While not the first feature film from Josh Forbes (that was Contracted: Phase II, back in 2015), Destroy All Neighbors feels like a more pure vision. It's a horror comedy that you just know wouldn't be made if everyone involved didn't have a firm belief in the fact that they were making something unique and worthwhile. As the repeated mantra throughout the movie states: "not everyone will get it, but the right ones will."
Jonah Ray plays William Brown, a struggling prog-rock musician who believes that he has a great album bubbling just beneath his skin, but isn't quite able to get everything in order to get a recording that matches his thoughts. His partner, Emily, (Kiran Deol), tries to remain as supportive as she can, but there are signs of strain. And that strain increases when William is perturbed by a very noisy new neighbour, Vlad (Alex Winter, under a lot of impressive make up). Eventually arguing with Vlad about the situation, William then accidentally kills him. That isn't the only death he ends up causing. What's worse is that the dead people seem to be just as active as they were when alive.
Written by Charles A. Pieper, Jared Logan, and Mike Benner (the latter two already credited with a decent selection of comedy material), Destroy All Neighbors is a film you could probably most accurately describe as daffy. Everything is over the top, from the main characters to the wonderful practical effects, and the plot is a simple mix of gore gags and Tenacious D. In fact, this would pair up surprisingly well with Freaked (although that is a better film), and I think that makes it obvious why Winter got involved. It's a shame that things weren't shown in a way that could make us doubt the viewpoint of the lead character a bit more, although some might argue that the inherently wild nature of the unfolding events should make us doubt that viewpoint anyway, but this is a very fun time for those who don't mind their horror comedies taking the time to be extra silly.
Forbes directs well enough, and helps himself immensely by delivering a runtime that clocks in under the 90-minute mark. The pacing isn't perfect, it feels as if each main act has at least one scene that runs a bit too long, but everything and everyone is moved into place nicely enough, helping to build up the many gags and underline the impact of a very satisfying finale.
Ray is very good in the main role, the typical schlub who ends up in a big mess he has to pro-actively deal with after years spent simply reacting, or not, to various levels of mistreatment from those around him. Deol has less to do, but she's rewarded with a couple of moments at the very end of the movie that allow her to add to the fun of the whole thing. Winter is having a blast (whether covered in all that make up or making a cameo as our lead's lawyer), as are both Thomas Lennon and Ryan Kattner (who play a sound studio engineer and volatile musician, respectively), and there are also decent performances from Randee Heller, DeMorge Brown, and Christian Calloway, all playing other people who end up reaching their "final destination" as things get progressively worse and worse for our lead character. I'll also mention Jon Daly, Pete Ploszek, and, making an unexpected and unnecessary, but enjoyable, cameo, Kumail Nanjiani.
Ultimately just not as sharp as it could be. The thin plot stumbles from one gag to the next, and somehow the moments of inventive gore will make many viewers wish that everyone had tried to push things even further in the direction of insane bloodshed and comedy deaths, but it's enjoyable and endearing throughout, and the fact that it's so eager to please should gain it some goodwill from most people who decide to check it out. Not great, and I wanted to enjoy it more than I did, but best summed up by saying . . . "not everyone will get it, but the right ones will".
6/10
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