User Reviews

The Boys Next Door is an ugly, but generally gripping film about two losers who decide on a whim to spend the weekend in Los Angeles after graduating from high school. Charlie Sheen (Bo) and Maxwell Caulfield (Roy) play these two punks pretty convincingly, and this low-budget film lets them flex their muscles while terrorizing anyone unlucky enough to get in their path.

The film begins by showing us pictures of seemingly normal-looking serial killers while at the same time using audio commentary to detail the number of victims they had. The actions of the two in this film really don't seem to be patterned after any particular killer, but this early footage is just trying to tell us that virtually anyone we see might have violent tendencies.

We see a little of their last day of school. Bo strikes out with a hot chick. Nobody wants them to come to a big party later that night. The boys crash it anyway. Roy pisses in the pool, and the boys steal the family dog and take it with them out to L.A.. Once the guys get to L.A., pure mayhem ensues. First of all, they beat an Iranian clerk at a gas station senseless, nearly killing him. Then, they go to the beach and hit an old lady in the head with a beer bottle. Later on that evening, these two hoodlums graduate to murder. They pick up a gay man at a gay bar and kill him at his place in West Hollywood. Then they murder a young couple just because they're jealous that they can't get a hot chick like the young woman. Things are capped off by the senseless killing of a new-age hippie woman while she's getting it on with Bo. Roy seems to get jealous, then he violently shakes her to death after dissing her new-age values. By then, the cops are hot on their trail, and they corner the two punks at a shopping mall. The conclusion may or may not surprise you.

The acting is very good. Sheen is decent enough, but Caulfield is the guy you will remember. This in not the same Maxwell Caulfield we were rooting for in Grease 2. This guy is one seriously screwed-up individual who takes to murder like a fish to water. Penelope Spheeris does a very good job with the limited budget in one of her earliest efforts. When watching this film now, you can't help but be reminded of the Columbine tragedy of 1999. The kids that caused that bloodbath were probably a lot like Bo and Roy. For some reason, they just couldn't conform, and they saw no other alternative but to take out their frustration on society. There also seems to be a bit of social commentary with the final ten minutes of the film taking place in the mall. I think the film is trying to say that kids of the 1980s were a bankrupt generation who had nowhere else to turn from their problems except shopping malls or other consumer venues. Arcades, too, for that matter.

Overall, this is an ugly film that will make you think about it for quite a while after it's over.

7 of 10 stars.

The Hound.

When released in 1985 the movie THE BOYS NEXT DOOR didn't do major box office figures and went to video faster than many films at the time. Directed by Penelope Spheeris the film has since received both critical praise and cult status. I've often read of people searching for copies of the film when it has gone out of print. Those folks will be pleased to see that Severin has just released the film on blu-ray with plenty of extras on hand as well.

The film starts off as a road movie. Just graduated from high school Roy Alston (Maxwell Caulfield) and Bo Richards (Charlie Sheen) are two young teens restless and unhappy about their lot in life. Both are facing a lifetime of living as blue collar workers with little hope of anything more to be offered from the world. Roy is the more explosive of the two, feeling the need to release his pent up rage. Instead using the graduation money Bo's grandparents left him they head out for L.A. to experience one last night of freedom.

Once there the rage that fuels Roy is turned loose beginning with a gas station attendant that he beats nearly to death with a crowbar from their trunk. Leaving him behind the pair next hit the boardwalk where Roy tosses a bottle hitting a woman in the head. When three young girls try and stop him he nearly runs them down. This is their initiation into a world of violence begun by them.

Talking to one another Roy tells Bo about this pent up rage he feels all the time and this need to release it. He tells him that he dreams of a day when the entire world will "go caveman" and abandon all rules, just let them return to their primal ways. Ever the firm friend Bo agrees with him not realizing how far Roy is willing to go to make that dream come true.

As the police try and find the duo in the wake of their violent spree more people die. Picked up at a gay bar they went to not realizing what it was, Roy kills a young gay man in his apartment taking his gun. He then shoots a couple parked in a car. While Bo is concerned about this he stands by his friend. Another murder takes place and they are eventually chased by the LAPD into a mall. Whether they will walk out or not isn't revealed until the end of the film.

