Hey what's up guys
Today I'll show you a Psychological Horror film: "The Good Neighbor"
Spoilers ahead, watch out and take care
The movie starts with a narrator talking about a social experiment conducted,
that is about changing a person's perspective
Under the premise,
a group of people is told that hired strangers will be interfering with their daily lives
This affected the group of people's perspective and behavior in life
However, in reality, there were no hired strangers,
and their daily lives had carried on with no interaction from hired strangers
Because of that, the experiment proves that a person's perspective can be altered
The narrator says that people always perceive things when they have to look out for them,
regardless of whether it is true or not
Suddenly, the scene focuses on a teenager who calls himself the director
The director states his plans for a social experiment prank to an old man, whom he calls a hermit
He wants to make the hermit believe that his house is haunted
And he also wants to prove that he can change the hermit's behavior
The following moment, the director starts stocking up on equipment and cameras for their prank
He then introduces his partner that will help with his experiment
After they prepare their equipment, they stake out the hermit's home in a surveillance room
The next morning, they spot the hermit heading out for his groceries
So the duo trespasses, and breaks into the hermit's house
Shortly after,
They begin their operation by installing surveillance cameras and equipment for the prank
As they install the equipment, they realize that the house is really creepy
The director jokes that there might be a dark secret in his basement somewhere
The director tries to head into the basement, but it is locked
Then the duo continues installing the equipment,
and worries that the hermit might come back sooner than they expected
Shortly after, they finish setting up the last camera for the living room
Suddenly, the camera zooms out and transitions to a lawyer,
presenting a camera as evidence in the courtroom
This indicates that the video recording happened in the past
She then states that the duo is responsible for the hermit's death
But how he died is still unclear at this point
The lawyer only says that the death is caused by the experiment, they call "the haunting project"
Returning to the past, we see the duo with their girlfriends;
and they begin explaining the experiment
The girls think that this is similar to reality tv shows;
However, they point out that their project is completely real compared to the scripted shows
The girls then ask about the hermit,
to which the duo replies that the hermit is a wife-abusing grumpy old man,
which leads his wife to leave him
The girl thinks that the rumor is exaggerated, and the prank is overkill;
but the director insists that the hermit deserves it
The following day, the director starts his first prank he calls "lights out"
This involves the electronics of the hermit's home turning on and off repeatedly
Shortly after, the duo begins the prank as the hermit watches TV
However, the hermit barely reacts to the lights flickering
Seeing that the hermit barely reacts to the prank, the duo become desperate
The duo then decides to activate the emergency service alarm in the house
After a while, a police officer visits the hermit to ask him about the alarm
The hermit is confused, because he is unaware that the alarm went off
The duo tries to record the police and the hermit;
but there is no audio on the front door where they are talking
The police officer then asks if he could come in to investigate the house;
However, the hermit becomes grumpy, and refuses the officer's entry
Back to the courtroom in the present,
the lawyer asks what the officer saw during the tragedy of the hermit
The cop then explains that he got a call about gunshots in the hermit's house, so he rushed over
Unfortunately, when he got there, the hermit was already dead;
and the director was also present at the crime scene
Back to the past, we see the hermit having a visitor
The duo assumes that the guest might be the hermit's ex
However, the hermit is seen in the camera locking the door, instead of greeting the guest
The guest leaves as the hermit refuses to meet her
She also drops an envelope in the front door for the hermit
As the guest leaves, the hermit then picks up the envelope
But instead of reading it, the hermit tears it apart
Seeing that there are no good results from the experiment, the duo discusses what they'll do next
His partner insists that they should keep going, and the director agrees;
but they need to make more intense pranks
Meanwhile, the hermit takes out his trash, and he trips on a trashcan
So a kind neighbor offers to help him
However, the hermit becomes grumpy; and he chases off the neighbor
As the hermit returns home, he grabs a beer
Suddenly, the duo pranks him with banging noises around the house
The hermit follows the noise, and realizes that it is coming from the back door
The duo is amazed when the hermit reacts differently to their prank again
Suddenly, we see the hermit get a flashback of his wife
The wife complains about the back door not closing properly, and asks if he could fix it
However, the hermit ignores her; and she gets frustrated
His flashback ends; and the door prank reminds him of his wife banging the door
The duo sees that the prank is getting more reactions, so they try making the prank more intense
The following night, the hermit wakes up to their prank
He heads over to the noise, and sees the front door banging
However, the hermit just stands there
The duo is confused on why he is just menacingly standing there
Suddenly, the hermit moves towards his garage
The director is frustrated that they forgot to put cameras in the garage
And suddenly, they're surprised when the hermit brings back an ax from the garage;
and he starts breaking the door
This incident excites the director, as the experiment is bearing results
However, the partner panics when the hermit stares at the living room camera
He then thinks that the hermit knows, and is going after the next
Fortunately, the director points out that the hermit is just looking at a wall near the camera
Suddenly, the hermit begins to move again; and the director orders his partner to follow him
The partner tries to follow him, but loses sight of him
Just then, the duo hears knocking at their door
The partner panics as he thinks that the hermit's targeting them
The director tries to convince him that is not the case,
and just tells him to record this while he arms himself
They then head to the front door, to see if it's the hermit
Fortunately, it is just the partner's father, who is picking him up
Back at the surveillance room, the director sees the hermit back in his living room,
and the director makes a progress report, saying that his experiment is a success
