My Neighbor's Secret (2009 TV Movie) User Reviews

The Gold Standard In Guilty Pleasures

[emily_miller · 10/10 · 4 October 2009]

This is not Citizen Kane. This is a Lifetime Movie. The writing is geared toward the sensibilities of women of a certain age and station in life. If you can't accept the paradigm for what it is, you won't get far with this one.

That being said, this movie entertained the hell out of me.

Brent, played with brilliant, unselfconscious sociopathy by Nicholas Brendon, is both charming and menacing by turns as the the man obsessed. In a perfect marriage of script and actor, there are moments of both almost comical self-awareness as he narrates his intrusion into his neighbor's lives via spy cams.

Chandra West, as Casey, is extremely engaging and sympathetic and has a natural chemistry with Nicholas Brendon that added terrifically to both his character's fantasy sequences and their more subtle interactions as well.

Vincent Ventresca as the husband, Jason, did a remarkable job balancing the colder aspects of his character with understated, but obvious love for his family, as well as a certain amount of personal charm which justified and bolstered his place in the film's quasi-romantic triangle.

The supporting cast was delightfully earnest in their delivery, which is nothing especially new for the Lifetime network, but a wonderfully familiar convention all the same.

Without giving too much away, it is worth noting that there were several well placed and surprising twists in the story which took it one step beyond the conventional movie-of-the- week storytelling.

In short, this was a great film, and well deserving of an evening in with an afghan and a box of girl scout cookies.

Good Fun Movie

[noway234-1 · 10/10 · 6 April 2010]

Most of the time a TV movie is either really really bad or really really good, this one fit's in the really really good category. The entire cast is incredible but the true star of the movie (And deservedly so) is Nicholas Brendon playing the sociopathic role of Brent. It's a true change from what we're used to from Nicholas, people who know him expect a comedic lighthearted performance or possibly a bit of heroism (depending on what the movie is) but he takes this role of a sociopath and makes it incredibly scary.

The roles of Jason and Casey (Played awesomely by Vincent Ventresca and Chandra West) round out the main cast as the neighbor's that Brent becomes obsessed with. They manage to make you really care about them and their innocence is a great comparison to the psychotic behavior of Brent.

If you love a good corny little thriller then this is the film for you. If you love a good scare then this movie is what you need, and if you're a Buffy geek wanting to see Nicholas Brendon in the most terrifying role he's done then you must see this movie.

Quite good for a TV movie!

[haroot_azarian · 9/10 · 16 December 2020]

OK so one of the contributors here clearly has beef against Chandra West! Their contribution was just totally pathetic and unreasonable. For me this was a good LMN flick. The story-line, script and acting was very good and made a nice change to a lot of the LMN cliche repetitive movies!

Demolition Derby

[lavatch · 8/10 · 14 January 2022]

There are multiple references to an impending "demolition" of a home that is being refurbished by architect Brent Keller for his neighbors, Brent and Casey Hest. But the neighbor's secret is that he is really trying to demolish their family.

In "My Neighbor's Secret," there were exceptionally well developed characters. Brent is a successful architect whose wife Gretchen is murdered in what appears to be a robbery. Dr. Jason Hest is a successful physician and university lecturer. Casey Hest is a bestselling writer of fiction, specializing in romances like "Ghosts of Amherst" and "Barcelona Summer." Their young son Austin is an aspiring soccer player.

While it is revealed early in the film that Brent hired a hit man to murder his wife, the filmmakers sustained interest in the strange cat-and-mouse game Brent is playing with the Hest family.

There were some effective directorial choices with oblique camera angles, atmospheric location footage, and select moments of the deranged Brent fantasizing out loud as he is spying on the Casey and Jason through the cameras he installed in their home. He evidently was raised by an authoritarian father who once broke his leg. Brent has been acting out ever since.

The film is anchored by Casey and Jason, who have such a strong bond in their marriage that not even a sophisticated schemer like Brent can destroy their relationship. While the film's denouement was somewhat disappointing in focusing on Casey's nightmare, she is nonetheless consoled by the people are most important in her life, Jason and Austin. They know how to avoid a demolition derby.

Don't Start With this Guy-My Neighbor's Secret ***1/2

[edwagreen · 9/10 · 9 July 2012]

Talk about holding a grudge. A psycho holds a doctor responsible for introducing his wife to a man who becomes her business partner, and thinking that they're having an affair, he arranges to have them both shot to death, following his killing of the guy he hired to kill.

That's not exactly the end either. He takes out revenge on the doctor by exposing a story that the mayor, being treated by the latter, and facing reelection, has had cancer come back. As if this isn't enough, he finds that he is falling for the doctor's wife so he sets upon destroying their marriage.

While this seems too unbelievable to fathom, it is done quite well with a great cast along the way.

Of course, we don't know what happened to the mayor, but his owner partner's investigating as well as what he has been doing to the doctor and his wife are all exposed.