Single White Female (1992)

This in many ways unremarkable b-movie about a roommate who gradually takes over an apartment owner's life, adopting her fashion tastes and hairstyle, insinuating herself into her relationships and eventually tipping over the edge and going plain batshit crazy, unexpectedly resonated with audiences in 1992 and became a huge success - probably due in good part to the performance of its star: the inner city New York apartment in The Ansonia building that everybody wishes they could one day own, psycho roomie or not.

★★★★☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEW

The Roommate (2011)

Like the movie it rips off (Single White Female), this is a thriller in which crimes against the heroine by a man (Steven Weber in SWF, Billy Zane, here) are rendered trivial by the subsequent actions of a really batshit crazy female roommate (Jennifer Jason Lewis in SWF, Leighton Meester, here) and the similarities continue - in fact, the most interesting thing about this teen version is wondering how much like a psycho roommate of the superior 1992 original it is going to be before it descends into its final uncontrolled death throes.

★☆☆☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEW