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The Ferrins and The Halversons - The Purge (2013)
So they could kill them, as punishment for the Sandins’ wealth, as described gleefully by Grace Ferrin.
Hannibal Lecter - The Silence Of The Lambs (1990)
The Neighbour: Dr. Hannibal Lecter’s (Anthony Hopkins) penchant for a vintage vino served with the organs of the unworthy had him convicted and thrown in the slammer with a slew of equally revolting specimens.
Why They’re The Worst: Not only does his history of casual cannibalism make his presence on the street a tad unwelcome, but his crowning achievement as a neighbour is when he convinces his cellmate, Miggs, to swallow his own tongue.
Charlie Meadows - Barton Fink (1991)
The Neighbour: The larger-than-life next-door neighbour of screenwriter Barton Fink (John Turturro), insurance salesman Charlie (John Goodman) bursts with the zeal of someone with a far more extravagant profession - often spending time with the writer’s block-ridden Fink over a shared flask o’booze.
Why They’re The Worst: It is revealed his real name is Karl Mundt - aka Madman Mundt, a serial killer with a proclivity for decapitation. He murders Fink’s girlfriend while Fink is asleep, and later murders his parents and uncle.
Lt. Frank Fitts - American Beauty (1999)
The Neighbour: A retired US Marine Corps Colonel, Fitts (Chris Cooper) is a cold, cold fish. His strict nature spirals into violent outbursts as he reprimands his son (Wes Bentley) with severe beatings, and barely acknowledges his wife (Alison Janney.)
Why They’re The Worst: In addition to the above, he reveals his previous homophobic leanings served to mask his true sexual orientation as a closeted gay man. Reading the wrong signals, he smooches his neighbour Lester (Kevin Spacey) who politely declines his affectations.
Fitts returns with a gun and kills Lester, as he is on the precipice of a life-changing epiphany.
Abel Turner - Lakeview Terrace (2008)
The Neighbour: Widowed father-of-two, Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson) enjoys provoking his fellow neighbours with his narrow-minded scheming tactics, all with the protection of his LAPD badge to keep him covered.
Why They’re The Worst: His vitriolic dislike for the newlywed couple who move in next door (Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington - they’re bi-racial) borders on repugnant.
Spiralling out of control; he continually degrades them in conversation, behaves like a know-it-all who gets away with a whole host of incidents due to his job role, and orders a robbery on their house to get them to move out... which ends with him killing someone in their pool.
Lars Thorwald - Rear Window (1954)
The Neighbour: A regular joe who keeps to himself, Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) makes a living as a travelling jewellery salesman and lives with his invalid wife (Irene Winston.)
Why They’re The Worst: Across the way, wheelchair-bound L.B. Jefferies (James Stewart) spies on him as he murders his poor bedridden wife, Anna, and disposes of her body limb-by-limb in one of his travel cases.
His is also responsible for the off-screen death of another neighbour’s pooch - before finally trying to kill Jefferies.
Carter Hayes - Pacific Heights (1990)
The Neighbour: Carter Hayes (Michael Keaton) pulls up to a swish townhouse in the affluent San Francisco suburb of Pacific Heights in a Porsche, winning over his landlords Drake Goodman (Matthew Modine) and his girlfriend Patty Palmer (Melanie Griffith) with his smarmy charm.
Why They’re The Worst: He moves in unannounced, fails to pay any rent, changes the locks on his apartment, infests the house with cockroaches, steals Drake’s identity before taking a restraining order out on the poor chap.
Inevitably it concludes with Hayes attempting to murder them. Whatta bastard.
Arthur Denker - Apt Pupil (1998)
The Neighbour: A gentile old-timer, Arthur Denker (Ian McKellen) fires up a quid pro quo relationship with a 16-year old boy, Todd Bowden (Brad Renfro) whose fascination with a specific historical era exerts a smidgen of pressure on the pensioner.
Why They’re The Worst: He’s actually a Nazi war criminal called Kurt Dussander, who spent his later years cowering behind his false identity in the U.S.
Roman and Minnie Castevet - Rosemarys Baby (1968)
The Neighbour: Interfering old goats, Roman (Sidney Blackmer) and Minnie Castevet (Ruth Gordon), might jangle your nerves on account of poking their nose into the minutae of your life, but they’re octogenarians, so they can’t cause that much havoc can they?
Why They're The Worst: They can, and they do.
The arrival of two new tenants in their apartment complex, Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavetes), lights up their milky corneas and in a matter of moments they’ve brokered a deal with Satan; old Beelzebub himself will “have” Rosemary in order for her to carry his baby, the anti-christ. Double bastard points for convincing her husband it’s a good idea.
Presumably they’ll get a nice condo in Florida for their troubles.
Oliver and Cheryl Lang - Arlington Road (1999)
The Neighbour: Charming upper crust couple, The Langs (Tim Robbins and Joan Cusack) pose a threat to uni professor Michael Faraday (Jeff Bridges) far worse than the typical irritation emitted from perfect smug marrieds.
Beneath their duplicitous mugs lies a secret so dark you’d probably need night vision goggles to see it.
Why They're The Worst: *SPOILER ALERT* Faraday rumbles their game, uncovering the truth - the pair are bona fide terrorists. A neat twist considering he teaches a class on terrorism after his FBI wife was murdered in a bomb plot.
Unfortunately, they twig. They murder his girlfriend, kidnap his son, and blow up Faraday along with 182 innocents.... for which he is framed. They trot away, scott free.
