The Neighbor (1993) User Reviews (6)

surprisingly good!!

[e_esben · 6/10 · 7 July 2006]

I just bought this movie and four other movies for 15 $ or so. I just picked this movie up by random.

I watched it alone tonight, and got a good thrill. Rod Steiger really did a good job playing the "slimy" doctor. He really made me get angry with him.

The movie has a really good/dark atmosphere all the way through! Believable character reactions!

Watch it if you'd like to get a good thrill! And if you've seen all the classics already ;)

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Steiger is a Standout in Cliché Ridden Thriller

[lavatch · 5/10 · 26 March 2016]

This 1993 potboiler has been shown recently on Amazon prime. The film is a standard thriller with a standout performance from veteran film actor Rod Steiger.

The versatile Steiger plays a psychopathic obstetrician and the neighbor of a couple about to become proud parents. But Steiger's Dr. Hatch becomes obsessed with the wife, seeking induce a miscarriage. His troubled past involved the childhood trauma of losing his mother after she died delivering his younger sibling. He killed the baby in retaliation. Now the woman next door bears a striking resemblance to the mother of Dr. Hatch. He will stop at nothing to ensure that she does not deliver that baby.

The film inadvertently includes comic scenes, due to the stupidity of the characters not recognizing the delusional qualities of Dr. Hatch. A fellow doctor is stupid. The police are stupid. Above all, the husband is stupid, not recognizing the signs in the strange behavior of the neighbor.

Steiger gives a nuanced performance, especially when he turns on the charm to deceive those around him. Despite the artificiality of this contrived melodrama, Steiger leaves a memorable impression as the deranged boy next door.

This baby doctor has some real lingering mommy issues

[Ed-Shullivan · 5/10 · 18 September 2020]

The acting by the three main characters was very good. Linda Kozlowski, and Ron Lea play a married couple who will soon be expecting their first child so they decide to find a new house in a new neighborhood to raise their yet unborn child in. Just by sheer luck Mary ( Linda Kozlowski) spots an older weathered home up for sale so she makes the bold move and offers the owner a below market value price for his house. The house owner is retired obstetrician Dr. Myron Hatch (Rod Steiger) who at first glance falsely recognizes Mary as the spitting image of his deceased mother who Myron had lost at a very young age when she gave birth to her second son, and she died just after the childbirth.

This is a somewhat cat and mouse game with Mary having a strong gut feeling (no pun intended as Mary is five (5) months pregnant) that their next door neighbor who sold them their new home, Dr. Myron Hatch is more than just a bit weird.

The suspenseful music that plays throughout becomes rather expected and as each scene is completed Mary always seems to just escape the clutches of the evil obstetrician Dr. Myron Hatch who becomes very possessive of Mary and he seems to adore her as she reminds him so much of his deceased mother which he lost decades ago as a young lad.

It certainly is not a first class thriller, nor is it a bomb with first rate actors such as Rod Steiger. I have rated it lower because of the predictable way the film flows and the flaws in the plot which I won't spoil for anyone.

I give the film an average middle of the road 5 out of 10 IMDB rating.

insane man fixates on neighbor's wife

[helpless_dancer · 6/10 · 17 April 1999]

A man becomes obsessed with his neighbor, a woman who reminds him of his mother. At first he is friendly, then becomes a bothersome pest, and finally murderous. Good performances; especially by Steiger, as the chilling neighbor.

Great Acting by Rod Steiger!

[whpratt1 · 10/10 · 5 October 2004]

Have always been a great fan of Rod Steiger and one Summer day in 1968 in the theatrical district of NYC, I watched Rod having makeup put on his face and his hair combed while he was filming,"No Way to Treat A Lady". In this picture, Rod Steiger,(Myron), plays a semi-retired doctor who lives next door to a young couple who wanted to buy his old boyhood family homestead. Myron becomes very attracted to Linda Kozlowski,(Mary), Almost An Angel",'90, who looks just like his mother whom he adored and worshiped. Ron Lea, (John),"Summer With the Ghosts",'03, is Marys husband and is having a hard time adjusting to his new work position and notices that his wife is getting very upset with the neighbor Myron, who wants to be her physician for her expectant boy child. There is lots of suspense and you begin to see that someone in the picture wanted desperately to become an ONLY CHILD!

Rosemary's Baby imitation...sort of

[MarieGabrielle · 9/10 · 26 November 2005]

Because of the fact that Rod Steiger is in this film, it is quite scary.

He does an excellent job as a psychotic neighbor, who fixates on Linda Kozlowski, a newlywed who is pregnant.The story takes place in New England, and it seems the director could have taken advantage of this; used it as a sub-plot; maybe filmed in Salem, Massachusetts? At any rate, the story is believable; the idea of pre-partum psychosis is brought up; I couldn't help but be reminded of John Cassavetes in Rosemary's Baby. A classic performance.

For TV, this is not a bad movie; if you enjoyed the ""Seventh Sign"", with Demi Moore, or Roman Polanski's work, and have a free afternoon, the movie is worth watching.