DVD Review: America Olivio Gets All ‘American Psycho’ in ‘Neighbor’
Neighbor (2010)
Studio: Lionsgate
DVD Release Date: July 27, 2010
Director: Robert Angelo
Cast: America Olivo, Christian Campbell
Review By: Marc Patterson
I first caught wind of Neighbor via a trailer on the Open House DVD (review here) and was shocked that I had somehow missed a film that stars America Olivio (Bitch Slap) as a serial killer. I immediately made sure that I had the film in my possession. From the trailer it promised to be an absolutely nasty affair, though appeared to be a bit rough around the edges, exhibiting the typical trademarks of a young horror director, but not always a bad thing. If not original, it should at least be fun to watch since – should I need to say it again – America Olivio plays a serial killer.
The story is fairly simplistic and straightforward. Olivio, (who has no given name in the film), is your typical sick and depraved sexpot next door. For all intents and purposes she is a door to door serial killer, stalking people and torturing them to death in their homes before moving onto the next. She’s harsh and unrelenting, but there’s no real motive or purpose revealed behind her psychopathic nature. So it would seem we’re to move from scene to scene following her sadistic “day in the life”.
When we meet her she’s a happy go lucky gal enjoying a bowl of Frosty Flakes and frolicking around a house in her PJ’s. It doesn’t take all of two seconds for us to figure out that this isn’t her house, and so we wait to find out who is tied up behind door number two. Meet the homeowners. The homeowners naturally have no names, because we aren’t meant to identify or sympathize with them. No, they’re merely the poor, tortured souls about to die at the hands of a merciless killer, and I have to add – Robert Angelo gets points for making good use of a wine tap!
With this couple put away, Olivio needs to find a new target. She moves about bars, bookstores, and dog parks scouting out the perfect to-be-victim. I enjoyed watching her “do her homework” on her prospective victims before catching up to them and torturing them to death. Just the happy go lucky manner in which she bounces about is darkly humorous in its own right, though not so much cute as just downright terrifying.
When she stumbles across a group of buddies who play together in a band, she’s found the big score that will play out as our center stage set piece for the remainder of the film.
Unlike some of its more serious counterparts in the serial killer genre, Neighbor makes no real nods towards underlying subtext. It doesn’t provide any social commentary towards the nature of the killer, or the humanity of the victims. All of the violence is designed to keep the audience at an arm’s length away. You’re not likely to be affected by the violence, or feel much sympathy for the victims. In other words, Henry this isn’t.
The camera spends a lot of time focused on Olivio, as well it should. This is her film. She is the centerpiece, and while she’s not as convincing as she could be, the violence she exacts on screen is certainly cringe-worthy, and she does a convincing job at making us believe she’s actually enjoying her work – and she’s sure easy on the eyes in doing so. Clearly an intended effect of the filmmaker. I did feel more time could have been spent on fleshing out her character. No pun intended, but there just could have been more of her on screen. And no, I’m not talking about nudity. It became apparent in the film that murder wasn’t what her character got off on. She was a sick psychopath who thoroughly enjoyed playing with her victims. For her it wasn’t about killing them, just torturing them to the brink of death. She actually showed precious rare moments of emotion when a victim would die. Not remorse, but sadness; however, this darker, sinister side was never explored in more depth. Just one more passed opportunity to make a film that went deeper than surface level.
Bloody, brutal, and offensive are three words I could use to summarize this effort. It’s not as sickening as a Guinea Pig film, and not quite as abrasive as Hostel, but does just fine in punishing the audience with some rather disgusting moments, and I have to say, I enjoyed the use of practical special FX. While they don’t look the greatest, they certainly get the job done far more effectively than CGI work.
While the film works as a whole, it does ride the line of wearing a worn out premise even further. Making a torture porn flick in an age where even the phrase “torture porn” has become a tired cliché is a dangerous thing. But critics be damned, that’s what Angelo does, and though I’d like to say it was a total pile of crap, devoid of any substance, sub-text, or entertainment value, I kinda have to edge towards something more along the lines that Neighbor makes a good film for when it’s late at night and you have nothing else to watch.
