“Neighbor” Director Robert Angelo Masciantonio Interviewed!

I’m a pretty biased writer for this review. The director of Neighbor is the cousin of one of my good friends, so I’ve been hearing about this movie for over a year or so now. I didn’t get to actually see the finished film though until last week. Director Robert Angelo Masciantonio had promised me on multiple occasions that this movie would be more “goretastic” than anything I’ve ever seen before. I’m happy to finally say in the case of Neighbor (after years of disappointment from claims like that) that there was a follow through.

Masciantonio deserves a place beside the likes of Adam Greene & James Gunn as new horror directors who actually understand their audiences’ want. Neighbor is a delightful combination of the character development and pacing of John Carpenter’s Halloween mixed with the in-your-face gore of Hostel.

To regular viewers, the movie might seem far from perfect. There are some flaws and the acting is what you’d expect out of a small cast of mostly locals, but the actors aren’t the stars of the show. The star is the gore. However much money was spent for FX artists Jason Chapman, Erin Dell’amore and Vincent J. Gustini, it was money well spent. I can’t remember the last time that I literally squirmed in my seat with discomfort.

The story follows a nameless girl who goes from random house to random house and tortures the homeowners and their friends, while offering no motivation or mercy. To describe the movie as cringe-worthy is an understatement to the levels of discomfort that this film brings. I had a chance to sit down and talk to Robert Angelo Masciantonio myself and this is the resulting interview.

There are moments in Neighbor that put me on edge like never before. The only other film to ever make me feel this uncomfortable and dirty was a 70’s film called Bloodsucking Freaks. It’s obvious that the shock is the point, so the questions is: “what is wrong with you?” Where did you come up with some of these more horrifying death sequences?

Well, I’m sure the one everyone thinks of first is the swizzle stick. Basically, when it was still an idea, I’d ask people “what would be the worst thing someone could do to you (in this situation)” and then maybe riff on something someone brought up. That scene, in particular, was longer and also involved her invading his anal cavity. Christian (Campbell) put his foot down and wouldn’t do that part so I use it in the sequel. Anyway, someone brought up how a Vietnamese torture tactic during the war was to stick bamboo under soldier’s fingernails. From there I simply thought, “what could be worse” and that’s what it degraded into; a swizzle stick and a wang. I knew from the beginning that it was a gag I’d want in there and always intended on showing so graphically as well. Charles (St. John Smith III), the producer, wanted to put out an ad looking for a guy that would let us do it for real. Apparently it is a real thing called “Sounding”. I never looked up if it’s that valid… The rest of the tortures were done “off the cuff”. I don’t take notes or do outlines when I write. I just sit down and write down what I see happening in my head. Like, I sat at my computer and cringed as I wrote the scene with the hacksaw. That scene and the one with the drill are in the movie just as I visualized them writing it… down to the happy accidents like tendons getting wrapped up when they were written to or pieces of cheek rolling down to the floor. There was a lot of anger written into the torture scenes. If someone pissed me off that day it went on to the page that night. A lot of it was stuff I had wished I could do to someone earlier. Not a particular person just… well, you know what I mean.

You mentioned saving a scene for a sequel; is that going to be your next project or are you going to do some other projects before an immediate sequel?

The script for Neighbor 2 and Neighbor 3-D are finished. I’m also toying with some other scripts. Unfortunately I was diagnosed with cancer in April and that has eaten up (drum crash) all of my time.

I’m sorry to hear about the cancer diagnoses. How have things been going with that? Furthermore, has it inspired the scripts even more so?

Thanks. It’s okay. They got it out of my tongue, which was the original diagnoses, but found one infected lymph node. I’m basically trying to decide if I want chemo & radiation or just hope I only had one infected node. It has inspired two scripts but I haven’t written them yet. Well, one I started a while ago but didn’t have a real reference point. I’ll revise what exists of that one, a sort of pseudo-Western, called “Dust in My Boots”, finish it and then think about if the other idea had legs. I also want to finish a female vigilante script that I started a little while ago but that has nothing to do with cancer… I just thought about it. I guess it goes along more with your other question about what’s next.

The Girl gets a drink from her Victim

While people cover this movie they definitely talk about the gore aspect; but I think there’s a great level of dark humor in the film that people ignore. Part of the fun of the movie is that there’s a huge level of absurdity in the manner in which people are killed (draining out a heart through a spout comes to mind). In the sequel would you up the level of humor or lower it?

