Sartaj Singh
Directed by Kaila York, ‘The Neighbor Who Saw Too Much’ centers on a teenage girl who begins to suspect that her attractive neighbor is a dangerous killer who has everyone fooled. A grounded teen begins to spy on her hot neighbor, who has recently moved in. What she discovers puts a chill down her spine, leading her to firmly believe that he is a murderer. However, she lacks any conclusive evidence and is not believed by anyone in her claims. Putting her own life on the line, the teen bravely ventures into her suspected killer’s abode. The Lifetime thriller captures our attention with the gripping premise of a neighbor potentially being a psychopathic murderer, raising questions about any real-life instances of the same having taken place.
The Neighbor Who Saw Too Much Seemingly Borrows Its Core Element From Thriller Classics
Written by Brandi Sperry, ‘The Neighbor Who Saw Too Much’ is a fictional movie that may seem familiar to some. As a psychological thriller, it is one of many films that feature suspicious and murderous neighbors. This subgenre of thrillers started off with Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Rear Window,’ and filmmakers have since put their own spins on the format, with ‘Disturbia’ being a more modern example. At the same time, there have been documented cases of neighbors noticing suspicious behavior and reporting it, only to be ignored like the girl in the Lifetime film was. Such was the case of Glenda Cleveland, who repeatedly complained to the police about her neighbor and serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, only to be left unheard.
The “my neighbor is a serial killer” trope in movies taps into the unsettling notion that danger can sometimes lurk in the most familiar place – one’s neighborhood. The core element of the script can trace its roots back to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 film, ‘Rear Window.’ The seminal film follows a wheelchair-bound photographer, his fashion consultant girlfriend, and a nurse as they spy on their neighbors from their window. They begin to suspect that one of their neighbors has killed his wife and start an investigation to gather evidence. ‘Rear Window’ actually took inspiration from real-life cases, including that of Patrick Mahon, who reportedly murdered his pregnant mistress in 1924 and stuffed her body in a trunk.
‘Disturbia,’ starring Shia LaBeouf, puts a modern spin on ‘Rear Window,’ following a teenager (LaBeouf) under house arrest spying on his neighbors out of boredom. He is shocked when he seemingly witnesses a killing take place in a neighbor’s house and recruits his friends to investigate. ‘The Neighbor Who Saw Too Much’ has several similarities with these prominent examples of the killer neighbor trope, especially with ‘Disturbia.’ Both have teen protagonists who aren’t believed by adults and start their own perilous searches into a potentially murderous neighbor’s home.
Parallels With Real Case of a Neighbor Reporting on a Serial Killer
Glenda Cleveland’s teen niece, Nicole Childress, had first called 911 on May 27, 1991, to report an Asian boy she witnessed bleeding on the streets near their house in Near West Side in Milwaukee. Later identified as 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone, the first responders perceived the dazed and confused teen as intoxicated and returned him to Jeffrey Dahmer, who said he was the guy’s boyfriend. Since no background check was conducted on Dahmer, they didn’t learn that he was on probation for sexually assaulting Sinthasomphone’s 16-year-old brother in 1988.
Konerak Sinthasomphone was reported missing in the newspapers, and Cleveland personally began calling the police about what her family had seen, but to no avail. She said she even tried reaching out to the FBI, but added that no one responded to her calls. Two months later, in July, Dahmer was caught after having claimed several victims, including Konerak.
After the truth came to light, Cleveland became a regular on the news, narrating her desperate attempts to get the police to listen while alleging that they trusted the words of a killer over hers. After a point of supposedly being ignored, she had even begun to doubt her own perception and the very grounded suspicions that she had. Many parallels can be drawn between this real-life event of a woman being unheard and the teen protagonist of ‘The Neighbor Who Saw Too Much’ struggling to unmask her neighbor as a killer.
Read More: Lifetime’s I Thought My Husband’s Wife Was Dead: Is it Based on a True Story?
