The Neighbour

There's nothing wrong with this horror thriller from director and Saw franchise alumnus Marcus Dunstan (The Collector, The Collection). It's decently acted and decently made. At the same time, though, there's nothing particularly exceptional going on here. Maybe it's the fact that, though intermittently brutal, it lacks tension and credibility. More significantly, it lacks good guys to identify with, as the lead characters are either bad or worse. John (Josh Stewart) and Rosie (Alex Essoe) are the go-betweens in a cross-border drugs smuggling operation. However, their next-door neighbour, Troy (Bill Engvall), proves to be running a much more despicable racket beneath his home. So when John returns home to find Rosie missing and with his suspicions already piqued by Troy's off-key behaviour, he's forced to venture forth to find her. What follows involves a lot of skulking about in dark cellars and grim violence, with a hefty dose of female-empowerment payback to boot. It's solid but unremarkable stuff that will really only appeal to genre fans.