The Neighbor (2016)

Running Time: 1hr 27min

Release Date: September 6, 2016

Directed by: Marcus Dunstan

Written by: Marcus Dunstan, Patrick Melton

If you haven't heard of this one, it's probably because it's a straight to VOD/DVD flick, and I don't think there was much press on it at all in the horror community.  As I've mentioned before, I'm a fan of mostly anything involving Josh Stewart, so naturally I had to check this one out.  Unfortunately, The Neighbor came off like something I had seen before...several times.

Directed by Marcus Dunstan (The Collector, The Collection), the film takes us to Cutter, Mississippi where John (Josh Stewart), a bit of a small town criminal, and his pretty girlfriend, Rosie (Alex Essoe) live.  Their neighbor, Troy (Bill Engvall), is an intimidating and off-putting character with some dark secrets he's hiding, and it's not long before Josh and Rosie figure out the truth the hard way.

Okay, I know y'all are thinking the same thing: BILL ENGVALL?? Like, "redneck comedian" Bill Engvall?  "Friend of the insufferable Larry the Cable Guy" Bill Engvall?  Yes, that Bill Engvall.  I guess it could have been worse, they could have cast Jeff Foxworthy or the guy who plays with the puppets.  That aside, his character actually was one of the better parts of the movie, no lie.  There was no comedy shoehorned in to give us a *winknudge* to the actor, which I totally appreciated, because there was really no room for anything funny in this story.

I wouldn't necessarily call The Neighbor a horror, but rather a crime thriller.  And to add to that, it's a fairly paint-by-numbers thriller.  It just went through the motions and was predictable with not very many shockers that you didn't already see coming.  Another thing I couldn't help but notice was that it was very reminiscent of The Collector/The Collection with a bit of Disturbia thrown in.  You definitely knew this was a Marcus Dunstan film.  While I'm a fan of the Collector films, this one was just too on-the-nose with that story and didn't offer us anything knew.  It didn't feel like there was a lot of effort put into the story.

What I won't complain about is that it was shot pretty well.  The music fit and I dug the old school film shots (I think that's the word for it) interspersed throughout, especially in the end scenes.  So it's not a total loss of a film for me, but the cinematography/soundtrack aren't exactly enough to get me to love a movie.

Of course, I don't have many harsh words for Josh Stewart, but I also am a little bummed that he seems to be playing the same role of the "criminal who finds himself in a worse situation."  He's got some acting chops, Dunstan could have switched up the role just a littttle bit, y'know?

I won't tell you to shun The Neighbor, it's definitely at least worth a viewing to form your own judgements on it, but I will suggest possibly waiting until it's streaming to do so.  This flick will undoubtedly be a one-time watch for this gal.

2/5


Out now on VOD!
Check out the trailer below: