VOD Review: The Neighbor (2016)

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

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.

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

Blu-ray Review: Event Horizon (1997)

"Hell in space."

(aka Do You See?)

Release Date: August 15th, 1997.

Country: USA.

Rating: R.

Written by: Philip Eisner.

Directed by: Paul W.S. Anderson.

Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson, Jason Isaacs, and Sean Pertwee.



It's always amazed me how much critics hated this movie, and how audiences didn't respond to it at all, when it was released back in 1997. Now, a lot of critics are stodgy old bores who can never seem to truly enjoy a movie unless it's set in 14th Century England, so I don't tend to give a shit what they say about most Genre flicks, but Event Horizon is not anywhere near the piece of shit that they all made it out to be. In fact, it's one of the coolest Horror flicks to come out of the 90's, and one hell of a good time.



So screw them. 

Space, 2040: The Event Horizon, a deep exploration starship, disappears on its maiden mission to Proxima Centauri. Where did it go, you ask? Hell, but we'll get to that later.

AH, THERE SHE IS.

Space, 2047: The rescue ship Lewis and Clark is sent to Neptune to answer a distress signal, which unbeknownst to them is coming from the Event Horizon, which has suddenly reappeared out of nowhere after 7 years. The ship's creator, Dr. Weir is on board, and he's determined to find out what happened to his baby and bring her home.

DR. WEIR IS AN ASSHOLE, BY THE WAY.

When the crew of the Lewis and Clark boards the Event Horizon to get her back on-line and get some answers, it comes alive, and all hell breaks loose, literally. Like we said above, the ship went to hell (or a really hellish alternate dimension) when it disappeared, and it brought something back with it. Do you see?



Hell on Earth in space ensues.

OH YES, WE SEE.

Event Horizon is one of those movies that we loved when we first saw it in theaters back in 1997, while it seemed to be hated by everyone else. Now, that's not because we're so enlightened that we "got" what a great movie it was, and everyone else was missing the boat, but because it just spoke to us in all the right ways. And because we got it and they didn't, because "they" have shitty taste, and we don't.



Yes, it's a bit melodramatic and over-the-top in the acting department at times, and it's not very scientifically accurate, but it was a bloody, exciting ride that sucked us in and made us hungry for more.



It's packed full of bloody & gory scenes and disturbing imagery; it's got a likable cast, most of whom meet their ends in nasty ways; it's suitably creepy; the ship looks fantastic, as do the glimpses of Hell that we get; and it just doesn't ever let up on any of those things. It's a disturbing Haunted House story set in space. What's not to love about that?

PLUS, LARRY FISHBURNE. HOW AWESOME IS HE?

Did we mention that Dr. Weir was an asshole?

KILL HIM!

This movie was cut pretty heavily when it first came out due to test audiences complaining that it was too gory and violent, which makes no sense, because it's a frigging Horror movie, but I digress...



Point is that somewhere out there (supposedly) is a bunch of footage that would make for a pretty gnarly Unrated Cut, but due to the fact that the studio didn't give a shit about this movie after its poor reception, we'll probably never see it assembled into anything watchable. That's a damn shame.

WAS IT RAPE? WE MAY NEVER KNOW...

Even though a lot of it is shown in quick flashes, there's plenty of blood & gore throughout this one to keep most Gorehounds happy.

I MEAN, THAT'S A LOT OF BLOOD.

There's some nudity in this one, but it's not of the sexy variety.

POOR GIRL DIED HALF-NAKED.

Event Horizon looks pretty damned good in this 2:35:1, 1080p/AVC transfer. The special effects look a bit dated in parts, but overall this is a gorgeously shot movie with some great VFX that really shine in crisp detail on this disc. The Dolby TruHD 5.1 audio track complements the visuals perfectly, making it even more of an immersive experience than it already was.



Special Features:

• Audio Commentary with Paul W.S. Anderson


• The Making of Event Horizon (SD, 103 minutes)


• The Point of No Return (SD, 8 minutes)


• Deleted/Extended Scenes (SD, 10 minutes)


• The Unseen (SD, 7 minutes)


• Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2 minutes)

Overall, for under $10, this is an excellent catalogue title that should be a part of any Horror Fan's collection.

POOR BABY BIRD...

Simply put, Event Horizon is one of the best Horror movies of the 90's, and one of our favorite fright flicks set in space. It's eerie, disturbing, gory, and all kinds of exciting, and even though it's attained a bit of a cult status over the years, it's still severely underrated.



If you have yet to take a ride through space and Hell with the Event Horizon, you should rectify that omission now.



A-



Event Horizon is available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD.

Along with its Demons, the Event Horizon was also populated with a few Angels.

Theatrical Review: Don't Breathe (2016)

"The hype surrounding this movie is mostly real."

(aka It's Cold in Tha D)

Release Date: August 26th.

Country: USA

Rating: R

Written by: Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues.

Directed by: Fede Alvarez.

Starring: Jane Levy, Stephen Lang, Dylan Minette, and Daniel Zovatto.



When unknown Urugayan director Fede Alvarez signed on to direct a remake of the Sam Raimi classic, The Evil Dead, we just knew it was going to suck. I mean, how do you remake such a beloved, gritty Horror movie in this day and age of glossy, over-sanitized shit? Surely just about everything that made the original (and its sequels) so great would be lost in translation, right?