He states that making the hermit feel like he is being haunted,
is making changes to the hermit's perspective and behavior
After his progress report, he meets with his partner
and they discuss why the hermit suddenly axed the door
The partner theorizes that it might be a symptom from an experiment he learned in the past;
the person is behaviorally conditioned to fear a certain thing if exposed to it
He tells him that the hermit might've had a traumatic experience flashback,
when he heard the door banging
He then advises the director that they should be careful, since they might break the hermit
However, the director thinks his partner is too soft, and still decides to continue the experiment
They call their next prank "moonlight sonata";
and the director explains that this prank uses the music player
As the prank starts, the hermit is surprised by the music player
He tries to turn it off, but he fails; so he goes to his bedroom
Suddenly, he gets another flashback, where his wife also plays the music player
The wife is seen trying to enjoy a late-night dance; but the hermit stops her
This angers her, so the hermit tries to calm her down;
But she still ends up having a mental breakdown
His flashback ends then; and he decides to go to his basement
The duo then sees him, and thinks the hermit is hiding something in the basement
However, the partner just tells him not to bother the basement, despite it being a worthy scoop
However, the director insists on figuring out the basement's secret
He also tells his partner that this will give them fame;
and he always wanted to be famous, that is why he is doing this experiment
The following day, the partner wakes up the director;
and he tells him the hermit has been staying in the basement for seven hours after their prank
This makes the director suspicious; and he plans his next prank
He then introduces the fourth prank he calls the "cold spots"
This prank mimics a ghost's aura with chemicals,
that can drop the temperature in the hermit's bedroom while he sleeps
As they begin this prank, they're caught by the director's mom, and get scolded for the experiment
As a result, they stop the prank as she scolds the director
In the present, the lawyer asks the director's mom about her involvement in the experiment
She replies to the lawyer that she was unaware of it at that time
The lawyer then questions her negligence,
and eventually asks if she was ever concerned about her son's experiment
The mom replies that she has been concerned
She adds that she was also concerned if his son had her husband's gun that time
Back to the day of the incident,
the hermit notices the temperature drop because of the prank; and he tries to turn up the heater
Suddenly, the window of the bedroom shatters because of the chemicals
Then the hermit gets another flashback,
where his wife was returning from the hospital, while he heats a freezing bedroom
The following day, the duo notices that when the hermit is disturbed, he goes to the basement,
and they think there is a secret there
So they call the police,
and they say that a woman is screaming in the basement of the hermit's home
When the police officer arrives, he asks the hermit to let him in, and check if this report is true
The hermit allows him to enter; and after seeing his basement, the officer leaves
The director then becomes desperate,
trying to make the hermit look evil; and he badly wants to break into the basement
However, his partner thinks he is going overboard; and they argue
In the present courtroom,
his partner reveals that this experiment is just for the director's revenge
The partner states that in the past,
the hermit saved the director's mom from the abuse of her alcoholic husband
And that led to his father being jailed, leaving his family broken
The partner thinks his friend holds the hermit responsible for destroying his family
Back to the past, the duo reconcile; and the director sets up a Halloween party
The partner and his girlfriend join the party
However, the director uses their cameras to spy on them
This angers the partner, and he asks the director to hand over his equipment
The director says that he shares ownership of the equipment, so the director refuses to return it
He also blackmails his partner that he is recording his girlfriend with his camera,
since the partner's fingerprint is also on it
The director also taunts his partner that they should finish the prank,
or else he'll bring them both down
The following day, the duo continue arguing
And suddenly, the hermit's cat topples the living room camera and catches their attention
Wanting to avoid getting caught, the director sneaks in at night to collect the toppled camera;
and he brings his father's gun with him
To his surprise, he sees that the basement door is unlocked,
so he checks it out despite his partner's plea not to
There, The director sees that the hermit made a shrine for his wife
The director realizes that she didn't divorced the hermit, and just simply passed away
Then it is revealed that the wife passed away from sickness,
and that the hermit regrets not treating her right in the past
The director then sees a bell near the shrine, which is a gift from the hermit's late wife
The director rings it accidentally, so the hermit wakes up in bed, and he prepares a gun
The director panics, as he hears the hermit heading over to him
The director rushes upstairs, and leaves the bell on a table as he hides in the living room
The hermit stops midway towards the basement, as he sees the bell
Because all those pranks resemble his wife's image,
he is convinced that the bell is his wife, calling him over to come with her in the afterlife;
So he shoots himself
The director panics, and then calls his partner to clean this mess up
However, the officer catches them with the gun and arrests them
It is then revealed in a series of flashbacks, that the hermit was a good neighbor
However, when he neglected his wife, she started breaking down physically and mentally
Then he became grumpy, as he regrets his treatment of her
The bell is also revealed to be a promise,
that the hermit will follow his wife anywhere if it is rung
from all the pranks that resemble his wife, it makes sense why he thinks that she wants him to die
His wife's friend was also revealed to be the guest,
that is preventing him from committing suicide for a long while
After the hearing, the duo is charged with two years of probation,
and 500 hours of community service
As they leave the courthouse, reporters flock to the duo
Also, the girlfriends of the duo realize they are spying on the girls, so they dump them both
However, aside from the partner's remorse,
the director shows a smirk on his face, as his experiment gained him attention and fame,
which he always wants to achieve
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