This was a pretty decent movie. I’m always a sucker when it comes to found footage films, but I’ve learned over the years to always, and I mean always, temper my expectations. The Good Neighbor involves two teenagers conducting a human experiment, where they aim to see if they can alter or change the person’s behavior and perceptions without actually having any contact with them. Here, they wanted to see if they can convince their recluse of a neighbor that his house is haunted. Setting up multiple hidden cameras around the house along with other gadgets to remotely control certain objects such as his doors and lights, they begin the prank while being able to safely monitor and record his every reaction safely from across the house.

There definitely were some creepy moments in the beginning. I genuinely had no idea what to expect with the old man, nor what his reactions would be. Was he even human? It’s one of those things where I initially thought that maybe he was like a vampire or something, you know? Turns out this wasn’t one of “those” type of movies. Instead, the truth of it was indeed sad though and goes to show that actions have consequences, for better or worse. This is especially true when you have no idea what the other person has been through in life and you’re only going on assumptions. I personally hate these types of pranks being played in general. Some people do find them funny when played in real life on real people, and it’s despicable.

The Good Neighbor is not a true found footage film, however. Sub-par but passable acting all around, which is what I expected, nothing more. There’s always that one reserved person along with that one douche or asshole to keep things interesting and moving along. Here, Sean and Ethan did their thing, respectively. The ending was more or less fitting for the film. Both getting away with just probation and community services did seem like an injustice, though. The ending scene likely meant that both teenagers got something different out of the horrible experiment gone wrong. It would seem like Sean will likely never hang out with Ethan again. He’ll likely have a lot of reflecting to do regarding his part and role in the experiment. Ethan, on the other hand, the ending scene would have us believe that he will be able to use this failed experiment and now with tons of public exposure, to finally be able to maybe get the million or so views he so desperately craves online. Maybe he’ll start another similar experiment down the road?