There are plenty of cult horror movies that have rock n’ roll as a theme, with an emphasis on heavy metal; think Trick or Treat, The Gate, and Rock ‘n’ Roll Nightmare. But far fewer pay glory to progressive rock, a genre stuffed with complicated riffs and tempo changes that’s more polarizing than most. Destroy All Neighbors plants its flag proudly on the mountain of prog, and brings lots of squishy gore along for the ride.
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Directed by Josh Forbes, with a story by Charles Pieper and Mike Benner and a script by Pieper and Jared Logan, Destroy All Neighbors—its title presumably winking at 1968 Godzilla-palooza Destroy All Monsters—follows the gruesome journey of meek sound engineer William Brown (Mystery Science Theater 3000’s Jonah Ray Rodrigues). William’s inability to finish the prog-rock album he’s been noodling on forever in his home studio has become a psychological roadblock—not to mention a source of tension with girlfriend Emily (Kiran Deol), who’s long been supportive but is running low on patience. Things go from prickly to hellish when a dreadful new neighbor moves in next door: Vlad (an unrecognizable Alex Winter, of Bill & Ted fame), who resembles an oversized troll and spends his days (and nights) lifting weights, throwing furniture around, bellowing, and blasting electronic dance music.
Image: Shudder
Inevitably, there’s a confrontation. Most people can relate to the problem of having an obnoxious neighbor, but Destroy All Neighbors swiftly careens into horror when Vlad is accidentally, uh, decapitated. Then, there’s another turn into the surreal, when Vlad’s disembodied head comes back to life and sorta becomes William’s new best friend. And the grisly hilarity doesn’t end there; while you’re never certain if William is imagining the reanimated corpses that become his pals, or if he’s actually a deranged guy that’s accidentally become a serial killer, one thing holds true: he has got to finish that album, come hell or high water.
Image: Shudder
With endearing performances from the entire cast—including comedy veteran Thomas Lennon as William’s boss, who runs a recording studio and has a very particular outlook on what’s “rock n’ roll” and what isn’t; Randee Heller (Daniel’s mom in The Karate Kid!) as the eccentric manager of William’s dingy apartment building; and the always-welcome Kumail Nanjiani in an uncredited cameo—Destroy All Neighbors is infused with a goofy energy, something that kicks in right from the animated opening credits. Yeah, it’s a basically a midlife crisis movie wrapped in a horror comedy. But it’s also able to tell a weirdly delightful story that combines blood-soaked practical special effects with an earnest love of prog rock, and makes you root for its deeply flawed (and in some cases, literally rotting) characters in the process.
Destroy All Neighbors streams on Shudder starting January 12.
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