Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Neighbors 1981 Blu Ray

 

TITLE-Neighbors

SOURCE-Mill Creek Blu Ray


It was 1981,Mom was taking me to the two screener in Pascagoula to see a movie. Not sure how but we entered the wrong theater. 10 minutes later she realized we were not seeing the right film and I was wanting to see more of the film I would later learn was called Neighbors.

John Belushi and his wife live at the end of a road,under the power lines. New couple moves in next door,made up of Dan Ackroyd and Cathy Moriarty.

Now Belushi is playing against type and being the boring typical 30 something white suburan male. Dan on the other hand is in the role that normally Belushi would get.

Belushi quickly catches on that the new neighbors are trouble. Like when Cathy attemped multiple times to get John to bang her. Or when he gives Dan money to go get them dinner. And sees Dan  at his home cooking the food. Or the course of a few days Belushi and Ackroyd go to war with each other. Till a big reveal about this new couple next door towards the end.

Dark and oddly comedic I am still a bit shocked this did as good as it did. Sure lots of that is cause of Ackroyd and Belushi. 

This is the last film Belushi worked on before he ODed. It is also the reason why the punk band FEAR got booked for SNL. Belushi had promised them a spot on the soundtrack. Music was recorded and studio or someone said it wasn't gonna be used. So John used his pull and got FEAR booked on SNL. Which turned into one of the most infamous musical acts in SNL history.


For years this wasn't an easy movie to see. It wasn't until 2004 I finally saw the entire film. And that was a bad VHS rip I downloaded off the late great Tracker 3 bit torrent site. Thankfully Mill Creek put out this bare bones Blu ray. Which is part of their line of Blu Rays and DVDs that come with a slipcase making it look like a rental VHS.

For me this is my favorite Belushi film. Yes Blues Brothers is great and Animal House is fun. But Neighbors shows that John had way more range than people knew.


Neighbors gets a A-