Synopsis

It seemed like the perfect neighborhood: a wonderful place to start a family. Nothing bad could ever happen on quiet, tree lined Wormwood Drive. At least that’s what Bob and Wendi Petersen thought, before they met their new neighbor... Having moved across country so that Bob can begin a dream job with Zeecor, a large industrial corporation, the newly married couple looked forward to starting a new life together, far away from the crime and violence of the big city. Zeecor even provided them with a company home on a peaceful suburban street. What more could a young couple ask for? But behind every perfect neighborhood, there hides a dark secret. On Wormwood Drive that secret is named Adrien Trumbull. Seemingly friendly, yet disturbingly intense, the hulking Trumbull welcomes his young new neighbors with a greeting of a box chocolates and kind words. Touched by his neighborly gestures, Bob and Wendi gratefully accept Trumbull’s thoughtful gifts and friendship. However, Trumbull is not at all what he seems to be. Behind his welcoming grin lurks a dark obsession with poison and self-mutilation and within the walls of his rancid home, hides pure madness. For Bob and Wendi Petersen, the neighborhood of their dreams is about to become a living nightmare. For on Wormwood Drive, the night has eyes and the neighbors are watching...

Official Review

“Neighborhood Watch” is as disturbing and scary a tale of suburbia gone mad as anything I have ever seen. The first feature film for former video director Graeme Whifler, the bare bones of the plot are of a young couple, Bob and Wendi Peterson (Jack Huston, nephew of Angelica, grandson of John, great-grandson of Walter, and Pell James), who have just moved into a “company house” owned by Bob’s new employer, The Zeecor Corporation. The cul-de-sac they live on has the sinister moniker of “Wormwood Drive” (that alone would make me think twice) and half of the houses have no lawns, just dirt, or are fenced up like Fort Knox. There they gradually meet some rather odd neighbors including the Sowells, Judd and Mary (Terry Becker and Anina Lincoln), who are apparently deaf but want to warn the Petersons about something, and Adrian Trumbull (Nick Searcy), the all-too-cheery sort who brings the Petersons a welcoming bouquet and a box of chocolates. Unfortunately for Bob and Wendi, Adrian’s ideas about neighborly hospitality include spiking the bouquet, which Wendi keeps burying her face in, with poison oak and adding “horse laxative” to the chocolates the Petersons consume. And director Whifler doesn’t shy away from showing the physical effects any of these little “pranks” have upon the Petersons. Adrian also has a penchant for self-mutilation of a most horrific nature which, again, the director presents in all its gruesomeness.



When Adrian returns with a third gift, some “grape jelly” he has mixed with what looked like a fetal pig (this film is NOT for the squeamish) and Bob and Wendi politely but firmly refuse his offer, still suffering from the chocolates, Adrian…well, he doesn’t take their rebuff very well. And things just go from bad to worse for the Petersons and their health.


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