During the world premiere of writer/director Robert A. Masciantonio’s Neighbor at Fantasia, more than a few attendees squirmed in their seats more than a few times, especially at a particular scene involving a swizzle stick and a certain member of the male anatomy that doesn’t stand a chance of making it past the MPAA’s film ratings board. All this is to say that while Neighbor as presented at the festival was a blissfully blood-drenched film, don’t expect the same version when it actually gets released wide – which it most definitely deserves to be.
Playboy covergirl America Olivo (the Friday the 13th remake) stars as ‘The Girl’, a ruthless killer who enters unsuspecting people’s homes and savagely tortures and murders them, all while helping herself to the comforts of their suburban abodes. The focus of the story is on one particular instance in which she invades the home of Don Carpenter (Christian Campbell, The Betrayed), a musician and producer who is preparing to host a big party that weekend. Between some of the most brutally graphic torture scenes ever put on film, we see various vignettes that show us how the story got to this point, not to mention a confusing sequence where Don seems to be reliving his experience with different outcomes…no doubt meant by Masciantonio to convey that Don might be hallucinating or dreaming while in a torture-induced haze, but confusing nonetheless.
There’s plenty to like about this film, such as the way it turns the horror convention of a faceless male killer stalking young women on its head to feature a young beautiful woman who is indiscriminate in selecting her victims; horror for feminists, if you will. There are plenty of insider nods to horror filmdom as well, with most characters being named after genre filmmakers or actors, and some shots that will seem eerily familiar to many people. Two impressive four-plus minute Steadicam sequences open and close the film and while they may not be on the same level as the club scene in Scorsese’s Goodfellas or the opening sequence of Altman’s The Player, they do show that Masciantonio and cinematographer Jeff Schirmer can set up a pretty slick shot. The cast is pretty solid as well, with burgeoning starlet Olivo carrying the bulk of the load and imbuing The Girl with malevolent charm, a performance that only really faltered when she overdid one scene where The Girl freaks out after cutting herself. But really, what this film is all about and what will ultimately cement its status as an instant cult classic is the gore, sweet gore. Neighbor is a true blood-lover’s delight, and the credit for this has to go to special effects makeup artist Vincent Guastini (Requiem for a Dream); what his team was able to accomplish on such a small budget is nothing short of phenomenal. Some of the scenes are so graphic that apparently one of the editors had to excuse himself while cutting the film to go vomit.
Masciantonio, who also helmed 1999’s vampire flick Cold Hearts, was in attendance at the premiere along with producer Charles Smith and various cast members, and he said that he just finished this cut of the film less than a week ago and what we saw was how he wanted it to be seen. Don’t hold your breath, though, because unless the film’s distributors are content to release it with an NC-17 rating there’s no way all of the onscreen carnage will be approved for release to the masses. We can always hope for a director’s cut DVD, though. Please note that the rating below is for the film as it was presented at the festival, before any ratings board gets their hands on it and demands many cuts. Neighbor is a must-see for gorehounds and fans of in-your-face horror.
