User reviews

After a fairly lacklustre start, The Good Neighbour turns into an imaginative, tense and gripping film. A genre let's face it that has been done to death in recent years, I can think of so many similar films, but this one actually does a great job. The scenario is a little different, you get to see two sides of the story, it's more in the psychological drama genre, it's tense and suspenseful. It is very well acted, everyone plays their part well, it would have been easy to overact. The final showdown was good, but I wish they'd have made it a little more suspenseful, it was a little underdone.

Overall I thought this was a very good film, very watchable. 7/10

All minor nuances aside, this film is a prime example of what the standard should be even if it's a lower-budget production. The Good Neighbor has both drama and suspense. At its core, the film is a crime-thriller. It reminded me a bit of "I Am Not a Serial Killer", which was also just released this year. Both are very fine movies that blend genre elements and have skillful writing, directing, acting and editing. They are extraordinarily sophisticated in style and will exceed most viewers initial expectations.

There are teen friends, one whom has wealth and technical expertise at his disposal and his eyes on MIT, and his friend who has plenty of ingenuity and fortitude and interest in social research but is from a "broken home". The pair undertake a social-psychological experiment, and use the grouchy, solitary old grump of the neighborhood as their unwitting subject. For their experiment, they equip the old grumps home with numerous hidden cameras and electrical devices in order to manipulate the grumps home appliances, fixtures, gadgets and such. They are then able to remotely control and view everything that occurs.

They soon realize that the old grump is a rather unusual subject. He has a basement securely locked from the outside, a mysterious visiting woman, no apparent fear towards the extreme tactics they make to convince him he's haunted, and he's unpredictability violent and destructive. One teen begins to regret conducting the experiment, the other one is determined that the old grump is hiding a dark secret. The teens watch, record and attempt to manipulate the old grump for weeks in hopes of revenge, online views, and uncovering the old mans secrets.

Throughout the film there are segments where a prosecutor speaks to and interrogates different people on the witness stand. This makes it clear that the "experiment" didn't play out so well. This film had me hypothesizing and thoroughly engaged. For once, my initial theory was completely off-track.

After having seen the trailer for this flick, I think many can relate to the feeling that we were going to witness a wannabe 2016 version of "Disturbia". But, to our surprise, this brings a different approach on that "scary, murder-looking neighbor" theme. It's fresh, suspenseful and definitely keeps you always wondering on what that old man really is up to and how these two knuckleheads are keeping things under control, but were they really? The acting by Miller and Gilchrist is good, although nothing out of the ordinary. Kudos to Caan for living up to his name, he really did a good job of pursuing this character. The music throughout the whole film was definitely on point and was to me a very nice touch. Overall, the movie is pretty solid. Give it a watch, I doubt you'll be disappointed.

I was anticipating this film as the trailer had my eye. Now anticipation is always a dangerous thing with films, as anyone who is a an avid film watcher knows. I can say I was not let down. Caan was in full form, nice to see him showing his chops. The rest of the cast put on a good show, but James was by far the scene thief. The movie keeps the mystery alive and always had me wanting more. It is not to over the top, so you can watch it with someone who is a bit more light hearted when it comes to these types of movies, and that doesn't take away from the film either. I really felt it was a nice vacation from the everyday re-tread movie. I give it a 7.5 out of 10. Check it out.

To keep it short, very average film but entertaining. All good, convincing acting. Truly a lot of the film is the two leads in a bedroom watching the cameras they put in place of their neighbor. The believable acting and differences in opinion between the characters was entertaining enough for me to watch this film. Unlike Paranormal Activity which is kind of the same concept only this film, The Good Neighbor, has dialogue. The story was cut up between three different time lines that were inserted bit by bit to unravel the complete story and it was executed beautifully. Without giving spoilers, it leads on in such a way that it makes you guess the ending. I personally guessed it wrong again and again and I could not predict the climax of the film but some smaller parts I could. One thing I like in the film were the references to other films and the posters of old films like, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman and Night of the Living Dead. It does make sense in the film to the main character, Ethan, played by Logan Miller who's character is into film. My favorite part of this film is the very last shot that shows the true nature of one of the characters. But no spoilers so I can't elaborate. I guess you'll just have to watch the film! I watched this on Netflix in my free time and I can't say I wasted my time. I would also recommend renting it but I personally wouldn't purchase this film unless I hadn't yet seen it. It feels like a one time watch but with the realistic performances, maybe I could watch it again.

Some teenagers decide to run an experiment on their grumpy, creepy old neighbour. They decide to see if they can make him believe in ghosts by rigging his house with cameras and tricks.

Now on paper this does not have a lot going for it. It is fairly cheap, has a found footage element and sounds like a rip-off of the Burbs or Disturbia. Well it isn't - this is much more.

For once it makes sense that everything is filmed and the added element of a court case adds a degree of mystery to the film.

The characters and performances are great. The scope of the film is tiny, only a few rooms, so the tight budget is not a problem and everything looks professional.

There is no mass of action or intensity here but I found this movie gripping, intriguing, and some of the back story even a little moving.

I may be in the minority but pound for pound this is one of the best movies I have seen all year.

Watched this because James Caan was in it. Reviews suggested it would have a Don't Breathe/Paranormal Activity vibe about it and I'd agree.

Two kids surveil and "haunt" Caan as a an alleged social experiment and document it all in a found footage style.

Caan plays the miserable old guy perfectly and still has great presence, pretty good for a "150 year old"!

It moves at a steady pace and rewards you at the end with a solid twist.

I had pretty low expectations coming into this film. It had a 6.6 rating and wreaked of a legend of an actor just picking up another paycheck on his way out. Gladly, it was none of that.

