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John Allman

If you’ve ever wandered the aisles at the video store or surfed the DVR pay-per-view options and seen a bunch of movies that you’ve never heard of, chances are John has watched them. Why? He loves movies. All kinds of movies. Good, bad, so-bad-they’re good, even the truly unwatchable ones. He mostly loves horror and science-fiction and drive-in exploitation movies that most upstanding model citizens wouldn’t dare watch. Then he writes up his thoughts so you can decide - watch, don’t watch or avoid at all costs. Sometimes he even gets to talk to the cool folks who make some of your favorite films.

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John Allman

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Neighbor: Unrated Director’s Cut

Posted Aug 1, 2010 by John Allman

Updated Aug 1, 2010 at 06:59 PM

Neighbor
Genre: Horror
Directed by: Robert A. Masciantonio
Run time: 90 minutes
Rating: Unrated
Format: DVD

The Lowdown: Four minutes.

That’s the difference between the unrated and the R-rated versions of “Neighbor,” which is either a glorious homage to the gore and guts flicks of H.G. Lewis from the late 1960s, early 1970s, or it is the most inept attempt at genre filmmaking in quite some time.

After my initial viewing, I was leaning heavily toward the latter, having assumed that the 36-year-old director, Robert A. Masciantonio, just lost control of his creative effort and was never able to regain some semblance of narrative continuity.

My reasons for assuming this were clear: “Neighbor” seems to exist to shock and shock only. The gore on display does little to disturb other than to make you wince and cringe because, frankly, no one really likes to see toes slowly sawed in half or genitals slowly mutilated, unless there’s a logical reason, a bigger-picture point that will come into play prior to the closing credits.

Yes, it’s basically the same knock against “torture porn” that many people have expressed, that there is no reason to simply show bloody dismemberment for bloody dismemberment’s sake.

And the four minutes of additional uncut footage, while extremely graphic, didn’t really add up to anything you hadn’t seen before.

So that left the plot of “Neighbor,” which, at first blush, seemed a complete and total mess.

For one, there’s very little exposition. In fact, there’s very few scenes that aren’t blood-soaked and chaotic. Critical pieces of the film appear to be missing, such as set-up scenes that help let the audience know what the hell is happening.

For instance, there’s a scene early on where Don, the main good guy (Christian Campbell), is taking out the trash. His two buddies are leaving his house. They all three see a girl walking a dog down the sidewalk. The camera follows the two friends, who both hear a loud noise seconds later, but it isn’t clear what caused the noise or where it came from. The very next shot opens in Don’s basement recording studio and he’s strapped to a chair. Apparently, Don got ninja attacked while walking back to his house, mere seconds after leaving his buddies, by the girl who was at least a good 30 yards from his house and who would have had to somehow sprint around the corner undetected, ditch the dog, and then surprise Don and immobilize him without allowing him to shout or yelp for help, all in a manner of nanoseconds.

Then there was the non-linear, mind-screw, alternate universe theory that pops up about 20 minutes later where everything that had happened previously either was a dream, a vision or, in fact, reality. While it’s a cool trick to employ, playing with the audience’s sense of perception, it should have some merit, some root in the narrative flow. Here, it just seemed to serve to confuse the audience for a good 10 minutes before popping back into the “here and now” and making clear that the previous 10 minutes, and the multiple jump scares that were utilized, really meant nothing and only served as filler.

Finally, the acting seem capable of conveying the high stakes terror and torture on display.

America Olivo thankfully performs better here than the woeful “##### Slap!” but she still gives too much away with crazy, over-exaggerated facial expressions meant to convey emotion. Campbell spends too much time extolling how he’s going to exact revenge instead of degenerating into a whimpering puddle of goo after being drilled through his thighs, having his big toes split in half, his junk perforated, his eyelids stitched open, his cheek perforated…I’m not sure what else is done to him, but rest assured, it’s all captured in full detail. The supporting cast serve their roles capably, even if they essentially exist to be picked off one by one as they stop by Don’s house.

The only thing that actually does make sense is the logical reason why none of them would question this new “Girl” being in Don’s house. He’s already told them to expect a new girl to be hanging around because he hired an assistant off Craig’s List to help with his band’s demo CD.

So basically, “Neighbor” is one long torture dance perpetrated on a bunch of seemingly decent people for no reason. No motive is ever given for why the “Girl,” Olivo, is doing what she’s doing. There are several allusions to a serial killer having escaped from the local prison, so maybe she’s using that as an opportunity to act out some sick fantasy of going on a killing spree and getting away with it because it will be blamed on the escaped killer. And she seems enthralled in a weird way with trying out basic household items as deadly torture devices, often saying things like, ‘I always wondered if that would work,’ such as when she jabs a wine spout into one guy’s chest and turns the spigot.

Olivo racks up an impressive body count for a newbie, if that’s what she is. She kills at least eight people with ease. And she seems way too competent at breaking into homes, knowing where and how her victims will react, to be just a thrill-kill femme fatale out on a lark.

So what is Masciantonio trying to say with “Neighbor”?

I don’t know, other than he’s making some statement on the randomness of violence, the fact that the most unsuspecting person, even your neighbor, could be a vicious, deranged killer.

That brings in the homage to Lewis, the gore auteur, who cemented his legend as a deliciously over-the-top filmmaker with such films as “The Wizard of Gore” and “Two Thousand Maniacs.”

Is he simply trying to emulate those films, which themselves used the thinnest of plots to set up savage scenes of crazed killing, performed completely with tongue firmly in cheek?

I’m not sure. “Neighbor” ends without revealing its hand, and maybe that’s the point. Maybe it is all just random, and the threat of violence does exist all around us, but we’re usually too oblivious to put the pieces together until it’s too late.

Or maybe it’s just one long “Face!” A sick inside joke that we’re not supposed to get, a bloody lark, a movie whose tongue isn’t in its cheek but instead stuck out, at the audience, as if to say, “Ne, ne, ne, ne, I fooled you.”

The Stuff You Care About:
Hot chicks – America Olivo is hot. She can’t really act, but she’s hot.
Nudity – No.
Gore – Gore galore.
Drug use – Yes.
Bad Guys/Killers – “The Girl.” Seriously, that’s her name.
Buy/Rent – On the fence. Gorehounds will love it. Horror fans who like some semblance of a plot may not.
Release Date – July 27, 2010