Delayed Reaction: Pacific Heights

What I Guessed It Was About: ...Something about San Francisco. If I think about it any more than that, I just start singing the Full House theme.

How I Came Into It: Michael Keaton is the highlight of this cast and it's fun to see him work against type by being such a villain in this. Given how much of a resurgence he's having now, it's nice to be reminded of his first go as an A-lister.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) This is a yuppie horror story*. I like to imagine that the screenwriter was a former landlord, and this is how he worked through his experiences with a really bad tenant. I need to double-feature this with 99 Homes for a "housing nightmares" night. Michael Keaton is the perfect person to play the relaxed, insane conman, and Matthew Modine tries to play a hyperbolic everyman who deftly jumps from sensible to hysterical at a moment's notice. Melanie Griffith does a great job as the classic damsel in distress. It's funny stuff. This is a great play on the home invasion movies that came before it. It's a wonderful horror comedy.

*I'm positive I stole that line from an old review or the Wikipedia page but it's too perfect to not use.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: What's that? This isn't a comedy.
First of all, yes it is a comedy. Watch it again. It's very funny.
Second, no, it wasn't intended to be a comedy, and that's the problem. There's a version of this movie that could be done as a slow boil thriller. They do that, except occasionally they throw a fire cracker into the pot. It's just a silly movie that either needs to wink at  the camera a little more or drop some of the stakes.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend