The scariest thing about Destroy All Neighbors isn’t its gratuitous gore. Rather it’s realizing just how quickly suburban stability can devolve into chainsaw-wielding mania through a few wrong notes. Equal parts slapstick comedy and cringe-inducing carnage, this splatterfest bridges humor and horror by leaning full throttle into its own excessive eccentricities. Uneven but admirably unhinged, Destroy All Neighbors makes the most of a simple premise thanks to committed performances from leads Alex Winter and Jonah Ray Rodrigues who clearly relish cutting loose. If only the shaky script supported their charisma with sharper satire between all the severed limbs.
Living embodiment of pretentious artistry Brad Cage (Winter) receives new neighbors in the form of unassuming actuary Will Barber (Rodrigues) and his wife Kate (Samara Weaving). Immediately threatened by Will’s apparent normalcy throwing his bankrupted narcissism into stark relief, unhinged musician Brad declares war the second he hears Will plucking amateur guitar chords through their shared suburban home’s flimsy walls. But an initial salvo of petty annoyances like aggressive lawn watering soon give way to actual artillery after both households’ tensions boil over during a blown fuse blackout that leaves Brad’s overbearing wife Janine (Stephanie Beatriz) dead.
With all bets off and a body count rising, Destroy All Neighbors ratchets into unrestrained insanity Brad and Will battling violently for neighborhood dominance through makeshift weapons, traps and exploitation of local bylaws always referenced but never shown. Alongside living room shootouts and elaborate suicide stunts, the satirical script from screenwriter Jared Ascott ostensibly wants to skewer suburban tropes around keeping up with the Joneses and performative conformity masking inner turmoil metastasizing like Brad and Will’s mutually obsessive hatred.
Winter for his part hurls himself fully into arrogant blowhard Brad, puffing up every bit of visible spare tire hiding beneath garish Hawaiian shirts while spitting hilariously hostile threats like a D-list Eminem. Not to be outdone, Rodriguez matches Winter beat for manic beat in defining his easygoing everyman persona. Their screwball chemistry proves this splatterpiece’s secret weapon, selling even the most outlandish showdown ideas through fully committed performances and a fittingly playful score by Tim Wynn that leans into the mayhem.
But while Winter and Rodriguez’s combined charisma coercion coercing meant viewers through sporadic laughs over mindless carnage, Destroy All Neighbor’s shaky execution shows a lack of focus in juggling shock value and social commentary. For all the squirting entrails and severed appendages littering nearly every frame, scathing insights about conformity feel surprisingly toothless. Other than some mildly clever Homeowner Association policy running gags, the affluent suburban milieu merely provides backdrop for gory slapstick without deeper relevance.
Which makes Destroy All Neighbors’ outrageously gruesome money shots land more as gratuitous spectacle versus purposefully positioning violence to subvert systemic hierarchies or collective groupthink. Shock factor milestones feel box checking versus moments earned through relatable characterization or socio-political edge that might better contextualize ultraviolence minus cheap shots. And those shortcomings separate Destroy All Neighbors from sharper midnight movie peers like Malignant or even Netflix’s recent improv-heavy slapstick murderfest Murder Mystery 2 which stray similarly outlandish while still offering wittier observations on class envy and performative personalities ripe for satirizing.
Leaving Destroy All Neighbors feeling a bit empty calories when bloody dust settles. Is it wildly fun seeing Winter shotgun blast Rodrigues into their shared swimming pool after luring Rodrigues into homemade back alley surgery? Undeniably so, especially for gorehounds craving practical splatstick mayhem dialed past eleven. But once that initial sugar high subsides without deeper substance sticking to the brain, this flavor of slaughtered suburbia starts blurring together with other late night offerings angling more gratuitously gross out versus genuinely biting. Not to undersell Winter and Rodrigues’ daringness buying into the blood soaked ballet with soul selling conviction deserving better material. Just don’t be surprised if Destroy All Neighbors’ one-note punchlines provoke involuntary groans over consistent genuine laughs by finale time.
In the end, Destroy All Neighbors offers mindlessly fun midnight movie comfort food for the maladjusted misfit in all of us. Just be sure to bring your own satisfying side dish in the form of alcohol or other mood altering substances to fully embrace the nihilistic chaos Carnage creator Jared Ascott half-heartedly attempts indicting through imagineering ultraviolence.