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.

VOD Review: Viral (2016)

"This is one movie that really wormed its way into our hearts."

(aka Worm Flu.)

Release Date: August 2nd.

Country: USA.

Rating: R.

Written by: Christopher Landon.

Directed by: Henry Joost & Ariel Shulman.

Starring: Sophia Black-D'Elia, Analeigh Tipton, Travis Tope, Machine Gun Kelly, and Michael Kelly.



We're usually pretty skeptical when a new Blumhouse movie goes the Direct-to-VOD route, because let's be honest, a lot of their smaller flicks tend not to be so great. We were happily surprised to find though,that Viral was an above-average release for them. In fact, if they could only manage to make their output this satisfying on a regular basis, we'd have nothing to bitch about anymore when it comes to Blumhouse.

Emma and Stacey are sisters, and average teenagers in a small town, just trying to navigate their way through High School life. Emma is sweet and innocent, and Stacey is wild and rebellious, which means that they clash, which makes their already troubled home life (their parents may be splitsville) even more chaotic.

DEFINITELY OPPOSITES.

To make things even worse, a worm parasite begins infecting people and spreading across the country, turning the infected into mindless, aggressive creatures, which causes the country to break down. Cell phone signals fail, the power goes off, travelers are stranded far from home, and eventually, the Army movies in to declare martial law and quarantine the small town in which Emma and Stacey live.

BUT NO PARASITE CAN STOP TRUE LOVE.

With their parents kept out of town by the quarantine (for reasons), the sisters are forced to survive on their own. At first, Stacey looks at it like a time to party with no parental supervision, but it soon becomes clear that those days are gone, and that they're all in grave danger. Vomity, wormy danger.



Pandemic panic ensues.

SO YOU ENJOYED THE PARTY THEN? GOOD.

Viral is a different kind of Infected movie that focuses more on the dramatic impact of the ensuing Apocalypse, rather than just the usual "run, hide, die" aspects of such efforts. The movie is still plenty intense at times, and the feeling of doom associated with most pandemic movies like this is ever-present, but much like Into the Forest, the focus here is on how two young sisters deal with the outbreak and their quarantine, which made it both refreshing, and emotionally impactful.



On the technical side of things, Viral does not look like a Direct-to-VOD movie at all. Not only is it solidly written and directed, but the camerawork is clean and makes things look like they cost way more than the Indie budget that they had to work with.



We honestly thought that Analeigh Tipton was Aubrey Plaza when we saw the trailer for Viral, because they could be sisters. She's her own person though, and she did a hell of a job in this one. Her character had the most to do, and went through way more of a dramatic story arc than Sophia Black-D'Elia's did, and she was impressive. They both were.

THOSE INFECTED ARE VERY PUSHY.

What was with the infected and their little meeting? Was it some sort of hive-mind recharge session or something? If there's one thing about this movie that didn't wow us, it's that the infected had a fairly small presence, and when we did see them, we weren't sure what they were all about.

A PRAYER CIRCLE?

When your Dad tells you no boys in the house, there's a reason for it, and you listen!



Also, why would you go to a house party when your town in under viral quarantine? Don't you think that if there's a sickness moving from person to person, that being in a tight space with a ton of other people might not be the best idea?

DUMMIES.

Plenty of bloody spewing in this one.

WHY SO SERIOUS?

Nope.

FOR SHAME...

A viral pandemic can happen at any time, and if it ever does, it's going to be bloody, wormy, and messy. Plan accordingly.

WELL, SHIT.

More of a character study and sisterly relationship drama (at least in its latter half) than it was an all-out Horror flick, Viral was a solid Infection movie that allowed us to feel the ravages of a deadly pandemic on a smaller, more intimate scale. They could have ramped up the Horror a bit, but as it stands, this movie entertained us, and made us like its characters enough to be genuinely afraid for them.



It's definitely worthy of a rental.



B



Viral is available now on VOD.

Analeigh Tipton is now one of our favorite young actresses, and Sophia Black-D'Elia isn't so bad either.