Duplex (DVD)

Duplex

Alex Rose and Nancy Kendricks are a young, professional, New York couple in search of their dream home. When they finally find the perfect Brooklyn brownstone they are giddy with anticipation. The duplex is a dream come true, complete with multiple fireplaces, except for one thing: Mrs. Connelly, the old lady who lives on the rent-controlled top floor. Assuming she is elderly and ill, they take the apartment.

However, they soon realize that Mrs. Connelly is in fact an energetic senior who enjoys watching her television at top volume day in and day out and rehearsing in a brass band. As a writer, Alex is attempting to finish his novel against a looming deadline. However, he is interrupted daily by Mrs. Connelly's numerous demands and requests, and what begins as a nuisance quickly escalates into an all-out war.

When Nancy loses her job and the pair are trapped at home together with Mrs. Connelly, their rage turns to homicidal fantasy as they plot ways to get rid of their no-good neighbor - finally deciding to hire a hit-man, named Chick, to kill her. However, his asking price for doing the hit is $25,000. Unable to initially come up with the money, Alex approaches his ex-publisher, Coop, to ask for a loan, but is rebuffed. Desperate and needing the money in two days, they sell almost every possession they own to pay Chick who will do the hit on Christmas Eve. Chick fails to kill Mrs. Connelly when she defends herself with her spear gun by shooting him in the shoulder.

Bewildered and defeated, Alex and Nancy decide to evict themselves, but find out that the old woman has died right when they leave. While they contemplate their strange encounters, the audience learns that the realtor of the duplex (revealed to be Mrs. Connelly's son) and the police officer who had been overly protective of Mrs. Connelly and distrusted the couple (her son's lover), and the woman (who is not in fact dead) does this all the time: harassing young couples and then faking her own death and collecting a commission from the next occupants. Alex and Nancy were just Mrs. Connelly and her group's latest victims.

At the conclusion, it is revealed that Alex used the experience as inspiration for his next book, which became a best-seller thus ending the film on a semi-happy ending.