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The Boys Next Door

The Boys Next Door

Crime · Drama · Thriller · 1986

Roy and Bo leave their small town the weekend after graduation for a short road trip to LA. Soon, they find themselves lashing out and leaving a trail of bodies behind them. The violence escalates throughout.

Movie details

The Boys Next Door

“The anger. The destructiveness. The urge to kill in cold blood. They weren't born with it...”

1986 Crime · Drama · Thriller 1h 31m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.4 / 10

3.7K votes

Metacritic

66 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.2 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Roy and Bo leave their small town the weekend after graduation for a short road trip to LA. Soon, they find themselves lashing out and leaving a trail of bodies behind them. The violence escalates throughout.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Boys Next Door?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Penelope Spheeris

Written by

James Wong · Glen Morgan

Maxwell Caulfield

Maxwell Caulfield

Roy Alston

Charlie Sheen

Charlie Sheen

Bo Richards

Patti D'Arbanville

Patti D'Arbanville

Angie

Christopher McDonald

Christopher McDonald

Detective Mark Woods

Moon Unit Zappa

Moon Unit Zappa

Nancy

Hank Garrett

Hank Garrett

Detective Ed Hanley

P

Paul C. Dancer

Chris

Court is in session

Put The Boys Next Door on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Big-Idea Head

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.