller Cape Fear for which she was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress...
as Jane Emelin - William HurtWilliam HurtWilliam McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...
as Graig Harisson - Shelley DuvallShelley DuvallShelley Alexis Duvall is an American film and television actress best known for her roles in The Shining, Popeye, Thieves Like Us and 3 Women....
as Martha Stewart - Austin PendletonAustin PendletonAustin Pendleton is an American film, television, and stage actor, a playwright, and a theatre director and instructor.-Life and career:...
as Albert Collins - Artie LangeArtie LangeArthur Steven "Artie" Lange, Jr. is an American actor, comedian and radio personality best known for his tenures with the The Howard Stern Show and the comedy sketch series MADtv....
as Jerry - George Pottle as Mr. Bryant
- Lorna Millican as Mrs. Bryant
- Heidi Jo Markel as Ashley
- Sabrina GrdevichSabrina GrdevichSabrina Grdevich is a Canadian actress.Sabrina portrayed Dana Ballard in the 1999 made-for-TV movie Ultimate Deception with Yasmine Bleeth. Her starring roles include Mile Zero and Lola...
as Cheryl - Robert CostanzoRobert CostanzoRobert Jason Costanzo is an American actor. He has an acting career spanning over thirty years and is often found playing surly New York types such as crooks or low level workers and mixes both drama and comedy roles...
as The exterminator - Tobin BellTobin BellTobin Bell is an American film and television character actor. After years of work doing stand-ins and background work on films, he got his first major acting job in Mississippi Burning and went on to star in made-for-television films and guest star in television shows throughout the 1990s.Bell...
as The Locksmith