Detective Mullins - The Heat (2013)
The Neighbour: Free-spirited and foul-mouthed, Detective Mullins (Melissa McCarthy) shares an apartment building with a crew of society’s lesser-to-dos. A cop with a heart of gold and pioneering interrogation techniques, you might want to pop to the shops instead of bothering her for a drop of milk.
Why They’re The Worst: Her fridge-freezer is stocked with a colossal arsenal of weapons. She probably wouldn’t think twice about pulling the pin on that old grenade if the music’s too loud.
The Klopeks - The Burbs (1988)
The Neighbour: An unorthodox trio, Dr. Werner (Henry Gibson), Hans (Courtney Gains), and Reuben (Brother Theodore) move into a dilapidated house on Mayfield Place and proceed to stir up a frenzy of twitching curtains with their late-night gardening habits...
Why They’re The Worst: The attention paid to the upkeep of their exterior would have them heavily reprimanded before the Neighbourhood Watch committee. Unless they’ve buried them in the basement.
Victor - Seven (1995)
The Neighbour: Convicted paedophile Victor (Michael Reid Mackay) embodies the “Sloth” sin as delegated by mastermind killer John Doe (Kevin Spacey.)
Restrained to a bed and kept alive for one year on a cocktail of intravenous drugs, he survives teetering on the bleakest brink of existence, in an untold amount of pain and mental torment.
Why They’re The Worst: The sheer quantity of air fresheners Detectives Mills (Brad Pitt) and Somerset (Morgan Freeman) swat aside to reach his skeletal body suggest the pong might stray beyond the parameters of his apartment. And into yours.
Deebo - Friday (1995)
The Neighbour: Built like a brick shithouse, Deebo’s (Tom Lister Jr.) unyielding stare would have even the toughest of cookies trembling. He’s known in the ‘hood for extortion and making everyone’s pants brown on sight.
Why They’re The Worst: To see him approaching you or your property would mean you were about to lose your favourite bike, or a fistfight.
Margaret Morgan - The Lords Of Salem (2012)
The Neighbour: A decrepit old hag who wanders the hallways of her apartment building in her birthday suit, muttering a series of unpleasant threats beneath her breath.
Why They’re The Worst: She’s a ghost witch whose sole purpose is to ensure the descendents of the man who killed her suffer a terrible demise. That includes the lovely young thing who just moved in, Heidi (Sheri Moon Zombie.)
Vic & Ramona - Neighbors (1981)
The Neighbour: After moving in next to Earl Keese (John Belushi) under cover of darkness, this bonkers couple seem hell-bent on contradicting themselves into a web of silliness just for heck of it.
Why They’re The Worst: Vic (Dan Aykroyd) chomps down on Earl’s daughter’s edible undies, Ramona (Cathy Moriarty) keeps hitting on Earl, and when he finally gets his own back on them - stealing their car with the hopes of dumping it in a swamp - Vic calmly tells him their baby is in it. (It isn’t. Ooh, the bugger!)
Arthur Johnson - A Demon In My View (1991)
The Neighbour: Fifty-something Arthur Johnson (Anthony Perkins), a regular dullard, leads an unremarkable existence as a bookkeeper and rent collector for the building in which he lives.
Why They’re The Worst: He’s also known as the Kenbourne Killer. A serial murderer who has maintained the same address for years due to the mannequin he keeps stashed in the basement, he pops down to strangle it - quelling his sadistic appetite.
And when the puppet is foraged by a new tenant, he embarks on a fresh killing spree, piling up the bodies in the basement and indicting a fellow neighbour.
Melvin Udall - As Good As It Gets (1997)
The Neighbour: A cantankerous best-selling novelist, Udall (Jack Nicholson) inflicts those around him with his special brand of unbearable misanthropy.
Why They’re The Worst: His social awkwardness affect the lives of the people who care for him, waitress Carol (Helen Hunt) and painter Simon (Greg Kinnear) take an emotional beating from his scathing comments.
Adrian Forrester - The Crush (1993)
The Neighbour: Precocious teens with more time than sense are often up to no good. While Adrian Forrester (Alicia Silverstone) isn’t down the park chugging 20/20, she keeps herself busy by crushing hard on new neighbour Nick Eliot (Cary Elwes) despite their vast age difference.
Why They’re The Worst: After Nick rebuts her advances, she sets about destroying his reputation by framing him for sexual assault before trapping his girlfriend in a wasp-filled room. Not exactly going to win her points...
Mrs. Carmody - The Mist (2007)
The Neighbour: A religious zealot with ideas above her station, Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden) goes so far as to label herself Mother Carmody - a modern day prophet.
Why They’re The Worst: She’ll whip up the crowds into a frothy-mouthed frenzy if you so much as tell her you weren’t keen on her cupcake frosting at the church bake sale.
And then command her legions of followers to kill you.
