Destroy All Neighbors (2024) – There Goes The Neighborhood

Released: 12th January
Seen: 15th January

At the start of this year, I put up a list of the best films of 2023 and top of that list was something called Cocaine Bear, a film that to this day delights me with its simple direct fun. Honestly half the time I go see a movie that’s what I go for, something that’s just uncomplicated fun that can be enjoyed without much thought at all. Horror comedies tend to be probably the best genre for doing this because often they are so heightened in their stupidity that even the average ones can be good enough for a fun time, especially when they embrace their own insanity and do something unexpected. This is why Destroy All Neighbors is such an enjoyable time, although it probably isn’t going to end up topping this year’s best list.

Destroy All Neighbors takes place in one of the filthiest apartment complexes you’ve ever seen, specifically starting in the apartment of perennial loser William Brown (Jonah Ray). His girlfriend seems distant, his boss is crushing his spirit, a homeless guy keeps bugging him for croissants every day and now to make things even worse, he has a new neighbor. Vlad (Alex Winter) is more of a goblin than a man, a truly loud and disgusting neighbor from hell who somehow turns on the charm for everyone else which slowly drives William insane. After a confrontation between William and Vlad turns into an accidental murder, William’s life somehow goes even further downhill leading to a string of accidental murders that’s all really making it hard for William to finish recording that prog rock album he’s been working on.

Destroy All Neighbors is one of those films that just doesn’t give a shit about making sense and lives by the rule of what’s funny and gross enough to make for an enjoyable time. From pretty much the moment it begins it’s throwing out as much insanity as it can to acclimate the audience into what’s going to follow. It’s constantly trying to throw out random jokes in a “throw it at the wall to see what sticks” approach that works fairly well for the most part, aided by the fact that the characters throwing those jokes out are borderline cartoons. Vlad in particular is made up almost entirely of over-the-top decisions which makes him weirdly fun to watch.

There’s an undeniable urge to compare this to another horror comedy, Tucker and Dale VS Evil which also leaned heavily into the joke of people accidentally killing themselves in ways that could look a lot like murder out of context. Destroy All Neighbors does that same joke but it must be said it’s a little more ambiguous at times, particularly around Vlad’s death which is the film’s centerpiece (sure his death is accidental, but William then intentionally dismembers him which allows the film to have Vlad as a talking head with body parts that move on their own). It doesn’t fully commit to its silly idea which makes it just a bit harder to really be on William’s side, sure he didn’t fully kill anyone but he totally did manslaughter a bunch of people and he isn’t the most sympathetic character.

When the film does really lean hard into the comedy element though, it can really kick some ass. The back and forth between any combination of characters is usually pointed and hilarious, an early bit about nepo babies is one of the smarter jokes in the film but it’s also able to just have some stupid fun jokes with a bunch of stupid characters just kind of bouncing off each other. Indeed the film might market itself as a horror comedy (and even be made by Shudder, the horror streamer) but it’s just an outright comedy with the window dressing of horror, which works pretty well for a story about a guy who is haunted by the people he keeps accidentally killing.

The only real issue that Destroy All Neighbors really has is that it feels somewhat forgettable. It’s certainly enjoyable enough while watching, a good time was had and a lot of laughs came through but the moment it finishes it feels disposable, like it probably won’t be revisited later because a lot of the core elements that the film is made from have been done better by other films. You can get a better version of “losers accidentally keep killing people” from the previously mentioned Tucker and Dale vs Evil, you can get a better horror movie set in an apartment building from Evil Dead Rise. There’s a lot of stuff that’s done better and more memorably elsewhere, this movie is certainly fine enough but it’s not one that’ll go into heavy rotation.

Destroy All Neighbors is certainly a fun time, silly and enjoyable with a lot of creative effects work and some fun ideas but it’s probably not going to be some cult classic that feels like what it’s aiming for. It’s fun, it’s fine, it doesn’t need to be anything more than that in the long run and you will probably have fun with it for the hour and a half that it asks you to give it in exchange for the light entertainment it offers, but beyond that, it’s not worth making a fuss about. It’s good, it’s fine, it’s just about enough to get the job done and it’s hard to be mad about that.