Earlier this year, director Duncan Skiles‘ crime thriller Neighborhood Watch had a very brief stay in theaters, where it didn’t catch on in limited release.
This film boasts some impressive star power from Jack Quaid and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, both of whom are featured on Prime Video‘s The Boys.
Although Neighborhood Watch is somewhat limited in scope and budget, it’s also a very entertaining film that deserves some end-of-year love.
Now that it has premiered on a major streaming platform, Watch With Us is sharing the three reasons to watch Neighborhood Watch on Hulu.
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Jack Quaid Is Sympathetic and a Little Terrifying
The audience shares the perspective of Simon McNally (Quaid), a deeply disturbed man who is struggling with paranoid schizophrenia even after his release from a mental institution. Quaid has a naturally earnest quality about him as Simon looks for work, and also an explosive temper when he feels that he isn’t being listened to or believed. The audience can hear the voice in Simon’s head that’s driving him out of his mind, but no one else can. They just see him acting out, and from their perspective, he seems dangerous.
Early in the film, Simon witnesses the apparent abduction of a woman, but even the audience’s view of the scene is bizarre and it obscures the kidnapper’s face. No one believes Simon’s account of what happened, but he’s so convinced that it was real that he won’t let it drop, even if it reinforces the view that he’s insane. The film strikes an interesting balance between making Simon sympathetic while also leaving the door open that he’s experiencing a delusion. Quaid plays both of those possibilities really well.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan Gives a Surprisingly Soulful Performance
The trailer for Neighborhood Watch didn’t really convey the most important aspect of Jefferey Dean Morgan‘s character, Ed Deerman. He’s not crazy, but he’s every bit as broken as Simon is. Ed even suffers from an apparent delusion that he could be welcomed back at his old gig as a security guard if he just keeps showing up there and busting would-be thieves. He’s kind of a pathetic figure, and yet he’s the stable one compared to Simon.
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It’s pretty clear early on that Simon and Ed haven’t had many interactions before, and the latter is initially just as dismissive towards Simon as everyone else is. Perhaps out of pity, he agrees to help Simon find this missing woman, even if he’s unconvinced that she’s actually real. For a few brief moments, the search actually makes Ed feel important again, as if he’s a cop and not just a washed-up security guard. There’s even some vulnerability in Morgan’s performance that’s surprising and refreshing.
‘Neighborhood Watch’ Keeps the Audience in Suspense
Neighborhood Watch is not a movie that immediately puts its cards on the table. And because of Simon’s mental illness, even the audience can’t necessarily believe that the things they’re seeing or hearing are really happening. In a way, we’re put in Ed’s shoes as well and forced to wonder if Simon’s mind is just playing tricks on him.
Without spoiling details that emerge in the second half of the movie, the story does come down on one side of the argument. This is a very low-key film with a limited budget, but it’s impressive how much it was able to accomplish based on the charisma of Quaid and Morgan. If you like thrillers that are subtle, character-driven and just a little bit different, you’re going to enjoy this.
Neighborhood Watch is streaming on Hulu.
