Pacific Heights

Directed by John Schlesinger, Pacific Heights follows new homeowners Drake (Matthew Modine) and Patty (Melanie Griffith) as they’re terrorized by a slick, psychotic tenant named Carter Hayes (Michael Keaton). It’s promising (and foolproof) subject matter that’s employed to mostly engaging effect by Schlesinger, as the filmmaker, armed with a script by Daniel Pyne, delivers a briskly-paced thriller that benefits from its appealing protagonists and often strikingly smarmy, menacing villain – with, in terms of the latter, Keaton’s scene-stealing turn elevating the proceedings on a recurring basis. (Modine and Griffith are quite good here, too, as are eclectic periphery players like Laurie Metcalf, Mako, and Carl Lumbly.) And while the picture admittedly does stumble a little within its third act (ie Patty’s investigation into Carter’s past isn’t quite as enthralling as Schlesinger has presumably intended), Pacific Heights, buoyed by Carter’s ongoing efforts at messing with Modine and Griffith’s characters (eg the cockroaches, the all-night construction, etc), generally comes off as a persistently watchable “blank-from-hell” thriller that concludes with a memorable, thoroughly satisfying final stretch.

*** out of ****