MovieChat Forums > The Good Neighbor (2016) Discussion > The screen door and the heater (spoilers...

The screen door and the heater (spoilers)

posted 8 years ago by felstein
12 replies | jump to latest

Why didn't Grainey try and find out what was making his screen door open and slam shut? Rather than chop it up with an axe, I think anyone would have examined that thing up one side and down the other... and in doing so would have found the motor or coil or whatever it was, and then there would have been no movie. Same thing with the heater. Since it was so obviously on the blink, why didn't he have a repairman out to fix it? Well, because the repairman would have discovered the device causing the issue... and then there would have been no movie.

It bugs me when a character (or characters) in a movie are required to act in a way that contradicts human nature in order to sustain a wobbly narrative. In this instance, perhaps Grainey's decidedly curious behavior can be explained away by his apathetic state of mind, but it all just seemed to neat, too contrived and cooked-up.

As for the rest... the film had some decent moments of suspense, a solid performance by James Caan, and it did hold my interest. But it was fatally compromised by its sheer unbelievability, the two thoroughly repellent main characters, and one miserable downer of an ending.

[–] GeorgeGlass05 8 years ago

I actually would have reacted the exact same way, so maybe your interpretation of what normal people would do is really just your interpretation of what YOU would do.

[–] felstein 8 years ago

Oh, come on... you would have maniacally chopped down your own screen door with an axe rather than try and find out what was causing the problem???

[–] darkkatrina-1 8 years ago

while i was watching it i said the same thing "smash the goddamn door down"!!! so i agree, there's no thing such as normal people! also, the door wasn't moving "normal" at all! have you ever seen any door opening and slamming so fast and hard in your life?

[–] leiastarkiller 8 years ago

He thought his wife's spirit was in the house before the guys even started their experiment. It was just confirmation bias. That's why he never seemed scared. He "knew" his wife was communicating with him.

[–] felstein 8 years ago

Interesting theory, and it would add a somewhat layered twist to the proceedings...
...but then why would he chop down the door, and do it with such rage?

[–] leiastarkiller 8 years ago

I think it was a sense of guilt. In the flashback about the door she was harping on him to fix the door. Now it's too late to fix for her because she's dead. So he just wanted to get rid of it.

[–] MadDogMcKay 8 years ago

Yeh but super coincidental that the kids just happened to manipulate the 3 things that could conjure the strongest memories of his dead wife. Very convenient indeed. Lazy writing.

[–] rbrtrbnsn 8 years ago

My take on it was that, after the couple living in the house for so many years, accumulating so many memories, that no matter what the kids manipulated would result in triggering so kind of memory if his wife, and therefore feeding the belief in the haunting. They could've made the toilet seat never stay down and it would result in a flashback of his wife telling him to put it down when he was done. The bell just happened to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

[–] TheManInOil 8 years ago

I agree - this is one area where the movie didn't work. Apparently, he legitimately believed he was being haunted, but it didn't really come across. We only understand this later when we get that the scene where his wife wants the door fixed is a flashback and so on.

The truth is none of the 'haunts' they pulled would have any effect on a normal person. I guess we're supposed to assume Grainey was already half out of his mind.

[–] rbrtrbnsn 8 years ago

[–] felstein 8 years ago

Again... what's up with chopping down the door?
If we can argue that Grainey loved his wife more than anything, and we can further argue that he has a belief in the afterlife, then it makes absolutely no sense at all that he would chop down the door. Anything that would give him a connection to the woman he loved so much -- even something as obnoxious as a slamming door -- would be something he would want to hold on to dearly, especially if it may be the conduit that allows communication between the two worlds.

[–] darkkatrina-1 8 years ago

it was very logically answered by :

leiastarkiller » Sat Dec 17 2016 08:08:21 Flag ▼ | Reply |

<<I think it was a sense of guilt. In the flashback about the door she was harping on him to fix the door. Now it's too late to fix for her because she's dead. So he just wanted to get rid of it.>>