September 19, 2016

VOD Review: The Neighbor (2016)

"The Neighbor is pretty much The Collector 3, minus the collector. And most of the gore."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3330764/
The last time director Marcus Dunstan teamed up with the way-underrated Josh Stewart, we got two entertaining and thrilling movies: The Collector (review HERE) and The Collection (review HERE.)

Both were great Home Invasion Thrillers, and now we get The Neighbor which feels a lot like those films in its mechanics. It has a different plot of course, but it's Josh Stewart once again trapped inside of the house with a twisted killer, being forced to use his wits to escape and save the day.

Duntsan and Stewart pull of that premise so well together though that we don't even care how familiar it all feels. Bring it on.

John is a career criminal who works as a Coyote for the local crime boss. He's been saving his money so that he and his girlfriend, Rosie, can get the hell out of their backwater Mississippi town and start a new life that won't end with them dead or in jail. Of course when his boss catches wind of his impending departure, he is none too pleased, i.e. he threatens to kill them if they try to leave.

AS IF SAYING "I'LL KILL YOU IF YOU LEAVE" WILL SOMEHOW MAKE THEM WANT TO STAY?
As if that wasn't enough drama for John to have to deal with, he and Rosie have a shady new neighbor to deal with. Troy (The Neighbor) isn't exactly an upstanding citizen himself, and after he forces his way into John's house and forces him to drink a beer with him, they come to the understanding that both of them have secrets, and that they should stay out of each other's business...

...WHICH WOULD BE FINE AND WELL, IF ROSIE WEREN'T SUCH A CREEPER.
You see, Rosie likes to spy on their new neighbor with her telescope, which leads her to witness a murder on his property, which leads him to kidnap her and lock him in his basement with his other whores. John figures this out and breaks into Troy's house to find Rosie, but instead stumbles into something that spells doom for them all.

An attempted escape from the Boom Boom Room ensues.

THAT'S NOT HELPFUL AT ALL.
As we mentioned above, The Neighbor has a lot in common with The Collector movies: the director; the male lead; the color scheme (Dunstan loves playing with reds and blues); and the plot, which involves a nice normal guy (who is a tiny bit of a crook), creeping around in a Serial Killer's lair in an effort to stay alive, and rescue some poor, Innocent, potential victim. That's alright by us, because we really liked The Collector 1 & 2, and even though The Neighbor isn't quite as gory as twisted as they are, it's still got the air of tension that made them so special, even if it's not "quite" as good. 

Intensity is the order of the day here, and it works well. 

Josh Stewart is a guy who has been around for a while now, and he's had some small roles in some great movies and TV shows, but is still a bit under the radar. He's a great actor, and we love how the films of Marcus Dusntan allow him to take the lead and shine. He's got a humble, southern boy charm about him, and he really needs to be the lead in more movies. Alex Essoe's character felt like more of a plot device than anything, but that's because she killed it in Starry Eyes, and just doesn't have a ton to do here other than play the victim. She has her moments towards the end though.

It's comedian Bill Engvall that really owns this movie though. For a funny man, he plays menacing extremely well, and he made Troy a truly memorable villain. Kinda wish that he had more time towards the end to flex his twisted muscle, so to speak, but he was really good with what he was given, and that was enough for us. Mostly. 

JOSH STEWART ALWAYS LOOKS HIGH TO US.
There's plenty of violence towards the end, but most of the movie is more of a cat-and-mouse type of Thriller than it is a visceral shocker.

STILL, GUNS ARE FIRED, AND LIVES END.
Not that kind of movie.

SHE'S HAD A ROUGH DAY.
"We all got our secrets."

BOY, AIN'T THAT THE TRUTH.
Some people are going to call The Neighbor a Home Invasion flick that is average at best, which is true to a point, but we enjoyed it a lot more than that. Maybe it's because we dig Josh Stewart so much, or how we really like the way that Marcus Dunstan constructs his movies, but there was just something compelling about the story and its characters, even if it was a bit too formulaic and familiar.

If you liked The Collector flicks, and are cool with revisiting that same type of world, only with a bit less twisted violence throughout, then you'll probably like The Neighbor a lot too.

B

The Neighbor is available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD.

http://amzn.to/2dbv2kL

Alex Essoe is in this, and she's still got those dreamy, starry eyes.

11 comments :

  1. I'm going to catch this tonight.

    Looking forward to your Blair Witch review btw. While I like BWingard & Barrett Brad Miska has struckt again with some truly cringe worthy hyperbole now that i've seen the film.

    "Blair Witch is that game-changer horror fans desperately have been waiting for. It will usher in a new breed of genre films that are targeted at creating an emotional experience above all else."

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    1. Ditto! Also waiting for THC's review of the new "Blairwitch" and just want to compare it with what I thought about the movie.

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  2. I knew you would like this movie.

    I was going to post this after my first one about this movie over in the Collector review:

    "Oh and Bill Engvall, nuff said..."
    Cause I knew you would have gotten that...

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    1. Def a cool flick. And Bill Engvall surprised me.

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    2. Yeah, I have to say that Engvall Def needs to be the new horror icon. Serious props to him. I never In million years would have thought that he would be an effective villian. I mean he is no collector, but I mean he Def held up his end of the movie.

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  3. ı love this blog and ı love ur review

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  4. Hi there. I really like coming to the horror club and reading the reviews! thanks for them, especially as a gothic lit professor. I found this line in your review problematic.. " and lock him in his basement with his other whores." Not quite sure if you meant he kept a stable of prostitutes in his basement or just all women in general in this movie are "whores." Thanks for the site!

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    1. IDK if you have seen this movie, and I can't really speak for JS. But I think that line was meant as a kinda general 'spoiler free' way to explain something, and not a representation of anything.

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    2. Mike has the right of it. It was a flippant way of giving an idea of what was going on, without truly spoiling things.

      BTW Mike, I'm treating Antibirth as a request for review from you :)

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    3. Sweet. Can't go wrong with that one either. ;)

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  5. The collector movies were great, this one a decent one. At least, acting wise I can't complain a lot. Perhaps those lousy sons weren't that great but they surely were ment to be lousy. I think I can't go wrong to watch movies from this director with this male lead. Although it would be nice to have the females be more than victims.

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