https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvGnb7Qq3Bg

The Neighbor. 2016. Directed by Marcus Dunstan. Screenplay by Dunstan & Patrick Melton.
Starring Josh Stewart, Alex Essoe, Bill Engvall, Luke Edwards, Jacqueline Fleming, & Ronnie Gene Blevins.
Fortress Features/Salt Company International/The See.
Not Rated. 87 minutes.
Crime/Horror/Thriller

★★★★1/2
I was a big fan of both The Collector and The Collection, even with their flaws. They weren’t great movies, though to me they were still fine fun. Marcus Dunstan is an interesting director, along with his writing partner Patrick Melton. They have a knack for a certain brand of horror. One that’s part home invasion, part serial killer. 
The Neighbor again tackles a man with a secret, or should I say men with secrets. With their best writing yet, Dunstan and Melton come out with a sly, genius little crime-thriller that dives frequently into pure horror. From the opening old school-feeling credits to the last frame there’s a tension verging on relentlessness. Most of all, the writing is subversive at times from plot to character, and the casting is absolutely perfect. Josh Stewart returns with Dunstan in a solid performance, as John, an unlucky character similar (but different from) the one he played in The Collector. Alex Essoe, whose turn in Starry Eyes is unforgettable, is Rosie; the would-be damsel in distress emerging as a strong, unflappable female character in a hideous male world. Finally, and most surprising, Bill Engvall plays the titular neighbour and boy… is he something. Never could I expect what he brings to the table.
My elaborately stated point? The Neighbor is excellent, one of the better horror-thrillers in the last few years. It doesn’t have to be anything epic or overly contrived. The film’s modesty is one of its greatest qualities.
The most enjoyable aspect of the writing is how Dunstan and Melton allow us time to stay with the characters – a lot of time – before the horror breaks out. Movies such as slashers, or any other sub-genre where characters get offed one after another, tend to quickly jam a bunch of character development into a short space of time. Often that leads to underdeveloped or poorly developed character(s). Dunstan and Melton give us about a third of the film to get a feel for the relationship between John (Stewart) and Rosie (Essoe). We only get a glimpse of Troy (Engvall) before he becomes a larger, more sinister part of the plot. While we get to know the couple at the centre of the story, the film plays as a crime-thriller for the first half hour. Afterwards, the horror shifts into gear and descends fast into terror, as the connection to these people is real. In stark opposition to so many modern horror movies with disposable characters, The Neighbor allows us a better connection, a genuine one, instead of something tenuous. You care about John and Rosie, you want them to get out from under the former’s uncle, a local criminal named Neil (played fabulously by Skip Sudduth). As if that’s their biggest worry. Troy presents them with far greater danger, so the concern for their safety and well-being gets wildly tense, dreadfully suspenseful. If the writing weren’t good enough, the actors all pull the weight, above and beyond. Stewart and Essoe do wonderful work. But Engvall is the main attraction. His unlikeliness for most of us will prove to be powerful. He threw me for a loop, even in the earliest scenes where his character hasn’t yet revealed itself to the fullest; he’s nonchalant, a down home-type. Later on this flips into underestimated madness of the best sort.
Better than usual female character in the form of Essoe’s Rosie. Two strong performances out of the male leads, Stewart and Engvall. Overall interesting writing, which compels you to keep on watching with a curious eye. If that were all, the film would succeed.
Luckily, there’s more.
Charlie Clouser is back, having worked with Dunstan on The Collection providing killer sounds for the score. As usual, he composes beautifully in a dark manner. At times, his pieces are a steady, driving rhythm. During others, an eerily Southern sound early on, as guitars invade the score. After time continues wearing on and the tension gets brutal, Clouser’s music is deeper, more intense. Always working under your skin, beneath the visuals. Sometimes a score can really overpower the scene in which it plays, sometimes it’s the exact opposite and the music doesn’t seem to do anything for the scene. Here, neither of those is the case. Each composition is better than the last, and many scenes feel driven by its pulsing, heartbeat-like darkness. A great bit of music can lift everything up. Perhaps why Dunstan and Clouser work well together.
Paired with the music, the shadowy look of the cinematography, much like The Collector in particular, is perfect. Makes you feel boxed in like the characters, enclosed in a small space where anything is possible and every next turn might prove fatal. The sequence where John finds his way into Troy’s house, down to the cellar is a masterful, uneasy scene that takes us over the crime-thriller threshold and into the screenplay’s horror. Later on the “This is your proof of life” moment is eerie as hell. Also, the bits of old footage that are edited throughout the first part of the film almost transform into the tapes Troy and his boys are recording in the basement. This comes off as an especially unsettling technique, giving an omnipresent feel to those earlier bits of edited footage.
I have to say, this is a nearly perfect horror to me. There’s a great mixing of genres, which comes out magically in the characters and helps the plot feel unexpected. You’re never quite sure exactly what will come next. The actors are all spot on, even Skip Sudduth in his small role; very intimidating, cruel, even for a man hooked to an oxygen tank. Essoe, Stewart, and Engvall are each cast to awesome effect. While the build up feels long, maybe slow during certain scenes, it’s all worth the wait. In the last 20 minutes, the action and intensity are frantic. This amps up in the final ten, as well.
Not everybody will love The Neighbor. I understand. That’s why art in general is so fun; we don’t all have to enjoy the same things. But to me it’s undeniably clear how well this screenplay is put together. On top of that the execution on every end is honed to a fine, sharp point. Dunstan and Melton are writers to watch. I hope they continue to work together, and to use their talents in making more worthwhile horror. In a day and age where people complain about the same old thing in the genre, The Neighbor is at least trying to be different by working harder than most other films to be more than the sum of its parts.