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Neighbor

Neighbor poster: a wide-eyed, bearded man in a teal polo shouting against a glowing blue sky, the title in orange script across him and the line "It started with a simple complaint."

A short film by Amos David McKay
A Two Headed Boy Production

  • Brian Villalobos in Neighbor
  • Bill Wise in Neighbor
  • Bronwen Bonner-Davies in Neighbor
  • Landon Hanks in Neighbor
  • Henry Ross in Neighbor

It started with a simple complaint.
It ended with an existential crisis.

Neighbor is a dark, nostalgic comedy set in the '80s suburbs, where a tiny neighborly complaint spirals into aggressive hospitality, uncomfortable parenting, and pie. Starring Brian Villalobos (Love & Death, Apollo 10½), Bronwen Bonner-Davies (Angel, Rated), newcomers Landon Hanks and Henry Ross, and the late Bill Wise (Waking Life, Boyhood).

Now on the festival circuit

Bill Wise leaning out of the window of a red sedan on a suburban street

Bill Wise

(1964-2026)

Shortly after filming, we sadly and unexpectedly lost our Neighbor film dad and longtime icon of the Austin film community. Appearing in films and series dating back to 1989 (the very year Neighbor is set), including Waking Life, Boyhood, and Thunder Road, Bill left a lasting mark on everyone he encountered. His performance in Neighbor is one of his final roles, and he made each take alive and impossible to look away from. He was a strange and beautiful creature and will be greatly missed.

A message from the director.

Neighbor is adapted from a short story by David Langlinais. Its setup and its characters belong to the world I grew up in. Tidy lawns, neighborly small talk, the quiet pressure to keep things civil. That veneer always felt like it could crack.

I set it in the late '80s partly for the nostalgia, but mostly because it was before smartphones and doorbell cameras. You had to knock on someone's door and deal with them face to face. There was no way to lodge a complaint from a safe distance.

The comedy comes from restraint rather than punchlines. Awkwardness, silence, and moments that stretch a little too long. I wanted a film that makes you laugh and then makes you want to leave the room.

Amos David McKay, Director

On set in black and white: a man in the living room armchair, the camera rig in the foreground