Ghoulumbe Better than most people think

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Leofwine_draca As a film, APARTMENT 1303 suffers from being far too similar in scope and tone to classic, better Japanese horror films that have come before: I'm thinking JU ON: THE GRUDGE and ONE MISSED CALL to name but two. It's yet another story of a haunted apartment block (DARK WATER anyone?) inhabited by the same type of long-haired female ghost that's been popularising Asian horror films ever since RING was a success in 1998. The story is derivative and reminiscent of earlier films but this one always comes off worse in the comparisons as truth be told it's not a patch on those aforementioned classics. I did kind of like it, though.It's a slow burning chiller, depicting a series of violent suicides in which young females jump to their death from an apartment balcony. The sister of the latest victim begins to investigate and discovers a macabre back story involving a young girl and her alcoholic mother that's somehow linked to the present day tragedies. It covers very familiar ground but I didn't mind as I enjoy these Japanese horrors with all their atmosphere-building and regular shivers and shudders.Unfortunately the film falls apart towards the end as events start to get increasingly ludicrous, thus blowing any realism that the filmmakers have strived so hard to build beforehand. The appearance of a ghostly girl whose hair extensions are dragging victims to their death is frankly laughable and it doesn't help that some horrid blue-screen effects of people hanging off balconies are even poorer than the one that marked Alan Rickman's fall in DIE HARD – and that was twenty years ago. In an effort to throw in lots of last-reel twists, we're left wondering what the hell is going on, and one of the biggest mysteries lies with the young girl and her mother living next door – if they're ghosts, how does a living male interact with them at the beginning of the film? Maybe a better question is why a family owns dog food when they clearly don't have a dog.The acting is fairly mediocre and there aren't any shining performances here, but that doesn't matter as the characterisation never goes beyond the basics anyway. The over-the-top ending leaves you wondering what the hell they were thinking of rather than sitting back with a satisfied 'wow' as in some genuinely good twist-movies such as THE USUAL SUSPECTS. The first hour's a fun exercise in suspense building but the hijinks at the climax ruin a lot of this film's credibility.

Nitzan Havoc I'm not too sure what to say about Apartment 1303... being nothing more than a Horror freak (and not a film critic or even a cinema student) I often find myself in lack of words to describe films I didn't enjoy yet didn't really dislike.I must be honest and say I was pretty disappointed, as I'm a huge fan of Asian Horror and in particular their ghost stories, The Grudge and The Ring are masterpieces of the Ghost Story sub-genre and I always find myself comparing other films to them... as for this one - I could overlook the non-original story/screenplay and focus on the good acting and fitting cinematography, had it not been for the ordinary and non frightening ghost... I mean, Asian Horror is famous for its terrifying ghosts, what happened here??What can I say... all in all I didn't really enjoy this film, and kept looking forward to something that would happen and make it worthwhile... it didn't. I can't say it was plain bad or anything, but I can't say it was good. As this is only my humble opinion, you might disagree with me and enjoy it, so I'd recommend it to fans of Ghost Stories and Asian Horror films, but only out of an attempt to maintain objectivity. Had a friend asked, I'd say they could easily bypass this film for other, better ones.

Mr Saxon When her sister apparently kills herself, Mariko refuses to believe that it was suicide and decides to investigate further. Her search for answers begins and ends at her sister's new apartment - number 1303 situated on the 13th floor of the building. It is here that Mariko discovers a dark history in which every female who moves into the apartment ends up throwing themselves from the balcony...The problem with "Apartment 1303" is that it's all so painfully derivative. The writer has obviously seen Shimizu's "The Grudge" movies and has attempted to pen his own version, but the resulting movie is nowhere near as good. Some of the scenes in "Apartment 1303" even fully replicate (or perhaps I should say 'steal from') "The Grudge" but are less effective in every way (for example, the scene in "The Grudge 2" where victims are attacked by the ghost's hair also appears here in much the same way). I'm actually amazed that the makers of "Apartment 1303" weren't sued when this film came out!Quite early in the movie, a character is telling a ghost story about a demonic woman with no eyes. As she tells it, you see flashes of the monster and I found myself hoping that this would be the evil spirit plaguing the apartment. Alas, once the telling of the story concluded we did not see this monster anymore. The reason I'm mentioning this is because the monster we saw for two or so minutes in this scene was far more interesting than the real ghosts of the movie (and, it seems that the people who packaged the DVD realised it too, because the monster appears on the back cover)!The tension of this movie is further decreased by the fact that every death follows the same pattern. The victim sees something horrible off-screen and then the next scene shows them falling off the balcony. At least with "The Grudge" you never quite knew how the next victim would perish. All in all, this is a mediocre movie. If you've never seen an Asian horror movie then you might find it interesting but most people will watch it whilst thinking "Haven't I already seen this before somewhere?"

wok2006 I think this is a direct to video. The fact that I saw this only in DVD in my neighborhood rental. I have always been a fan of the so-called Jhorror genre so I grab this. Well, unsurprisingly nothing is new in this tale of a ghost who grab lives for unexplainable hatred and grudges as we've seen enough in The Ring,The Grudge etc. The actors and actresses are not familiar faces and they gave passable if not too boring performances. The use of the number 13 in movies and fiction had been tiresome. It is not even stated how connected it is with the plot itself. All in all for me, see this one if you are planning a fright night with friends over pop corns in weekend.