Released on May 9, Neighbors stars Zac Efron, Seth Rogan, Dave Franco and Rose Byrne. The film has lead to theaters across the country being filled with people laughing hysterically — some consider it to be very similar to films such as Superbad and Borat in terms of it’s humor. Although many people find the film to be quite comical, some find parts of it to be very disturbing.

This film is R-rated due to it’s consistent profanity, vulgarity, nudity, and excessive drug and alcohol references. The ideal audience for this film is people ranging in age from 17-25-years-old. This is definitely not a movie you would take your little brother or grandma to.  The type of humor is designed to relate to college-aged individuals, while some older adults may find it to be funny, too.

Neighbors is the story of a young couple, the Radners (played by Seth Rogan and Rose Byrne) and their newborn baby just moving into their first home in a suburban neighborhood. To their surprise, a fraternity purchases the house next door. As imaginable, a variety of frat-related stereotypes cause many issues for the Radners and their infant. Routine partying, marijuana smoke, loud music, half-naked girls, and used condoms in the from yard are just a few of the nuisances that the Radner family encounter.

As new parents, the Radners are struggling with trying to remain hip and young, but still get sleep and keep their daughter safe. The film turns into a war between the fraternity brothers and the Radner family — who can make the other’s lives more miserable?

Aesthetically, the film does an excellent job of portraying the ideal frat house. It uses props such as giant Greek letters, beer kegs, large speakers, giant bongs, hot girls, and copious amounts of alcohol to do this. Each of the fraternity members are dressed in the standard frat-bro attire of pastel-colored shorts cut off just above the knee, mid-calf cut socks, Vans, and a tight, preppy shirt of some kind.

With regard to the Radners, it is easy for the audience to understand that they are a young couple trying to remain cool. The film does this by portraying them as serious with regard to their baby and their jobs, but wild in terms of their risqué intimacy and not-so-nonshalant marijuana use.

One aspect of the editing that really stands out in this film is how the camera is used to portray the parties through the lens of a drunk and/or stoned person. I don’t know what the method is called, but the camera would film in slow-motion and sort of skim the crowd of the party in a drunken gaze that one may find themselves in from time to time.

Although this film may be very funny, it is not very impressive in regard to the narrative structure. It’s predictable and anticlimactic. Some people may find the use of humor in this film to be offensive.

All in all, this film does a great job of portraying the conflict between the college Greek community and other members of society. The editing techniques used in this film add to the humor and make the film more interesting than the standard frat film. A lot of the disputes illustrated in this film are very likely to happen in real life, however certain parts of the film seem very unrealistic. If you’re looking for a good laugh with friends, this film is a great option.

Peeping Tom is a 1960’s horror film that was directed by Michael Powell. Initially, this film received harsh critiques; it was the first of it’s kind to be presented in the Hollywood film industry. In recent years the critiques have changed and many people think it is unusual but brilliant. Despite the change in reviews towards the film, I think that Peeping Tom is sadistic and disturbing due to the perspective it is filmed from.

Unlike the classic horror film that allows us to view events from the victim’s perspective, Peeping Tom does the opposite by illustrating events via the perspective of the killer — or in some cases, through the lens of his camera. The main character, Mark, films women with a mirror attached to the camera. He does this so that when he approaches them to kill, they can see their own horror in the mirror, allowing Mark to capture their terrified faces on film. He is doing this, in part, for the movie he is trying to create.

Filming the movie through this perspective is disturbing because we cannot sympathize with the victim(s). Instead, we find ourselves trapped into the mindset of the killer — it’s almost like we are doing the killing simply by watching the movie. As the viewers, we cannot see what they (the victims) are seeing. We only see them scared and screaming while Mark approaches them. We don’t know what Mark is doing with the mirror until very late into the film. Filming the movie like this forces the viewer to take on the role of the killer — not something that your everyday film enthusiast would enjoy.

The first scene of the movie shows Mark filming a prostitute as he follows her back to a room. We are watching this through the lens of his camera for the majority of the time. It is clear to see that Mark is somewhat of an usual character in terms of normative behavior from the beginning, but we aren’t sure why yet. All that we see is the camera (Mark) slowly moving towards the prostitute that is lying on the bed. She starts to scream and looks mortified, but we still don’t know what she is seeing. It looks like she is looking at us — the audience. As we catch on to the fact that Mark is a killer, each of his kills grows more and more gruesome to watch.

By forcing the audience to see the film through the perspective of the killer, the film appears to be very sadistic in it’s nature. Obviously Mark enjoys what he is doing and given that we don’t, it’s like we are being tormented to watch. The original critiques of this film shared the same opinion. Horror films had traditionally presented the narrative from the perspective of the victim, and Peeping Tom got a lot of attention for doing the opposite.

Although some people may interpret this film as intriguing, being one of few of it’s kind, I still feel that it is disturbing and sadistic. If I’m going to watch a scary movie, I don’t want to feel like I am doing to killing and torturing. I want to side with the victim. Peeping Tom does not allow the audience to sympathize with the victim(s), therefore it is sadistic and sort of barbaric.