Pacific Heights (1990)

By John Chard

Pacific Heights – Low Human. Pacific Heights is directed by John Schlesinger and written by Daniel Pyne. It stars Michael Keaton, Melanie Griffith, Matthew Modine, Laurie Metcalf and Mako. Music is by Hans Zimmer and cinematography by Amir M. Mokri. Young couple Patty and Drake plough all their resources into buying a large house in the affluent Pacific Heights area of San Francisco. With two apartments to rent they think their numbers have come in when they manage to find tenants for both. But one man, the mysterious Carter Hayes (Keaton), soon proves to be anything but the perfect tenant… There are twin terrors at work here, one is the tenant from hell, the other is the laws that protect him as he manipulates the system to its very stupid core. The makers do a very good job of making the film unsettling throughout, the ghastly menace who invades someone’s home and holds all the ace cards is a constant terrifying presence. Schlesinger for two thirds of the piece crafts a tightly wound thriller, unfortunately it just gets too daft for its own good as the cat and mousery reaches the culmination of plotting. Keaton is great, expanding upon the dark part of Bruce Wayne portrayal to be scarily smooth and convincing. Griffith is good value as well, and it’s great to see a female character showing great resourcefulness, but both actors are let down by Pyne’s screenplay in the last third where the psycho versus good lady section is too far fetched. Whilst Modine isn’t a good enough actor to pull off the furious husband act. A mixed bag, but mostly it beats a good thriller heart to keep it above average. 6.5/10