I think the tone of the sequel is very much the same, just amped up even more. I’m following Halloween in that it picks up a minute after the first one. The third one follows Friday the 13th Part 3 a bit more. They both follow the general horror movie sequel rules of getting more and more violent.

Following the rules of horror movies? Doing Neighbor 3-D? I’m hoping that you’ll have characters doing pointless shit like playing with a ball on a string, or using flashlights, juggling. Are their plans to take neighbor to space or Manhattan as well?

I guess I mean more like following the ’80s model. 2 picks up right after 1, 3 is in 3-D, 4 kinda has nothing to do with the other ones, 5 brings back, well, someone… don’t want to give too much away. And, yes, I would love to do 3 in 3-D; it would be total ’80s style with people aiming at the camera. Yes, Neighbor X is on Mars. No, I’m not kidding.

In my review I referred to this movie as the character development and pacing of Halloween with the shock factor of Hostel. The film also has homages to Clockwork Orange, Misery and if I’m not wrong… Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, what are some of your cinematic influences?

For this movie it was The Shining, Silence of the Lambs & Misery. Effects wise, I wanted it to make me feel the way I did when I was, like, nine and saw Jack’s face for the first time in An American Werewolf in London, when he’s all chewed up. We did the colored credits in homage to A Clockwork Orange and face cards are a nod to Scream. I love Scorsese’s use of movement and jack that style. Story-wise, I did want that Halloween on steroids feel… my difference being we couldn’t cut to a wall getting spattered with blood. Believe it or not, Hostel and Saw really weren’t influences. The only thing I remember from Hostel was the dude getting his Achilles tendon and I saw Saw part something on cable after we wrapped only because it had come up. It’s funny but I haven’t seen a lot of movies that come up in reviews, like Miike’s Audition. The Dream Sequences, of all things, were [actually] inspired by The Last Temptation of Christ.

A Clockwork Orange homage to the extreme

John Waters regular Mink Stole has a brief scene in this movie, how did that come about?

Charles is a HUGE Mink Stole fan and asked if I’d give her the role. We were lucky enough for her to have said yes. Mink was amazing to work with.

I’ve heard that the “Love Scene” was quite infamous even before audiences got to see it; care to explain?

“The Love Scene” is the one that made R. Emmett Sibley (Rob), the editor, throw up, I believe. We shot everything in the basement on a set in sequence and Rob was there editing pretty much as it came in. The day before was the drill scene and I probably made him show that to me a hundred times. On top of that, he had to edit the Love Scene the next night. The two compiled on one another was too much and he lost his lunch. I think that’s what you’re referring to. I also mention on the commentary track that it is Charles acting as stand-in for Christian during the actual torture in that scene. It was just too much for Christian. He basically told me that he’d throw up for real.

I’ve noticed that you reply to pretty much every comment on IMDb. I find that every interesting. While there are a decent amount of positive responses there are definitely negative feedbacks. You reply to them all with extra kindness though. How does it feel in this day and age to have instant feedback like that at all times?

The IMDb, yes. Honestly, I’ve been using it as a tool to promote the movie. The instant feedback kinda sucks only in that there is no filter. The thing I’ve noticed is that people love to print hate. So many people come up to us or will put a one-liner on a FB page about how they enjoyed the movie. But, man, when someone hates it, they’ll go online during the goddamn movie and send out, “this movie stinks”. I ask everyone that tells me they like it, do me favor and put it in print.

If you could have Neighbor play as a double feature with ANY MOVIE (regardless of year of release or genre) what would it be?
See, if I pick something amazing like An American Werewolf in London it will just outshine me too much so maybe something classically terrible like the Mariah Carey movie. How do you not love Neighbor after that?

Damn, I was hoping you’d say Neighbors with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd
See, there’s another one… I’ve never seen Neighbors and I’m a HUGE Belushi fan. I think I’m going to try to buy [it] after I finish this [interview].

If people want to see Neighbor with their own two eyes what are the best ways to do so?
NEIGHBOR seems to be all over now. I recommend Walmart.com simply because they have the lower price. If you’re super hi-tech, you can now get it digitally on iTunes or Amazon VideoOnDemand. I believe they also have it available in HD. Just make sure you get the Unrated Director’s Cut. There is an R Cut available for rent at Blockbuster but it kinda defeats the purpose.

Mascianotonio picking up his copy