I guess I've just been burned by DeNiro lately and the lame flicks he continues to pile up in his golden years, and even James Caan has been in some bad ones, but Caan killed it in this one and created yet another memorable role.

The film was well done and very suspenseful but even more than that it will appeal to all generations. The new social media craze driven teens, the struggling adult split family scenarios, and the classic elderly struggles and nostalgic themes.

Hats off to a brilliant production and to Caan the legend. This one is definitely worth the watch. Oh, and BobbyD, take a lesson from your Godfather buddy and stop already with the crappy films.

I think the IMDB rating is dead on with this movie. Nothing special but definitely entertaining enough to the point you want to see what happens next.

Plus how you can you not like the main dude after Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse?

Way too much of the film portrays nothing much more than two irksome punks in their pranking glory; but as it plods to a head, it is revealed that one of them is a loathsome sociopath leading the way to tragedy. Excellent acting, especially by James Caan as the crotchety old man with a bitter edge whose character develops powerfully. This movie insightfully examines weighty subjects including human depravity, broken family, peer influence among youth, terminal illness, lost love and loneliness among the aged, and of course ethics and justice (not in the horror genre). This is not an uplifting story, and the ending is somewhat disturbing, leaving a lot to be thought about.

Pretty hard to review this without spoilers, but let's just say it does a pretty good job of leading you down the garden path, then abruptly switching on the lights and you find yourself somewhere you didn't expect to be.

The mystery here is intriguing enough to keep you watching as it unfolds, but there were some stretches of seemingly unnecessary padding, especially the interactions between the two protagonists. Some "get on with it already" moments. But I had to know where this was headed, so the film did enough good things to keep me wondering. You will need to forgive a few moments of implausibility to enjoy this one... the film might have benefited by showing how they set up their fake haunting pranks.

The prosecuting attorney, by the way, looked exactly like an actor portraying a prosecuting attorney on TV, rather than an actual prosecuting attorney, if you know what I mean. Back to acting school, lady.

Worth watching if you can look past a few flaws.

This movie was a great surprise, I didn't know anything about it but found it on iTunes and took the gamble as the trailer was intriguing.It did not disappoint, what could have quite easily been another shaky cam mess of a home footage film turned out to be a real gem. This film builds nicely and despite the simple plot does a great job keeping you on the edge of your seat. The film is also edited in such a way that it keeps you guessing but then slowly feeds you the tid bits to keep you going. At no point was I bored watching this movie although I was worried it would be a bit of an Americanised college "bro" movie 5 minutes in, stick with it and enjoy where this goes. The film is based in two houses and given the limited location you'd think it would be quite easy to get bored by this however the director seems to ramp the tension up and down in all the right ways. I can't recommend this enough and it had my girlfriend in tears. Well worth a watch!

Twist at the end???? The only thing that kept me interested is because reviewers were saying the end had a huge twist and made it worth watching the other boring, miserable minutes. nope! Pass on the movie it's not worth it. And very predictable.

It's rare to find a movie that achieves excellence in as many aspects as 'The Good Neighbor' manages to do. It works as a thriller, a low-level horror, a drama, a comedy and a mystery all at once and is equally brilliant in all of these regards. I was really quite blown away by it. The film begins with a thought-provoking voice-over (that will play into things later in the film obviously) and I thought to myself, if the writing is half as excellent as that voice-over alone, we could be in for something very special here. Sure enough, the thought process that has gone into the writing here is outstanding and makes for a very fine movie.

The less you know about the story going in (as I myself knew next to nothing) the more you will enjoy this. It catches you off guard time and again. The acting is brilliant too which really helps make the experience just that bit more enjoyable. James Caan in particular shows he still has it. The man is captivating to watch.

If you break almost any film down into three parts, the beginning, the middle and the end, it will fail in at least one of those areas. 'The Good Neighbor' however, doesn't. The beginning sets the film up perfectly, the middle is intense and intriguing and the ending is really quite a beautiful thing that most Oscar nominated films would be happy to put on the screen. This was the closest I've been to giving a film a '10' rating in a long time.

Heard some say that this movie is comparable with a much more applauded and successful film with a similar, home invasion plot. In deed, whoever saw Don't Breathe first and The Good Neighbor later on, will make that comparison, but never for praising the later as being superior to the first. At least, in my view, much of the disappointment comes from the anti-climatic resolve to the suspenseful, thought-provoking general pace of the movie. It grows in questions being unanswered and it makes it uncomfortable for the viewer to figure out what is happening with and around the main character, superbly played by a returning, old-fashioned character actor, like James Caan. He does make for this film not being a failure but not even him can make it shine above his own acting skills. Perhaps I got to hopeful with this movie, to pretentious, after seeing the before-mentioned fantastic thriller that got so deliberately close to a genuine crime-horror blend that makes it a clear nominee for instant cult classic status. Still, this movie lacks guts, plays it to safe, while the two boys are being just stupid and so are their roles. I got hopping that both would eventually wind up dead. Not the case, unfortunately. As it sums up, you are clearly let down by the unfolding, wanting more and being right about it. As for the morale, this movie was not the best vehicle for it, and it should receive greater attention and promotion in possible future installments of this otherwise very present and troublesome issue: teenagers,young adults and the potentially harmful things they do for fun.

This was a great movie right up until the end where it seemed to lose itself. Parth thriller, part supernatural, mostly realistic. More a condemnation on today's youth and our justice system.

I suggest anyone looking for a movie with all the chills and thrills of a thriller along with some deeper psychological meaning this is the movie for you. Most impressive was James Caan who shows an inner strength while being either terrifyingly cruel or warm and sympathetic all at the same time.

The rest of the cast was excellent but then James Caan really was the focal point and his acting is every bit as powerful as anything hes done.