Line #49 Film/StalkedByMyNeighbor


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sbmn.jpg]]
2
3
4
5	''Stalked By My Neighbor'' is a 2015 LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek {{Thriller}}, written and directed by Creator/DougCampbell.
6
7	Jodi Allen (Kelcie Stranahan) is a teen girl who's a talented photographer. She was horrifically attacked in a home invasion in her big city apartment during a webcam conversation with her mother Andrea (Creator/AmyPietz), a nurse who had to work late that night. Andrea could only watch helplessly and call 911. To recover, they move to a seemingly safe suburban neighborhood, but Jodi, still suffering PTSD, is suspicious of everyone and everything and has decided to document her neighbors from her bedroom window with her camera.
8
9	So yeah, this is ''Film/RearWindow'', Creator/{{Lifetime}} style.
10
11	Anyway, Jodi takes pics of the people living across the street, and captures some neighborly conflict: real estate agent Lisa Miller (Kelly Packard) threatens hunky teen neighbor Nick Thompkin (Grant Harvey) over playing his music too loud while working on cars, and confronts another neighbor, Ted Wilcox (Ethan Erickson) over ''something''. Things get complicated when Nick briefly steals Jodi's camera, and the Allens become friendly with Lisa and her niece Kristen Chambers (Katrina Norman). Then one night while taking pics, Jodi sees an ominous shadow in Lisa's house, then a little while later Lisa's dead body is discovered. As she grieves, Kristen stays with the Allens, while Jodi starts investigating Nick. But since we're only halfway into the movie, many twists and revelations are forthcoming.
12
13	From the same [[Creator/{{Lifetime}} network]] and writer-director as ''Film/StalkedByMyDoctor'', but otherwise not connected.
14
15
16
17	!!''Stalked By My Neighbor'' contains examples of:
18
19	* AgeGapRomance: Thirtysomething Ted, recently separated from his wife, and [[spoiler:high school aged Kristen]].
20	* TheAlibi: Kristen was away at a church camp when Lisa was killed, so she's never suspected in the crime. [[spoiler:But she plotted it and had Ted do it]].
21	* AntiHero: For a teen protagonist in a Lifetime movie, Jodi is surprisingly three dimensional. Yes, she's a recovering rape victim, but she's also salaciously sticking her nose into the business of her neighbors (who she barely knows), jumps to hasty conclusions about Lisa's murder (and gets an innocent person arrested partly because of comments she makes to the police), and constantly disobeys her more level-headed mother. And as mentioned below, she falls victim to LoveMakesYouDumb.
22	* AssholeVictim:
23	** Bitchy, high-strung Lisa isn't a particularly likable person.
24	** And [[spoiler:Ted, who has an adulterous affair with an underage girl, ends up getting murdered by her]].
25	* BelligerentSexualTension: Apparent from the start between Jodi and Nick, but they ease into a relationship after his HeelFaceTurn.
26	* BitchInSheepsClothing: Kristen, the sweet, pretty [[TheIngenue Ingenue]] who spends her weekend at a church camp, is [[spoiler:having an affair with the much older Ted, plots the murder of her Aunt Lisa with him so they can inherit her money, then kills Ted and tries to kill Jodi]].
27	* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: [[spoiler:Kristen, the sole beneficiary of her Aunt Lisa, has Ted kill her so she can inherit millions of dollars, promises to split the money with him, then turns around and kills him so she can keep it all to herself]].
28	* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: Kristen's parents are dead, so Lisa offered to take her in.
29	* ConvenientlyTimedAttackFromBehind: How [[spoiler:Andrea]] rescues [[spoiler:Jodi at the end, by hitting Kristen with a huge stick]].
30	* DramaticIrony: We're clued in that [[spoiler:Ted was the murderer and plotted the killing with Kristen while they were having an affair]] long before Jodi figures it out.
31	* HeelFaceTurn: Nick, who at the very least comes across as kind of a jerk in his early scenes, becomes Jodi's boyfriend.
32	* ForcedToWatch: The film's opening shows Andrea video-calling Jodi from work--which leads to her being forced to watch as her daughter is attacked and raped by an intruder.
