It’s been a hard fall for two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank. Ever since she took her second statue for Clint Eastwood‘s “Million Dollar Baby” way back in 2004, she’s had a string of bad films, bad luck or both. Brian DePalma‘s “The Black Dahlia” had all the pieces of a great movie but was done in by the director pushing every facet of the production into hysterics. “Freedom Writers” was an ill-advised attempt to go into “Dangerous Minds” territory and while she scored a hit with the manipulative romantic dramedy “P.S. I Love You,” the indie flick “Birds Of America” and horror fare “The Reaping” were non-starters. Even her big wide swings at Oscar attention — last year’s flightless “Amelia” and this year’s less than captivating “Conviction” — have been huge misses.
Thus, it’s perhaps no surprise that her latest effort, the Hammer Films horror flick “The Resident” is pretty much going straight-to-DVD. Distributors Image Entertainment have slotted the film with a March 29, 2011 DVD and BluRay release date, and though last month a spring theatrical release was promised, whatever outing it does get to theaters will be purely contractual at this point.
The film was directed by Finnish television director Antti Jokinen making his English language feature debut. In case you’re still interested, the story follows a doctor (Swank) who moves into a Brooklyn loft only to find out her landlord is dangerously obsessed with her. Scary! The movie co-stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Christopher Lee and Lee Pace.
As for Swank, her run of bad choices continues as she’s set to star in Garry Marshall‘s probably dreadful holiday-based romcom “New Year’s Eve,” his follow up to “Valentine’s Day.” [STYD]
