The Good Neighbor (film)

The Good Neighbor is a 2016 American thriller film directed by Kasra Farahani and written by Mark Bianculli and Jeff Richard. The film stars James Caan, Logan Miller and Keir Gilchrist. The film released on September 16, 2016, by Vertical Entertainment.

Plot

Ethan (Miller) and Sean (Gilchrist) are tech-savvy high-school teens who decide to prank their neighbor, Harold Grainey (Caan), by convincing him that his house is haunted. When Grainey leaves home one afternoon, the two set up equipment to simulate the haunting, as well as hidden cameras with which to broadcast Grainey's reactions. They soon realize that Grainey was the wrong person to target.

As the basis for a school project, Ethan requests Sean's assistance in setting up hidden cameras at Grainy's home so both can view a person's unfiltered reaction to being haunted by a poltergeist, despite Sean's initial reservations. The system is set up so that both can monitor Grainey's reactions for 6 weeks live from computers set up in Ethan's bedroom. Grainey has a reputation for being hostile, a recluse, and a "creepy old man" in the neighbourhood, which makes it easier for Ethan to justify choosing him as his subject.

Ethan starts to initiate activities increasingly aimed at unsettling Grainey to make him believe the house is haunted, including making the kitchen door bang loudly in the middle of the night, disabling the heating system which causes the bedroom window to shatter due to the freezing temperature, and activating the music player in the middle of the night.

But both Sean and Ethan are mystified by Grainey's ability to withstand all these strange occurrences. In one instance, they observe Grainey being disturbed by all the strange noises who, in turn, goes down to the house's basement. The duo are not able to observe what he does, as they were not able to set up a camera in the basement of the house. Grainey goes down at about 11:30 p.m. and only emerges after 7:30 a.m. This leaves Ethan perplexed, and he vows to determine the reason. In the meantime, Ethan throws a Halloween party, and Sean and his new girlfriend decide to make out at Ethan's room. His girlfriend notices a camera installed on top of the bed, which leaves Sean enraged. In an argument with Ethan, Sean discloses to Ethan that he knows the true reason why Ethan has targeted Grainey: Grainey was responsible for sending Ethan's father to jail many years ago. Ethan's father was an alcoholic who beat his wife regularly. During one such episode, Ethan's mother ran up to Grainey seeking his help. Grainey then informed the police which led to Ethan's father being jailed and ultimately getting divorced from his wife. Ethan believes Grainey is responsible for destroying his family and making him lose his father.

Sean asks Ethan to return all his equipment, but Ethan refuses, threatening Sean with the fact that the equipment was purchased using his credit card and that it is covered in Sean's fingerprints. In the middle of their argument, they observe Grainey's cat toppling over one of the living room cameras. Ethan runs to his home to collect the camera, and in doing so finds the basement door unlocked. He goes down to find that Grainey has been hiding his deceased wife's used medical supplies all along as a way for him to remember her. It is then revealed in a series of flashbacks that Grainey loved his wife dearly, and he had set up a room where he could take care of her, including arranging a nurse. Ethan lifts a bell which Grainey gifted, causing the bell to make a sound which awakes Grainey. Fearing for his safety, Ethan hides in the living room, placing the bell on a table. Grainey sees the bell, and apparently taking it as a sign that his wife wants him to be with her, kills himself with his gun.

Ethan and Sean are arrested and sentenced to 2 years' probation and 500 hours community service. On coming out of the courthouse, Ethan is surrounded by a slew of reporters and cameras.

Cast

• James Caan as Harold Grainey
• Logan Miller as Ethan Fleming
• Keir Gilchrist as Sean Turner
• Laura Innes as Caroline Grainey
• Edwin Hodge as Officer Christopher Palmer
• Anne Dudek as Elise
• Bailey Noble as Carly
• Lili Reinhart as Ashley
• Mindy Sterling as Mae
• Nik Dodani as Sanjay
• Tamlyn Tomita as Heather Cromwell
• Dean Cameron as Defense Attorney
• William Charles Mitchell as Judge
• Billy Khoury as Neighbor
• Ted King as Sean's Father
• Luke Spencer Roberts as Ted Spiegelman
• Elyse Dinh as Reporter #1
• Hannah Else Pilkington as Reporter #3

Release

The Austin, Texas premiere, through the South by Southwest Film Festival, was well attended and featured appearances from the director, producers and stars.^[1]

On May 10, 2016, Variety announced that Vertical Entertainment had acquired North American theatrical distribution rights,^[2] with a release tentatively planned for fall of 2016.^[3] The film is scheduled to be released on September 16, 2016.^[4]

Reception

The South by Southwest premiere yielded mixed reactions. Dennis Harvey of Variety noted that, despite featuring few locations, the film "doesn’t suffer from staginess or claustrophobia", though he pined for "more insight into the protagonists’ family, friends and community."^[5]

Trace Thurman of Bloody Disgusting singled out James Caan, saying that he delivered "an understated performance with extremely minimal dialogue."^[6] Likewise, Michael Roffman of Consequence of Sound praised Caan's performance, but felt that it was lost in "erratic sequencing."^[7]

References

External links

• The Good Neighbor at the Internet Movie Database
• The Good Neighbor at Rotten Tomatoes