After the men have gone, Hayes calmly tells Ann, "The worst part's over now...." In San Francisco, unmarried couple Drake Goodman and Patty Palmer purchase an expensive 19th-century Victorian house in the exclusive Pacific Heights neighborhood.

Hayes drives an expensive 1977 Porsche 911 and carries large amounts of cash on his person, but is reluctant to undergo a credit check.

He convinces Drake to waive the credit check in exchange for a list of references and an upfront payment of the first six months' rent, to be paid by wire transfer.

From inside the apartment, sounds of loud hammering and drilling are heard at all hours of the day and night; however, the door is seldom answered.

Hayes, safe from eviction for the time being, infests the house with cockroaches, which prompts the Watanabes to move out and pushes Drake and Patty further into debt.

By this time however, Hayes has disappeared, and the apartment has been destroyed and stripped bare of all its appliances, light fixtures, wood paneling, and even the toilet.

Patty bluffs her way into his suite by posing as his wife, and while rummaging through his personal effects she discovers he is using legal and financial documents in Drake's name.

The website's critics consensus reads, "Michael Keaton certainly proves himself as an effective villain, but Pacific Heights sticks too closely to well-worn thriller conventions.

[6] Janet Maslin of The New York Times characterized the film as "perhaps the first eviction thriller," writing that it "taps into a previously unexplored subject, the source of so much excitement and so many conversational gambits within young urban professional circles.

[8] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly agreed, writing, "the actors are stranded with a perfunctory, deadwood script that's all concept and no follow-through.

[11] In contrast, the Washington Post's Howe criticized Modine's acting, remarking that as he "... goes from clean cut boyfriend to arrested, frothing debtor in screen minutes, loses his cool so easily and maniacally, you wonder if he'll turn out to be the real psycho.

However, the actual film location for Drake and Patty's house is in Potrero Hill in San Francisco, specifically at the corner of 19th and Texas Street.

A TV series adaptation was confirmed by Morgan Creek Entertainment in 2021 to be in the works with "a surprising and cheeky gender role reversal.