Next Door (2010) Review by: Ted "Ritualistic" Brown

Anna (Christina Rondano), a single woman and bookkeeper for a New York firm, can't believe that she's won the bid on a house in a small town in Massachusetts -- a house that was vacant for a time after being abandoned by previous owners. When Anna arrives she finds that the house seems to be haunted. She soon makes discoveries about her house and her neighbors that are more than unsettling in "Next Door".

I stumbled upon this film by accident via Facebook one day after noticing a number of various friends had "liked" it, fast forward to earlier today and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it had already found its way to my mail box, I went directly into the house and sat my ass on the couch and prepared to view "Next Door". What can I say? I'm a sucker for ghost stories and even bigger sucker for indie ghost stories, combining two of my favorite things in the movie world.





 
Script wise I felt this film was incredible, the story was fascinating and authentically spooky, it does an remarkable job of not going to over the top with the haunting, making it very possible in the mind of even the biggest skeptics, which is a very potent method for creating fear, when it comes to a movie dealing with the supernatural world. "Next Door" is a great take on the age old ghost sub-genre; sadly it will be lost on some viewers due to its low budget and sometimes very bad acting.

 
Yes, "Next Door" appears to be an very low budget production, and don't get me wrong I don't believe any film should be condemned for their budget, we are strong supporters of the Indie scene and have promoted many micro budget films with rave reviews, but I do believe in being honest and pointing out flaws when they are present, so with that being said the down fall of "Next Door" comes in the form of at times horrible acting that is hard to ignore and sometimes really sucks you out of the story because a scene comes off so fake and unemotional. My other complain was the insanely bad sound effects, and I know what you're saying that can't be that big of a deal, but it is to me, and when its during a kill scene I find it double important, it should sound gritty and horrifying not like a Saturday morning cartoon getting stabbed with an acme knife.

 
"Next Door" could of been a great Halloween season theatre release if it only would have been given more of a budget to work with, but even with its flaws I really enjoyed this movie and had a good time watching it, would be a excellent film to watch on a dark fall night with all the lights turned off and the sounds of fall frolicking outside your home. On behalf of The Liberal Dead I give "Next Door" a solid 5.5 out of 10 and can't wait to see what the director does next.

5.5 / 10

- Ted "Ritualistic" Brown