Thy Neighbor's Wife (2001)

User Rating:

2.6/10   

Director:

Jim Wynorski

Writers:

Sean O'Bannon (screenplay)
Jim Wynorski (story)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Evil comes in many forms.

Plot:

A scorned woman plots revenge for her husband's suicide by integrating herself as a housekeeper for a dysfunctional Beverly Hills family to first alienate, and then emotionally and physically destroy them.

Plot Keywords:

Revenge | Poison | Suicide | Housekeeper | Exploding House

Cast

Kari Wuhrer	...	Ann Stewart / Anna Johnson
Jeff Trachta	...	Scott Garrett
Barbara Crampton	...	Nicole Garrett
Melissa Stone	...	Darla Garrett
Seth Adam Jones	...	David Garrett (as Seth Jones)
Jay Richardson	...	Mr. Slider
Larry Poindexter	...	Chris Stewart
John Weller	...	Travis
Peggy Trentini	...	Karina
Melissa Brasselle	...	Angela
Michael Cavanaugh	...	Ian McMillan
Betheny Zolt	...	Janelle
Nina Dafni	...	Mrs. Slider
Bill Langlois Monroe	...	Detective (as Bill Monroe)

Also Known As:

Midnight Vendetta (USA) (working title)
Poison (USA)

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality and some violence.

Runtime:

92 min | Germany:89 min (DVD version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-Stereo

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 | Australia:MA | Germany:16 | South Korea:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Phoenician Entertainment

Quotes:

Ann Stewart: That's what I'm here for. To serve you.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Final Examination (2003) (V)

More of a horrid movie than a horror movie

The other reviews are quite on-the-money, so I won't go over the same material, other than to state that this movie has to be one of the clumsiest movies I've ever seen.

Things that ought to have been simple to get right, but obviously weren't:

1) The astonishingly well-endowed housekeeper undresses and gets in the shower. Ann (Kari) sneaks into the house, grabs a VERY large kitchen knife, and proceeds to stab the housekeeper to death with blow after blow with the knife. There is NO blood being spattered. She then wraps the body in a white sheet, and is carrying it through the house. Still no blood. At ALL. With the number of times the housekeeper was stabbed, you'd think she'd be draining like a sieve. But apparently she clots REALLY well.

2) Ann manages to empty a full freezer of its contents, put the body in, and refill the freezer, all in the space of about 30 seconds while the daughter is trying to open the garage door. Although the freezer was full when opened, adding an adult womans body and then piling everything on top doesn't seem to add any mass to the freezer.

3) Ann sneaks into her husbands bosses house, turns on the gas, and sets a light to spark when the switch is turned on. The boss is upstairs, but comes down. Comes down a very large staircase. When he turns on the light, the house is shown (exploding) from the outside. The house is clearly one story.

4) Numerous interior shots of the families house also shows it to be two story. Numerous exterior shots of the house show it to be one story. Apparently it is MUCH larger on the inside than the outside.

5) How many times can a person REALLY get hit full-force with a heavy piece of steel and not be killed? Apparently a LOT of times, because both the husband and Ann repeately give each other good solid blows with both a crowbar and a tire iron. Neither one ends up in the hospital. The husband DOES get a minor cut on his forehead, though.

One wonders if the director or producers even watched this movie prior to releasing it.