The Neighbor: Das Grauen wartet nebenan

The Neighbor is a low budget suspense/thriller that actually is pretty decent and works. For what it is, I was surprised and entertained. The acting and overall quality of production is relatively low level but it works for the kind of movie it is. There was some decent scenes filled with violence and action. There were a few twists and turns as well. Overall it's an okay watch and worth it if you like these kinds of movies. Just don't expect anything high quality. IMDb also needs to remove these damn character minimums for movie reviews. They are excessive and unnecessary to have in place!!!!!

I'm a big fan of Marcus Dunstan. I'll never forget being in a hotel room late one night when a movie I'd never heard of called 'The Collector' came on, and I thought I'd give it a look. What followed were 90 of the most intense minutes I can remember seeing on film. While I still enjoyed 'The Neighbor', I can admit it didn't quite live up to those high standards. It's a fun premise, but instead of being tense from whoa to go, it has long sequences that are actually rather dull and hard to focus during. Those are really the only parts that let it down though, because the rest is excellent.

Josh Stewart fills the lead role again. I think he's an under-appreciated actor. He brings a tremendous intensity to a movie and manages to be likable, even when playing a crook (although often a crook who is the lesser of two evils). The main villain isn't quite as memorable as 'The Collector', hence the more toned down film title of 'The Neighbor'. I suspect that is what Dunstan was going for though. A more grounded and realistic story, while still keeping all the suspense of his previous films. He almost pulls it off to perfection and with some simple editing tweaks this could have been something very special. Alas it will have to settle for being an above average thriller.

The 2016 movie titled "The Neighbor" starts out fairly slow and doesn't really progress much at any kind of speed, right up until Rosie sees something through the binocular. But then the movie does kick up into an impressive gear, and leaves behind its former semi-boring pace.

Without going too much into detail about the actual storyline, I will just briefly summarize the movie. John and Rosie are planning to leave town in order to start a new and better life, when Rosie makes a gruesome discovery through a looking glass directed towards their neighbor. And when John comes home, Rosie is nowhere to be found...

What works out in "The Neighbor" is the way that director Marcus Dunstan constructed the movie and managed to build up a good atmosphere and a sense of dread throughout the course of the movie. There is a good flow to the storyline, once it kicks into gear.

And the acting in the movie was quite good, although you shouldn't expect any dramatic Shakespearian thespian performances though. But people did good with their roles and character, taking the genre and fairly simplistic storyline into consideration.

I will say that Josh Stewart (playing John) actually stood out among the acting talents in "The Neighbor", because he really carried the movie quite well.

However, the movie did suffer from an overshadowing predictability. You knew what would happen throughout the course of the movie, and you knew how it would end. To that point, it was somewhat of a disappointment, because "The Neighbor" didn't really bring anything new to the crime / thriller genre which hadn't already been seen countless times before.

"The Neighbor" is a good movie for an evening's worth of entertainment. However, I doubt that you will be putting the movie on a second time around, because once you have seen the movie, there just isn't enough meat on the bone to support more than a single viewing.

I came across this one because I liked Don't Breathe (2016) people said well there's another one in that style to watch but hasn't got the publicity the other one had. So i picked it up.

It starts rather as a flick about dealing in drugs and living underground to earn money so John (Josh Stewart) and his girlfriend Rosie (Alex Essoe) can leave it all behind and go to start a new life. Until that point this flick is not delivering but of course on day they got a visit from their neighbor.

From there on this flick suddenly turns into a brutal flick were it doesn't matter who's face is smashed to bits, girl or boy. I can't go too deep into the story or I would spoil it all but you just doesn't see it coming how this flick turns into a horror suspense flick.

Excellent flick, don't bother about the characters not being evolved, this is all about surviving.

Gore 1/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

Won't win any awards for most original screenplay but it was still pretty well-made and for the more part fast-paced thriller (at least the second half).

'Don't Breathe' is one of my favorites so far of 2016 and this is a bit similar to that (a criminal couple vs a old guy) although not as great of course but still good enough. Imagine if Rob Zombie directed that movie then you kinda get the idea of what this is like.

To be fair though the director Marcus Duncstan is in no way copying that movie or anything and has made similar movies before with 'The Collector' and 'The Collection' on his resume.

Not without it's flaws but overall a gritty and cool flick that's well worth spending 80 minutes to watch.