The Neighbor(2016)
2016 · Marcus Dunstan · 87 min
In the town of Cutter, most people keep to themselves. But when John comes home to find his girlfriend missing, he sneaks into his neighbor's house, finding his girlfriend and several other kidnapped people tied up in the basement. When the neighbor come home, John is forced to get out of the house alive and lead the group to safety.
Crime · Horror · Mystery · Thriller
5.7210 votes
TMDB score
3/5
Intensity
3/5
Gore
2/5
Stays with you
How The Neighbor scares
It starts as a quiet mystery about a missing girlfriend and then tightens into a race against time once the captivity setup is revealed, with the back half built around escape and pursuit rather than exploration. The scares come from being trapped and hunted by very human, very corrupt people, not from anything supernatural. There are bursts of physical violence and danger to the body more than any deep mind-bending dread. It's the kind of tense, nasty thriller you watch for the adrenaline of the chase rather than something that haunts you afterward.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, The Neighbor rates psychological 2/5, visceral 4/5, gore 3/5, lingering effect 2/5, and overall intensity 3/5.
- Psychological: 2 of 5
- Visceral: 4 of 5
- Gore: 3 of 5
- Lingering: 2 of 5
- Intensity: 3 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 25 of 100 — leans Slow burn
Supernatural vs Real-world: 95 of 100 — leans Real-world
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 55 of 100 — balanced
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
Starts with a slow, uneasy setup before locking into an escalating, increasingly brutal captivity ordeal that barely lets up through its final stretch.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 4.
How scary is The Neighbor?
On The Horror Database's 0–5 intensity scale, The Neighbor rates 3/5 — solidly scary, building its fear through slow-burn dread rather than shocks. It attacks the body more than the mind — physical, in-your-face horror. Expect it to be moderately gory and scary but not punishing. Some of it will follow you to bed, but it lets go within a day or so.
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