AC
Andrea Costantini
•A terrible event happened to the night watchman of a supermarket in Glenview, a respectable town in Ohio, United States. He was barbarically massacred during his shift. Shaken by the incident and the threat looming over the upscale neighborhood, the market manager Evan organizes, along with a handful of volunteers more incompetent than each other, a sort of night watch to guarantee peace to the citizens. The group of vigilantes will have to face something much bigger than their expectations: a threat from space. Will they be up to the task given their evident stupidity?
If you are told that you are about to watch a film starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, and one of the new icons of comedy Jonah Hill, what do you expect to see? Surely the comedy of the year that brings together comedy icons like the actor from "All About the Benjamins" and the new trend started by the award-winning Judd Apatow & friends. Of course, this is the first thing that comes to mind.
We are quite far from the truth because if, as a base, the film would seem to be a comedy, in reality, it is a genuine sci-fi horror disguised as a farce.
Stiller's role is always the same, a middle-aged man, particularly awkward and with various quirks, always and constantly subjected to misunderstandings, more embarrassing than the other. This time, however, he does not have to face a father-in-law who does not like him, he does not have to deal with a complicated romantic relationship, and he does not have to keep past characters at bay who come to life at night. This time, it starts with a brutal murder, and our clumsy favorite is involved. Who killed and dismembered poor Antonio, the trusted guard of the supermarket where Stiller is the director? Who is the ruthless serial killer lurking in the distinguished neighborhood of Glenview? There is something rotten in the neighborhood, someone is sowing panic among the good people, and the idea to counter the threat is to create a group of vigilantes to control the neighborhood.
Initially titled "Neighborhood Watch" (neighborhood watch), the producers had to change the title due to a racially motivated murder that occurred in America because of a neighborhood vigilante. Not wanting to have anything to do with the case, they turned it into the simple (but effective) "The Watch". It arrived in our country with the banal "Neighbors of the Third Kind", a title that spoils what the real threat of the film is. There is no killer on the loose but rather a group of ruthless aliens planning the terrestrial invasion. Although most of the scenes are comedic (inevitable with the actors who make up the cast), there are often scenes of blood, like the first murder, for example.
This is a purely entertaining film, so no one should expect a masterpiece, neither for the horror genre nor for the comedic side, despite some funny moments being inevitable given the group of "deficients" surrounding the already funny Stiller. A funny moment to remember is the trophy photos with the dead alien.
The surprising note of the film (and it is precisely the reason why this film is worthy of being in a horror database) are the aliens, made very well and credible in their repulsive appearance. Therefore, do not expect to see E.T. or something like that but rather creatures much more similar to a predator, both in appearance and in cruelty.
A strange mix of genres that of "Neighbors of the Third Kind". Some interpretations of the film will go in the direction of judging the film positively because it might, in appearance, seem like a well-done horror comedy, but the opinion of the writer is that sometimes the saying "neither fish nor flesh" fits perfectly. If the intention was to make a comedy, they succeeded halfway with some funny moments inserted in the wrong context. If, on the other hand, they had in mind to make a sci-fi horror, they succeeded a quarter by creating only physically fascinating villains. Summarizing, it is a film that is successful halfway.
Of course, it is ideal for spending an evening with friends with zero thoughts and some beer, but we are far from the real horror comedies of the caliber of "Shaun of the Dead".
Many references to science fiction, starting from "Avatar" to "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", passing through an unnecessary cameo of R.Lee Ermey of Kubrickian memory that, however, has nothing to do with the genre narrated by the film.
