The Neighbour review: A terrifyingly tense tale that grabs the attention from the start.
The Neighbour review by Kat Hughes, Frightfest 2016.
The Neighbour Review
In 2009 Marcus Dunstan wowed audiences with The Collector. Starring Josh Stewart as Arkin an ex-con whose planned heist of his new employer’s country house goes awry. The house has already been taken over by ‘the collector’, a devious serial killer who likes to collect his victims. The pairing of Stewart and Dunstan re-teamed for a follow-up The Collection, a film that failed to reach the same excitement level as the first. Seeking to reignite the spark, the duo have joined forces for a third, but completely different film, The Neighbour.
This time Stewart plays John, a down-trodden young man who makes his living helping his uncle run his local crime ring. Whilst John is helping his uncle, his wife Rosie (Alex Essoe) is left at home with just her telescope for company. One day, whilst spying through the lens, she sees her neighbour Troy (Bill Engvall) attack a young man. When John returns home Rosie is nowhere to be seen. Suspecting Troy might be to blame he breaks in to investigate and uncovers something more sinister than he could ever have imagined.
The Neighbour Review
The Neighbour Review
John, much like Arkin, has a toe in the criminal underworld. Usually an odd choice for a hero (the criminals are normally the bad guys), in Dunstan’s films this always feel completely natural. His criminals have an endearing quality. Stewart is brilliant and charismatic, John is a character that audiences get on with straight away regardless of occupation. Alex Essoe is also fantastic as Rosie. She came to our attention first in Starry Eyes, a film that screened at Frightfest just two years ago. Since then Essoe has made a name for herself as a burgeoning scream queen. She shines again in The Neighbour, and proves that she’s got more fight in her than the usual damsel in distress.