The movie plays like a REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE for the 80s. Troubled teen movies have been a staple for years but this movie took things further than any had in the past. The theme of violence as an outlet for frustration matched the punk rock music of the time but was disturbing to most viewers. The hopelessness of the two main characters, facing a life of servitude in careers they have no real interests in is what drives their violent crime spree. But is violent outburst the real solution?

The pair are an unsympathetic couple as displayed here. You can understand their frustrations but the choices they make are a lethal combination of subversive attitudes and childlike ignorance of the consequences of their actions. Because of that and the amount of destruction they cause there is little way you can side with either of them, both Roy the instigator and Bo the follower.

As I said the film became a cult favorite among young people years after it was released. Those young fans sought out the hard to find VHS tapes of the movie and then sought it out on disc as well. It was released on disc in 2001 but then disappeared until now with the new Severin release on blu-ray.

Scanned in 4k from the original negative the film has never looked better. And they've packed in plenty of extras to enjoy as well. Those include an audio commentary track with Spheeris and Caulfield, "Blind Rage" an interview with Stephen Thrower author of NIGHTMARE USA, "Both Sides of the Law" an interview with actors Caulfield and Christopher McDonald, "Give Us Your Money" interviews with street band performers Texacala Jones and Tequila Mockingbird, "Caveman Day" Cinemaniancs interview Spheeris and Caulfield, "Tales from the End Zone" an interview with actor Kenneth Cortland, "The Psychotronic Tourist-The Boys Next Door", alternate opening title sequence and extended scenes and the trailer for the film.

Not for the faint of heart but not as violent as many movies made today, the film has some disturbing images and concepts to deal with. But it also opens the door for dialogue on these issues. What better effect could a movie about disengaged youths have than that?

I could have done without the introductory scene. Charlie Sheen is not exactly a great actor (sorry, fans!), even if he does an okay job here, but especially when Roy's 'darling' gets brutally killed, I had expected a more intense and appropriate reaction. Maxwell Caulfield did a better job, considering.

What remains, is a fairly simplistic given of two rural bad boys deciding, out of the blue sky it seems, to have a wild, wild weekend in sunny Los Angeles. This results in a series of pretty memorable events, with a couple desperate detectives following in their wake.

There's humour (the dog, the chick on the car hood, for example) as well as some pure expressions of cold and inconsiderate behaviour.

Pretty much okay, altogether; a good 6 out of 10.

You can't judge a brain by its Calvin's, and this 80's thriller doesn't need to explain why the two outcasts played by Maxwell Caulfield and Charlie Sheen turn into sociopathic killers out of the blue, one of them obviously enjoying it more than the other. Maybe not misfits in the sense of a lack of looks or muscles, they obviously have had a hard time fitting in due to neglect of discipline growing up, and at a graduation party that they're obviously not welcome at, they show signs of the sociopathic behavior that will lead them to their destiny of doom.

The thrill of carnage has them enjoying each killing that occurs, going from a brutal beating to a reckless beach joy ride, a violent murder of a gay man and random shootings that leads to the trusting Patti D'Arbanville regretting a rash bit of friendliness. These are violent and very disturbing situations, but surprisingly presented with as much subtlety as possible. These are very disturbed men, shown in comparison to other normal looking maniacs in the opening credits. As far as films about mentally disturbed outsiders go, this is one of the better made, although I wouldn't want to watch it again.

I'm still scratching my head as to what the point of this movie was? I got what it was trying to sell. Life is very frustrating, and people can be downright callous around you, but that doesn't mean it wasn't pointless in the long run. After the chilling opening with a narrator giving us some info on past serial killers with a creepy musical score, I was ready to dig in and go along with the ride, but what followed was a depressing disappointment. What was the background of Roy & Bo? We get very little insight as to what has made these guys snap, other than a difficult few years in High School, and parents who have neglected them. Most of the movie forces you to follow Roy & Bo around Los Angeles with a pointless killing spree. Despite top billing, Charlie Sheen is not the main star. He shares top billing with Maxwell Caulfield. The main problem I had was with Roy (Maxwell Caulfield) He is a whiny, unsympathetic person who I was begging to see get his. The movie tried to portray him as a sociopath with a screw the world type attitude, but instead they made him into an annoying loser. I think the world sucks some days, but am I suddenly gonna turn into a killer? Get real. Charlie Sheen is a little more bearable. He's a miserable soul himself, but not quite as bad as Roy is. We also get slightly obsolete terms such as "Fag" the gay subtext can't be denied, and stuff you would never see in movies today. An old lady gets drilled in the head and cut open with a beer bottle. It tries way too hard to be offensive, and in the end I just didn't care. We also get some idiotic symbolism at the end that ties in with the beginning of the film, but I was just glad it was over.

