Somewhat decent movie, overall, but frustrating in it's questionnable plot devices, and overall storyline. Extremely well-acted by Michael Keaton. However, there seemed to be so much unexamined and unexplained that, in my opinion, took away from the movie overall.<br /><br />I don't know all the rental laws in California, but I found it preposterous that someone could plop themselves into an apartment, tear it to pieces, not pay the rent, and have the law on his side. I don't know precisely how this works, but I had the feeling this may have been an extreme example of "renter's rights". The cops and legal system in this movie all seemed to be behaving from some kind of alternate, backward universe. Living in California a few years ago, I had the misfortune to have to evict someone. I had the law on my side every step of the way, and was able to get this person out of the property without much trouble. In fact, I was able to have the person charged with vandalism for damage they had done. The cops and courts were all thoroughly on my side. What exactly was going on here? Where did Carter Hayes come from? What in the world was his story? How did he come to this level? He seemed to just show up on their doorstep, well-dressed and professional, and then basically go batty. Why not some further development of who he was, and where he came from? There was slight anecdotal hints, but he seemed to be just some mindless slug, allowed to drop into someone's life and wreak havoc in it. Michael Keaton was truly sinister and terrifying in this, and made something more of the character, but this could easily have been senseless.<br /><br />Too many questions, and too many events that strained credulity.