- submitted by b-team on 10/25/2007
Top 10 Movies With 'Neighbors From Hell'
There are so many movies with really bad neighbors. We tried to pick a mix -- some good movies, some with particularly egregious neighbors. We also viewed "neighbor" elastically, creatively; you'll see. Are there other, even better picks? Probably. (Of course.) We figure you'll tell us -- which pics we missed, which don't belong and who are your favorite worst neighbors.
Let the debate begin.
The 10 Best (in no particular order):
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
So your neighbors are Devil worshippers who want your first born as the 'next' Devil. At least your husband, a struggling loser TV actor, is starting to get more TV gigs. All he had to do was join the Satanists – no problem there apparently – and sacrifice you and your baby to these freakazoid cultists and possibly bring down humanity as we know it. Hey, jobs are tough and your neighbors only want what’s best…to accelerate the rise of Hell and Satan on earth. In truth, the pic is excellent, directed by Roman Polanski, way better, more suspenseful and complex than the novel by Ira Levin, and genuinely scary.
Arlington Road (1999)
Arlington Road is a beautiful street in the Washington, D.C. suburbs. And Jeff Bridges, a single dad and professor, has made quick friends with his neighbors, the Langs (Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack) who are smart and welcoming and well, it turns out, right wing nut-job domestic terrorists. Sure, they’re going to try to overthrow the government and blow up buildings and innocent people. And yes, Professor, once you figure out who they are, they’re going to try to kill you and everybody in your family; but what else can they do, turn themselves in? Plus, Ms. Lang does make a great casserole and, while you’re alive, you’re always welcomed in their neat, thoughtfully decorated house.
The Stepford Wives (2004)
The original (1975) is better, but the campy remake with Nicole Kidman serves the same purpose. Stepford, the picturesque, idyllic (though transparently deadening) planned suburban community is a great place to live -- unless you’re a woman, in which case almost all the neighbors are decidedly not your friends unless your desire is to be turned into a robotic (lobotomized) “yes, honey” wife-oid whose only purpose in life is to serve and service your mostly arrogant, overweight, fatuous and wholly undeserving husband.
Disturbia (2007)
You know that next door neighbor you think is kind of weird and you think really really may be a monster serial killer? In this pic, he is. And house bound Shia LaBeouf spends a lot of time watching him, investigating and ultimately getting into deep s**t discovering the truth. The neighbor (David Morse) likes killing and is definitely not the kind of guy you’d want to invite to your next BBQ or block party. Unless you need a person skilled with power tools and the willingness (enthusiasm) to use them for many purposes not listed in the tool manuals.
Cujo (1983)
Yes, we know, Cujo is a dog. But he does live in (or near) town and he’s smarter than most human neighbors we’ve ever seen. Thing is, he’s out of his mind nuts, rabid and hell-bent on maiming and killing the Trenton family. Based on the Stephen King novel, the pic is mostly cheese; but at times it’s genuinely terrifying. More important, Cujo, the dog and character, became a pop culture phenomenon almost immediately after the novel’s and film’s debut -- for decades being known as the iconic symbol for dogs (and people) who “lose it,” who can’t contain their emotions, who go simply “Cujo.”
Neighbors (1981)
Dan Aykroyd as a freakazoid gun-toting, carousing, constantly interfering next door neighbor to quiet afraid-of-the-world Jon Belushi who only wants to be left alone to enjoy his uneventful suburban life. Great role reversal – Belushi as mild mannered nerd. Pic is based on the Jerzy Kosinski novel and, for dark suburban comedy, is pretty nihilistic, out there and often laugh-out-loud funny.
Barton Fink (1991)
A Coen Brothers pic. John Turturro is Barton Fink, a “playwright” selling his soul in 1940s Hollywood, trying to write a crappy (but elusive) screenplay. Day by day Barton deteriorates into writer’s block, desperation and weirdness. Unfortunately for him that’s the good news -- compared to the antics and ultimate threat from his next door neighbor (John Goodman) in the seedy hotel they’re living in. Goodman plays a seemingly amiable insurance salesman friend who, it turns out, is really not such a good friend; in fact he’s a bad friend, actually evil, and, as Satan as his witness, is going to make sure things don’t end well for Barton and his ambitions.
Rear Window (1954)
Hitchcock classic. A guy in a wheelchair, a photographer, house bound and incapacitated observes his neighbors across the way through the apartment windows. He sees one, he thinks (maybe), who killed his (the neighbor’s) wife. Not a good time to be stuck in a wheelchair, especially when the unhappy neighbor (played by Raymond Burr, who ironically would soon spend years in a wheelchair in his starring role in the TV series, Ironside) realizes he’s been watched and naturally wants to “take care” of the snoopy, suspicious voyeur (Jimmy Stewart). Film was the partial basis for Brian De Palma’s, Body Double (1984) which, while gory and sometimes suspenseful, isn’t in the same league as Hitchcock’s beautifully paced, eerie original.
A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
Freddy Kruger -- enough said? -- in your worst nightmares (literally) killing everybody he can. Sure he’s spectral but he used to be just like everybody else on Elm Street (only he killed a bunch of people there) and, after being burned alive, it’s only fair he comes back to the street and seeks revenge. Another classic horror bad guy; kids are still wearing Freddy Halloween masks. Another neighbor you’d just assume live – and sleep – without.
Pacific Heights (1990)
Not exactly a cinematic tour de force; but classic, almost text book 1980s really bad neighbor story. Happy yuppie couple Matthew Modine and Melanie Griffith are terrorized by menacing neighbor and tenant, Michael Keaton, who as an actor has mastered exquisitely the role of psycho and, in this bent interpretation, is determined to destroy his “friends’” marriage, break them financially (they're upwardly striving yuppies, remember) and otherwise do whatever is necessary to steal everything from them, including their home.
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