“Naboer” (“Next Door”), is one of the most disturbing and scarey movies I have ever seen. Having just finished watching this Norwegian film on Foxtel’s “World Movies”, I’m still a little “on edge”, which may or may not be a good thing for a Sunday morning.
The film starts off simply enough, with the character of John being approached by his neighbour to help move furniture. It soon becomes evident, however, the woman and her “sister” have something more sinister or sexual in mind, when it becomes clear they have been “listening in” to John’s life through paper-thin walls. Seduction occurs, but not as you would expect, with accompanying violence. As the film progresses, John becomes more and more disturbed by the sexual violence he has committed, which in turn takes him into a world where he (and the viewer) finds it hard to tell reality from fantasy.
On more than one occasion, I found myself as confused as he was, as walls, rooms, and people appear, disappear and re-appear. That’s not to say the film is confusing, as it maintains an inherent logic, despite the lines of reality being so heavily blurred. On another level, the “rooms” are probably analogous for the different parts of John’s mind, which makes this such a thrilling movie on another personal and psychological level. While watching, for example, I was reminded of a recurrent dream I’ve had in my life, where I “discover” some hidden rooms in a house, but which I never enter. But while it’s fear that keeps me out of the rooms in my recurrent dream, it’s curiousity which takes John into the rooms in this film.
What I guess is most disturbing about the film though, is that you could actually imagine this occuring, which is something which I thought was lacking in the other scarey film I recently saw, The Book Of Revelation. Highly recommended.
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