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.

Throwback Review: The Red Riding Trilogy (2009)

*This review was originally posted by us back in 2013, and while watching through the disc again this week, it felt right to clean it up and re-post it. It's that damn good.

Red Riding is a UK mini-series which is made up of 3 film-length episodes, each helmed by different directors, with varied run times



In the Year of Our Lord (1974) 1 hour, 42 min., shot on 16mm film with an AR of 16x9

In the Year of Our Lord (1980) 1 hour, 33 min., shot on 35mm film with an AR of 2:35:1

In the Year of Our Lord (1983) 1 hour, 45 min., shot on a Red One digital camera.



So what we basically have here is a 5-hour long story that unfolds over the course of nine years, and involves killers, pedos and corrupt Cops destroying a multitude of lives, all while painting a rather bleak picture of Northern England.



Alright. We're in.

We're going to keep this as detail-free as possible, so as to avoid spoilers.



A "Riding" is a jurisdiction/electoral district in a commonwealth. Red Riding is set in Yorkshire, England, which boasts North, West, and East ridings, and apparently has a metaphorical Red riding as well. I'm assuming this last riding is "Red" because of blood and murder and such.



1974- When a young girl goes missing, Yorkshire Post cub reporter Eddie Dunford (Spiderman) is determined to get to the truth behind the disappearance. He eventually learns of more missing girls, and when one shows up dead at a construction site run by local magnate John Dawson (Eddark Stark from Game of Thrones), he begins to suspect foul play! He also bangs the chick from Downton Abbey, and the grieving mother of one of the missing girls. As his investigation into the disappearances/murders gets deeper and deeper, he's beaten up by the Cops and goes completely off the fucking rails.



Shit does not end well.

HE FANCIES A PINT WITH HIS EVIL GLARES.

1980- The Yorkshire Ripper is still at large, and with his current tally of 13 victims, he's making the Coppers look like fools. Called in to help investigate, AC Paddy Considine comes to believe that the Ripper's hooker-victims and the murders of the young girls are unrelated, which makes most of his peers hate him. He begins to receive threatening phone calls in the wee hours of the morning, and tries to bang his partner. As his investigation into the murders gets deeper and deeper, he realizes that being a Copper in the North sucks.



Shit does not end well.

"U WOT MATE? I'LL HOOK YOU RIGHT IN THE GABBER, I SWEAR ON ME MUM!"

1983- Another young girl has gone missing in the West riding of Yorkshire, and DS Jobson (The Governor from The Walking Dead) is on the case. He's a bit of a shady dick, but he's all we 'ave, 'innit he? Meanwhile, a portly, half-assed Solicitor named Piggot (King Robert Baratheon from Game of Thrones) is hired to represent a possibly-framed man, and he starts investigating shit like a bloodhound. Soon, everyone is investigating shit, and as their inquiries get deeper and deeper, they all realize that Northern England is a shady, creepy-ass place to live. Or visit.



Shit ends kinda well.

HE'S PROBABLY INNOCENT.

It's hard to compare Red Riding to another TV show or movie, but in the interest of giving the uninitiated an idea about what to expect here, I'd say it's reminiscent of Zodiac with a twist of something like Ripper Street. Maybe. It's a dark, bleak, story of a serial killer and the men who are determined to bring him to justice. Most of the Cops are crooked in this one, which adds a layer of political corruption to the proceedings. It's almost like it's an anti-Cop mini-series.



Once you've seen all three parts, and the story comes full circle, it's pretty epic. When you finally know everything and really think about what these murdered kids went through, it's downright chilling. It's all rather effective and engrossing, and was a much-welcomed surprise for us.



Aside from its strong plot and realistic setting, there's also a wealth of superb acting talent on display in this series. Red Riding is filled with faces that are familiar to audiences world-wide:

DON'T DISMISS ANDREW GARFIELD AS MERELY THE GUY WHO PLAYS SPIDERMAN, BECAUSE DUDE CAN ACT. HE SHINES IN THIS.

I DON'T KNOW HOW PADDY CONSADINE ISN'T A BIGGER STAR. HE'S GOT CRAZY PRESENCE.

PETER MULLAN IS ONE OF THE MOST INTENSE ACTORS ON THE PLANET. HE''S ALSO CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED.

KING ROBERT BARATHEON! MARK ADDY IS A GREAT ACTOR WITH RANGE THAT GOES FAR BEYOND HIS GOT CHARACTER.

IT'S NICE TO SEE DAVID MORRISSEY GETTING SOME INTERNATIONAL LOVE FOR HIS ROLE ON THE WALKING DEAD. HE'S BEEN A FAVE OF OURS FOR YEARS.

ROBERT SHEEHAN IS ONE HELL OF AN ACTOR, AND IS PROBABLY THE MOST UNDERRATED AND UNKNOWN OF THE ENTIRE CAST, AT LEAST IN AMERICA.

SEAN BEAN: THE BEST ACTOR WHO DIES IN 90% OF WHATEVER HE STARS IN. HE'S WORLD CLASS IN OUR BOOK.

 

Though Red Riding is presented to us in three parts -1974, 1980, and 1983- the book series that it's based off of is a quartet, and there's a chapter of the story set in 1977 that was not a part of this mini-series. Now, I've not read the books, so I'm not sure if the material from In the Year of Our Lord (1977) was worked into the other three parts, or just skipped altogether, but dammit I would have gladly sat through a 90+ minute episode based on 1977.

MORE OF THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE BY US.

There's a rumor out there that Colombia Pictures bought the right to turn the Red Riding books/movies into a feature film... and I'm here to say that there is absolutely no need for that to happen at all. The Red Riding Trilogy is more fine the way it is, and I can't imagine any remake, especially if it's just one feature-length film, doing the existing story any Justice whatsoever.



Why does every foreign property of worth have to be remade for American audiences anyway? I know that by and large, the American audience can't stand having to read subtitles, which I think is pretty sad. This is a British production, in which they speak English, so what's the problem with just distributing it to American audiences, and letting us enjoy it in all its splendor, instead of remaking it?



There should be a 20-year rule for remakes. Period.

OUR THOUGHTS EXACTLY, LADS.

This one really isn't about the gore, although there is plenty of violence and some murders to be had here. And torture. And dead bodies of children with swan wings sewn into their backs. It really is filled will all sorts of disturbing things.

HE'S SEEN SOME SHIT...

Aside from some naked nudie-mag pictures, most of the sexuality here is implied. Mostly, it's just Spiderman's naked ass that ends up on display.

SHE'S SO LOVELY.

"Never did one good thing did I?"

"This is the North. We do what we want."

"They�ve got sunshine down South and a warm summer breeze. We should just go there right now and never come back."

THE KRAYS ARE STILL ALIVE?!?

They do what they want in the North, and you'd better shut the hell up about it. Also, standard British TV fare is filled with some superb acting talent.

LOOK OUT! THAT SWAN IS COMING STRAIGHT FOR YOU!

Red Riding is one of the best TV mini-series that we've ever seen. It's totally engaging and absorbing, it's filled with great actors who all turn in solid performances, and it's disturbing as hell. It's not a perfect series, but for us it was a perfect experience that we'll be happy to revisit on a regular basis.



This is something you should definitely experience for yourselves. 



A+

Red Riding definitely delivered some 70's hotness for our viewing pleasure, in the form of Rebecca Hall and Michelle Dockery.