What’s up, loyal Caleb Bang Jansen fans? Today we’re going to talk about DESTROY ALL NEIGHBORS, the new Shudder original directed by Josh Forbes. Written by Mike Benner, Jared Logan, and Charles Pieper, this horror comedy falls in line with the EVIL DEAD 2s and Dead Alives of the world. To add to that, it stars Jonah Ray Rodrigues and Alex Winter, both well known for their horror and comedy outputs.
Rodrigues plays William, a studio engineer by day and a struggling prog rock musician by night. William is so close to completing his album, and he has been for three years. But things get in the way like his day job, his landlady, and his neighbors. William thinks things are on the up-and-up when Alec, his next-door neighbor, moves out after selling his script for an erotic sci fi thriller. Instead, things get much worse as Alec is replaced by Vlad, played by a very makeup-effects heavy Alex Winter, a Kyovan (Kyovian? A fake country, as per Google) who loves EDM (fuck music, if you will), and working out all hours of the day. William’s partner (Kiran Deol) doesn’t understand his issue with Vlad and thinks it’s just another wall that’s stopping William from completing this prog rock masterpiece.
William and Vlad sort things out by Vlad accidentally killing himself and William listening to a long-outdated YouTube instructor’s advice on how to dispose of bodies. William finds out that Vlad is not actually dead, despite decapitating himself and William cutting his body into smaller pieces to be incinerated. William accidentally runs over Auggie, the homeless man who lingers outside his studio, only to find out Auggie is actually “Swig” Anderson, the instructor William watches videos of every day. Then William accidentally kills Phillip, the neighbor who is not defined by his emotional support pigs, and his landlady, Eleanor, accidentally kills herself. But it’s okay! None of them are really dead… they’re kind of like zombies? And Alex Winter also plays William’s lawyer?
So Auggie, Eleanor, Phillip, Vlad, and William all go to the studio to record the album. The cops show up, and William is on very limited time. He battles his personal demons, finishes the album, and winds up in prison for three life sentences, on account of killing his neighbors. But! …His album wins an award, and everyone really loves it. We get a nice STAR WARS reference with the neighbors depicted as blue ghosts while the credits roll as William plays with a tiny keyboard.
This movie has a lot of great comedy actors making appearances, and it has a lot of heart in it. A few things that stand out, like “Not everyone will get it, but the right ones will” and “Wherever you go, you’re still you.” Both of these lines really help add weight to this movie. William grasps that he is his own biggest critic, and he’s the only thing truly holding himself back. We all suffer from these invisible issues that keep us from achieving something, and it’s tough to get over them. But at the end of the day, achieving something so monumental for us as individuals is what rock-‘n-roll is all about.
William talks about having small ear canals and about earbuds not fitting his ears. I fucking have this problem! For years, Apple would include earbuds with their iPhones/iPods/iWhathaveyous, and for years I could not use them because they wouldn’t sit in my ears and just fall out. This man gets me.
My fiancée watched this movie with me and spent many years in the school band. They wanted me to note that Phillip was holding his flute incorrectly, and that the noise coming out of it was wrong. Sound department people, we’re watching you closely. But, on the subject of sound, the score was fantastic. Honus Honus is a great musician and could not be a more perfect fit for this movie. I saw his band, Man Man, open for Brand New in Columbus, Ohio roughly a decade ago. They put on a fantastic show and spent most of the tour retweeting every Brand New fan that complained about their set. True geniuses and masters of their craft.
DESTROY ALL NEIGHBORS is currently streaming as a Shudder exclusive and has a very limited theatrical run. I cannot recommend it enough, because it has something for everyone. If you liked PSYCHO GOREMAN and FREAKED, it’s got your “What if GWAR was on Power Rangers?” question covered. If you liked PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE or ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE, it’s a much less musical addition. And finally, if you liked romantic comedies but also wanted to see some intestines play a drum kit, dammit this movie is begging to be watched.
Tags: Alex Winter, Brett Morris, Charles Pieper, comedy, Hank Friedmann, Horror, Jared Logan, Jon Daly, Jonah Ray Rodrigues, Josh Forbes, Kiran Deol, Mike Benner, Pigs, Ryan Kattner, Shudder, Will Stone
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