The Good Neighbor

The experiment started with a simple idea: if you had the equipment and the ambition, could you convince another person that they are being haunted?   Inspired by such thrillers as Rear Window and The Sixth Sense, THE WAITING follows two teenage boys as they attempt to do just that. Their goal? To document the entire project. Our story begins when the boys break into an unsuspecting neighbor’s home, and begin rigging nearly every room with “haunted house” -inspired devices. Equipment that can manipulate his house lights, drop his thermostat, etc., all while miniature video cameras relay the footage back to their own personal computer.   The subject? A suspicious older man who lives at the end of their block. He speaks to no one. Ignores all callers. And is rarely seen outside of his home. Rumors swirl that he is hiding a dark secret – which makes him the perfect candidate.   Through a series of escalating “haunts”, the boys seek to prod the man further and further in order to get a reaction. But there’s one problem – the more they push, the less it seems the man is getting scared. Instead, each haunt seems to inspire the man to hurry to his basement, which is constantly under a heavy lock, where he disappears for hours. And as they continue, his behavior only becomes stranger. Soon, like Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window, the boys begin to wonder...What could he be hiding?   As their suspicions grow and the tension mounts, they’ll come to realize the man they are attempting to manipulate is the last person they should have chosen for their project, which will all end in a paralyzing climax they never could have seen coming.  

The Good Neighbor premiered at SXSW 2016 and has been distributed by Vertical Entertainment.

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