Screamfest review: Fun 'Howdy, Neighbor!' Disney kids' greatest fear
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LOS ANGELES, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Howdy, Neighbor!, which screened at the Screamfest horror film festival, is a clever update on stalker fears. That it stars actual former Disney child stars adds levels of relevance and fun.
Ben Caldwell (Matthew Scott Montgomery) was the star of a family sitcom "Howdy, Neighbor!" but now struggles to get work as an adult actor. Chase Mitchell (Grant Jordan) moves into the same apartment building and goes from overbearing fan to dangerous threat.
Ben is friends with his downstairs neighbor, Harley (Debby Ryan). Most of the film unfolds over FaceTime calls between Ben and Harley, Ben's Instagram stories and the text messages Chase sends to Ben's phone, with a few other cell phone videos for other scenes.
Montgomery also wrote the film. As a child actor on Disney's So Random, Montgomery can certainly relate to the actor part of the story and may have reasonable fears of stalkers whether he has experienced one or not. Ryan played the title role on Disney's Jessie.
The neighbor from hell is an evergreen trope in scary movies, from either version of Cape Fear to Pacific Heights or Single White Female in subtle variations. The cell phone video gives it a modern update and gives Chase new tools with which to terrorize Ben.
It is presumptuous for Chase to start texting his new neighbor whom he just met. When Ben does not give Chase attention, Chase turns hostile. Then Chase starts interrupting publicity events when Ben is promoting a "Howdy, Neighbor!" streaming event on Instagram Live.
Montgomery, Ryan and Jordan are all experienced actors who know how to perform for the camera, and are modern adults who know how to use this video technology. They add energy to the format, which often simply presents their faces in extreme closeup for several minutes at a time.
When Ben is doing publicity, he has to put on a smile for the fans while Chase is in the chat saying disturbing things. But even just putting on the smile for fans who only want to remember Ben as a kid is intense pressure.
Often the texts Chase sends come through so fast it's impossible to read them all. That's the point. Chase's energy is exhausting at best and truly disturbing when it gets creepy.
The gimmick is a blend of the found footage horror genre and the more recent subgenre of movies unfolding entirely on computer screens like Searching or Unfriended.
It creates a dynamic like Hitchcock's Rear Window when Ben has to watch something happen on someone else's screen, helpless to intervene. Other scenes harken back to The Blair Witch Project style of investigating a scary scene while leaving the camera running.
Director Allisyn Snyder, also a sitcom actor, keeps the film moving between the different screens and effectively builds the tension between Chase's threats and Ben's normal life.
Howdy, Neighbor! makes the most of its economical format, highlighting the scariest parts of living with constant video and texts in our lives.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