33	* FrameUp: The pipe used to bludgeon Lisa to death [[spoiler:is planted in Nick's house by Kristen and Ted]].
34	* {{Irony}}: Jodi, the home invasion victim, ends up breaking into Ted's house to do her RearWindowInvestigation.
35	* LadyMacbeth: We don't really see the events leading up to it, but [[spoiler:Kristen enlisted her paramour Ted to kill her Aunt Lisa]].
36	* LoveMakesYouDumb: Really, Jodi? All it takes to make you go from suspecting that Nick is a cold-blooded killer to vehemently proclaiming his innocence is for him to tell you he has a crush on you and to ask you out on a date? [[spoiler:She turns out to be right, but still...]]
37	* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident:
38	** At first it seems like Lisa died when she hit her head after slipping while she got out of the tub, but forensic analysis shows the injuries to be more consistent with bludgeoning.
39	** Later [[spoiler:Kristen tries to stage her murder of Ted to look like a suicide]].
40	* MamaBear: Andrea [[spoiler:follows Kristen and Jodi at climax, and despite getting shot by Kristen, manages to rescue Jodi by knocking Kristen out]].
41	* MeaningfulName: A devoutly Christian girl named Kristen, [[spoiler:except she's just playing the "good girl" role to throw off suspicion about her and Ted]].
42	* NeverTrustATrailer: The Johnson Production Group trailer has a scene of Andrea grabbing Jodi and saying "it was necessary," making it look as though ''she'' would be revealed as Lisa's killer. There's also a shot of what appears to be Jodi's attacker being shot by a police officer. Neither scene appears in the official film, though it is confirmed in dialogue from Andrea that Jodi's rapist was killed by the police.
43	* NonIndicativeName: Many people have noted that the title doesn't make much sense, as the protagonist Jodi isn't being stalked. In fact, if anything, ''she's'' the one stalking her neighbors by spying on them (which might make it count as a SarcasticTitle). Presumably Lifetime retitled it to fit into its ''Stalked By...'' ThematicSeries (of which ''Film/StalkedByMyDoctor'' is the most famous).
44	* PlotBasedVoiceCancellation: We can't hear what Lisa is saying to Ted when she confronts him because of a plane flying overhead. [[spoiler:She was scolding him for his interest in Kristen]].
45	* PlotHole: Other than a passing {{Blackmail}} threat that he never goes through with, Nick stealing Jodi's camera has no real point in the story other than a rather tortured MeetCute for him and Jodi. Also, why does Lisa have a spotlight in her living room?
46	* RapeAsBackstory: The opening scene doesn't go into too much detail about what happened in the home invasion, but Jodi's extreme PTSD suggests she was raped, and later, during a conversation with Kristen, a flashback confirms that to be the case.
47	* RearWindowHomage: Bordering on WholePlotReference, though there are some novel variations. Jodi's injury is mental, rather than physical, and her assistant[=/=]love interest is initially her murder suspect. Also, a blonde woman named Lisa is the ''victim'' here.
48	* ShirtlessScene: Nick gets one as he washes his truck, with Jodi taking pics of him (then, despite parading around that way, somehow gets upset about her taking photos of him "half-naked").
49	* {{Suburbia}}: The movie takes place on a very tidy, upscale cul-de-sac with big houses.
50	* TimeSkip: The movie opens with the home invasion, then skips three months to the main story.
51	* WhamLine: When Jodi follows Nick to the nightclub and confronts him over the mysterious items he's selling to someone (which she thinks is Lisa's jewelry).
52	-->'''Nick''': Not only are you WAY offbase, but you are also incredibly obnoxious!
53	-->'''Jodi''': Am I?
54	-->'''Nick''': Yeah, you are, but that's okay because [[LoveConfession I kinda have a crush on you]].
55	-->'''Jodi''': [[FlatWhat What did you say]]?
56	* WhatTheHellHero: The police detective scolds Jodi for taking pictures of her neighbors without their permission.

Context Film / StalkedByMyNeighbor