"A slightly disturbing neighbourhood..."

A young couple seeks the perfect home to raise their children. The real estate agent that guides them can’t help himself from revealing the darkest secrets of all three of his available properties.


Nightmare
A man that has just learned that his wife is cheating on him tries to obtain revenge, with his rifle, but ends up dead after the quarrel. The wife’s lover hides the body in a lake. Everything should end here but the widow is haunted by nightmares. She knows that her ex-husband needs to end what he started.


Come to Granny
A family’s only child finds a vagrant monkey and she wants to keep it as a pet. The father is reticent and doesn’t develop a friendly relationship with the animal that ends up being malicious… to the point of killing.


Bobo
A troubled teenager visits a psychologist and confides in him. He reveals his power to predict murders, such as the ones that have just recently happened in the surroundings. He claims to receive visions from an individual wearing an old lady’s mask and from the victims. No one believes him and he can no longer keep this pressure to himself.

John Ritter brings out the best part of this film. He is the real estate agent that has many things to hide and that, quite frankly, badly manages his properties. He presents all three sketches in the manner of Tales from the Crypt but by using humour, which darkens as the film progresses.

This film’s ending made it my friend. It is ridiculous but uses intelligent humour, for consenting adults. I would have preferred seeing more audacity in the three stories but, as a whole, I was satisfied. The paradox with short stories that are so well realised is that we would want them to last longer.

Nightmare
This formula has been used so often that it doesn’t surprise anymore. It is a revenge story featuring the eternal punishment of betrayal in a love relationship. There is little to say about this one because it is so commonplace. The person who wanted to kill is killed, the body is hidden and the friends start to worry. The ending is as predictable as the development but this isn’t problematic because the sketch is so marvellously brought to life on screen. As with the other two stories, the actors do most of the work and they do it well.


Come to Granny
Monkey Shines had explored the same territory in the past with its jealous monkey. Here, we have a quarter of the time to explore the animal’s psychology and a quarter of the time to establish the suspense but a double-barrelled weapon succeeds in equilibrating the situation. Personally, I would have enjoyed seeing the monkey take more hits but, a bit in the manner of Puppet Master, our hero is content with swinging the creature where it has absolutely no chance of splitting its head on a rock each time he finally succeeds in capturing it. The finale is exaggerated but fits well with the film’s general humour.


Bobo
This tale still isn’t anything new but the manner in which it is told makes all the difference. Because there are more or less four characters present, there is very little possibility to develop the murder-mystery aspect. It is by the flashbacks narrated by the young man that we are told his past. As his account progresses, the anxiety greatens. Because the sketch consists of nothing more than a dialogue in a dark room, our attention is not distracted and we are easily immerged in the story. Once more, the ending is the essential part of this segment but it remains predictable.