Final Thoughts: It's one of Charlie Sheen's first movies. It's far from his worst, but still. It's not a very good movie. It tries to be something memorable, and instead becomes forgettable. Teenage agnst is tough, but I don't see why anyone would wanna spend time with these guys. Not really recommended

4/10

Shortly after graduating from high school, an aimless, alienated pair of scruffy blue collar California suburbanite misfit teens -- the moody, volatile, sexually repressed Roy and his more laid-back, passive partner Bo -- suddenly come to the grim realization that their post-high school lives hold precious little promise. Extremely upset about this glaring and undeniable bit of terrible truth, Bo and Roy decide to drive to Los Angeles for one last weekend of completely uninhibited partying. Things promptly turn sour when Bo and Roy beat a hapless gas station attendant within an inch of his life. The not so dynamic duo are just getting warmed up. They continue their blithely ferocious rampage with a vicious series of harsh random killings.

Gut-wrenchingly tense and wholly believable, this gritty gem hits hard with its harrowing exploration of how adolescent angst and rage can easily erupt into terrifyingly destructive all-out brutality. Penelope Spheeris' direction is 100% on the money tight and effective: the brisk pacing, a fairly intricate and involving narrative, the often almost unbearably stomach-turning suspense, an unflinchingly downbeat ending, and a vivid rendering of the flashy-trashy L.A. milieu all lend credibility to the bleak premise. Glen Morgan and James Wong's script presents a chillingly convincing mosaic of negligent and sometimes even absentee parents, earnest, but ineffectual cops, mean, disapproving peers, and angry, frustrated outcasts which seethes with a startling mix of despair and nihilism (Morgan and Wong went on to write many episodes of "The X-Files," plus make the excellent and underrated "Willard" remake and the "Final Destination" pictures). Maxwell Caulfield and Charlie Sheen give superb performances as the apathetic leads. The equally stellar supporting cast includes Frank Zappa's daughter Moon Unit as a vapid Valley Girl Bo develops a crush on, Patti D'Arbanville as a flaky, lusty medium who picks up the pernicious pair in a bar, and Hank Garrett and Christopher McDonald as the diligent mismatched homicide detectives who are trying to find and arrest the boys. Tough, stark and exceedingly rough, this bitter sleeper rates as a nerve-rattling knockout with its still topical subject matter nowadays seeming even more timely and relevant in the wake of the atrocious Columbine incident. The first-rate Anchor Bay DVD offers a sterling widescreen presentation along with the theatrical trailer, bios on Spheeris, Sheen and Caulfield, and an enjoyably loose, informative and opinionated commentary by Spheeris and Caulfield.

With THE BOYS NEXT DOOR, director Penelope Spheeris captures the alienated, frustrating world of teenagers that is often either missed or glossed over in most Hollywood teen pictures. Though released at the height of the "brat pack" movement, it's as far from SIXTEEN CANDLES as possible. It's about crime and more. It tunes into the same sexual aggression Spheeris focused on in her documentary DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION. Maxwell Caulfield and Charlie Sheen play two bored kids from Northern California who, after being lectured to at school about the need for young people to be more humane when they get out into the "real" world, go on a weekend killing spree in Los Angeles. Although directed by a woman, it is not, as one might suspect, anti-male. Spheeris is careful to point out that these two boys are sociopaths who hate everyone. While they appear normal --- the wear t-shirts and jeans and are surprisingly clean-cut looking --- they aren't. They're unable to fit into society and are rejected by their peers. They turn to violence as a way to communicate their frustrations. The world these boys see is full of freaks and repellent characters, out to get THEM. After beating a gas station attendant to near death, they blame HIM...for trying to short-change them. Spheeris' direction is so frank, and the violence is so brutal, it's stunning. That said, the violence in THE BOYS NEXT DOOR is at times so over the top that is nearly operatic.