New indie film “Good Neighbors”

The new indy film “Good Neighbors” combines elements of both twisted comedy and mystery as a serial killer terrorizes a small neighborhood in Montreal. NY1’s Neil Rosen filed the following review.

A new indy film combines the elements of dark comedy and mystery. It’s called “Good Neighbors.”

The place is Montreal, the time is 1995. Spencer, a wheelchair bound widower and Louise, an odd ball waitress, are friends who live in the same apartment building. When Victor, a nerdy new tenant moves in, they all seem to hit it off. But as the film progresses, it becomes quite apparent that something is a bit off with all three of these people.

There’s a serial killer on the loose whose been terrorizing the community for the past few months. This scares Louise tremendously, but she also has a strange fascination with the case, reading articles and devouring any news she can get her hands on about the grisly murders.

Victor develops an unrealistic crush on Louise and all three characters eventually reveal secrets of their own.

The performances by the three principles are quite good. Scott Speedman, as Spencer, has a creepy smile and keeps you guessing as to his true nature. Emily Hampshire, who’s a dead ringer for a young Parker Posey, does a nice job as a weird gal who keeps getting stranger and stranger with each frame of film. You don’t know whether to laugh at what she’s doing or wince — an effect that the filmmaker and the actress are obviously trying to achieve — while Jay Baruchel also gets his part down pat.

While the movie will hold your attention the entire way through as you wonder what exactly is going to happen, the problem is writer/director Jacob Tierny has created an ending, which I won’t reveal, that’s a complete mess. In fact, he strings you along the whole way, but the payoff is so badly written it renders whatever came before it as useless.

By the end, except for a couple of gory visual shocks and some strange humor that only works on a rare occasion, you come away from this saying, “What was the point of that?”