Good Neighbours (2011)
Neighbors Spencer and Louise have bonded over their fascination with a recent string of murders terrorizing their community. When a new tenant named Victor moves into the building, all three quickly hit it off. However, they soon discover each has his or her own dark secret. As the violence outside mounts, the city retreats indoors for safety. But the more time these three neighbors spend together in their apartment building, the clearer it becomes that what they once thought of as a safe haven is as dangerous as any outside terrors they could imagine.
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ridiculous rating
How sad is this?
It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.
All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.
State Farm does NOT endorse this rear window but, it's still there. Wildly independent, Good Neighbours tries to pull off Hitchcock and as a knock-off, it succeeds. Just don't expect the Master's return to the Neighbourhood. English/French/Canadians share an apartment building while a serial killer/rapist is on the loose. Though this may seem incidental, it all fits in with cat lovers, cat haters and neighbours scheme to have some dark & comedic moments.Initially, the movie begs us to determine who the bad guy is, but it's fairly obvious over a bit of time. Once established, more plot points are introduced and the games are afoul. It's a fun little movie to watch. Nothing over the top, nothing groundbreaking. But, for some Hitchcockian flashbacks, it's a descent voyage. Must be a cat lover, though. If you rent here, please respect the pussy.***Final thoughts: The description and location of the movie (on the Shudder service) made this seem like a wonderful horror movie. I wouldn't go that far, but it's still worth checking out for some lighter fare.
It's October 1995 Montreal. There is a serial killer out on the loose. Victor (Jay Baruchel) is moving into a 4th floor walkup. His neighbours are cat lady Louise (Emily Hampshire) and wheelchair bound Spencer (Scott Speedman). Louise is working at a local Chinese restaurant where waitress Johanne (Kaniehtiio Horn) is killed one night in the streets. Victor walks Louise home from the restaurant every night. Spencer turns out to be able to walk and somebody poisons Louise's cat.Director Jacob Tierney is able to get an offbeat eerie vibe sort of like 'Shallow Grave' except nothing so cool and thrilling. It's a serial killer thriller that lives on its atmosphere for the most part. Baruchel is quirky cute. Hampshire is a quirky adoring cat lady. Speedman is good as Spencer hiding a secret. The three of them form a very compelling trio. The movie does need more tension. It would probably help to condense the timeline. It's good creepy throughout with an underlining low key dark humor.
Louise, Victor, Spencer, two dead cats, one cat hating woman, and clueless landlord. Victor likes Louise, Louise "loves" cats(almost to the extent of getting aroused by their touch), cats are all around and Spencer is a serial killer. All lives in one apartment. Victor lives above Louise while Spencer lives below her.The cat hating woman lives in the same apartment but not sure which floor.Now, the cat hating woman (chw) poisons two of Louise's cats. Louise wants revenge. Buries the cats below chw's window. Not satisfied, decides to kill her and pin the murder on the someone namely Victor. So she gets Victors sperms (i guess she had sex or just gave him a hand job, the censors didn't show what happened) goes to chw's room kills her and inserts the sperms into her, walks away a satisfied happy woman.Spencer is in wheelchair. Likes to be left alone. Likes to rape and kill women or maybe kill and rape them. Now he can do that cause he is just pretending to be handicapped. In the night he goes out the window down the fire escape and has fun his style. Victor is a guy who wants to endear himself to everyone especially to Louise (he thinks there is a connection between him and her). He is sometimes stupid, sometimes annoying, mostly annoying. When the cops ask him if he knew the dead 'chw' he spills everything about the cat killing incident also tell that he was with Louise on the night of the murder in his apartment. Louise on the other hand tells the cops that she was alone at her apartment. Victor sees Spencer from his window while Spencer was about to go on one of his joyrides. He suspects Spencer saw him too and would want to kill him, He also suspects him to have killed the 'chw'. so he tells Louise about this and makes a plan to trap him while he comes to kill him. He also calls on the cops and conveys to them of his suspicion of Spence. There is a problem which Louise also needs to handle. On her way back. the day she killed off the 'chw', she bumped in to Spencer who was about to be on his way for his joyride, but was not sure how to act on seeing him walk, asks him to help her up the fire escape, which he does. Spencer too was put in a tight spot cause of what happened and also he saw Victor looking at him from his window. So he calls on Louise to hatch a plan to pin the murder of 'chw' on victor.Well whatever, Louise agrees to both guys plan cause all she has to do was go to victors apartment and open the window near the fire escape go back to her room and relax. The end is like Spencer goes in to kill Victor, sees Victor waiting for him realizes Louise double crossed him goes back to kill her gets stopped by victor fights on the fire escape falls down and dies,the cop who sees Spencer climb up, from his car parked below the apt reaches to Victors aid but was too late. All this while Louise was feeding her cat. Oh and she also tried to seduce Spencer before she killed off the 'chw'. Not sure what really happened there.
There is the story and there is the characters. And let me tell you, it must be the first time, weirdness has been depicted in such a funny and intriguing and honest way. I loved all those characters, who while seems similar had different agendas. I can tell you that although I was appalled by the female lead, I also was in love with her.Quirkiness and mayhem, you can find everything that you won't find in a big budget movie. Exceptionally cast and smartly played (Scott Speedman almost playing against type) this was one of my highlights of last year. Of course this will not appeal to everyone, being about people who essentially are anything but normal. But if you have a heart for good independent movies and like your story to not be predictable (safe one obvious twist maybe), you will cherish and love this one as I do/did!