Well, no.



The Evil Dead remake not only didn't suck, but it was surprisingly awesome. What Fede Alvarez did with that movie still has us scratching our heads, because his version of Evil Dead was lean, mean, bloody, and all kinds of compelling. Read our review HERE.



Turns out that his sophomore effort, Don't Breathe, is also lean and mean, and it does the whole Home Invasion thing to near perfection.

Rocky, Money, and Alex are three Detroit hoodrats who make up a burglary crew that rob houses that have security systems installed by Alex's dad. Rocky is hot, and dreams of moving she and her baby sister, Diddy, to California to escape their shitty, Whiskey Tango lives; her boyfriend, Money, is just about as scummy as his street name implies; and Alex is the nice one who loves Rocky, but Money ain't letting him get with his bitch, yo.

YES, YOU REALLY HAVE TO CALL HIM "MONEY."

When they learn of an old, blind Army Veteran living in a ramshackle house in an all-but-deserted neighborhood (who supposedly has $300k stashed in his house somewhere), they decide to rob him, and use the money to start new lives. Why someone would keep that much money in a house in a bad Detroit neighborhood, and not in a bank, makes no sense to us at all, but what do we know.

LIKE THEY WERE PLANNING ON SCREAMING OR SOMETHING?

They case the joint and break in, only to find the old blind man not quite as feeble and helpless as they had hoped. We don't want to spoil what happens next for you here, but suffice it to say that when an old, blind dude lives alone in a bad neighborhood, you should probably ask yourself why. *Because he's the creepiest dude in the city, that's why.



A botched home invasion ensues.

LITERALLY, DON'T BREATHE.

We really liked Don't Breathe, and I gave it an A grade overall, but I don't want to oversell it too much. The characterization was pretty shallow, and some of the things that those characters did felt to me like plot devices to keep the movie going at times, but overall this is a tight little Thriller that worked on just about every level. It could have been perfect with some tweaking, but it's close enough as is.



It's a short movie, clocking in at about 88 minutes, but because of that short run-time, it never really drags or loses any steam. It's a pretty straight-forward, intense, punch to the gut kind of a movie, and the way that Fede Alvarez pulled it off was pretty impressive. We kind of felt some sympathy for the thieves in this one, although their skeevy asses were robbing a blind dude with a sad life story, so maybe we didn't like them all that much. Then again, we felt bad for the blind guy, being a lonely war veteran who just tragically lost his daughter, being at the mercy of three thieves woo want his money... although about halfway through, everything gets flipped on its ass and we learn that maybe he's not such a nice guy either.



The twisty "Who in the hell are we supposed to be rooting for?" dynamic played with our heads throughout this one, and made for a clever storyline.



Jane Levy rocks. We love that girl, and she was great in this one, even if her hoodrat character was a bit shady and self-serving. It was the ever-awesome Stephen Lang though who stole the show in Don't Breathe. He's been an excellent character actor since the 80's who has seen his star rise in recent years (thanks mostly to Avatar, we imagine), and it's well-deserved. The guy plays scary and intense as well as just about anyone does, and he made for a formidable foe in this one.

HE WAS GREAT IN SALEM, TOO.

The one thing that really irked me about this movie is that a few of the thieves had different chances to escape or get away clean, and didn't. Instead, they have to save someone; or Jane Levy has to taunt the old man instead of running, multiple times, which leads to her not being able to escape...



That kind of plot-device shit drives me insane, and it makes me look at the characters like they're idiots. 

RUN, DUMMY!

As someone who lives riiiight outside of Detroit, I have to say that the depiction of the city was a bit unfair in this movie. Sure, there are shitty parts of Detroit that look like Beirut after a heavy bombing, but there are also alot of nice neighborhoods too. There's not a state in this country that doesn't have the same kind of blight going on (usually in poor sections of major cities), but every movie I see lately that features Detroit makes it look like the crack of Satan's asshole... and it is, in sections, but man, give it a rest.



Someone posted online, in reference to this movie "Who would actually live in a neighborhood like that?!?" I don't know, dickhead, maybe someone who can't afford to move, even though they'd love nothing more? Some people are born into certain neighborhoods and lack the tools to get themselves out. Even more crazy is that there are some people who love their shitty neighborhoods, and try like hell to make them better. That's a losing battle in some ways, but I have to admire their pluck.



There are lots of good people in The D, and yeah, some of the neighborhoods they live in are downright scary, but it's not all like that.



End rant.

DUDES LIKE MONEY EXIST THOUGH. REAL TALK.

There's definitely some violence throughout this one, but it's that damn turkey baster scene that had us wincing...

YEAH, US TOO, JANE.

Not that kind of flick at all.

SIGH...

Fede Alvarez is for real. Also, whomever came up with names like Money, Diddy, and Rocky for the characters in this movie needs to stop coming up with names for characters in movies. That's really the best they could come up with?

YEAH, YOU HAVE STUPID NAMES.

Don't Breathe may not be "the best Horror movie of the last decade" like some critics would have you believe, but it is a really good one, and it's definitely one of the best of 2016. If nothing else, it's a good reason to take a trip to the theater and get some popcorn with extra butter. And Raisinets. 



A



Don't Breathe is in theaters now.

Oh, Jane Levy. How we adore thee.