Three people sat at a dinner table drinking wine in Good Neighbours (2010) film

Many of the most memorable and quirkiest horror movies of the last few decades have been created by Canadians. From John Fawcett’s werewolf come puberty story Ginger Snaps (2000) to the Soska Sisters’ feminist body horror film American Mary (2012) to David Cronenberg’s iconic films like Videodrome (1983) and The Brood (1979), Canadian horror directors are a force to be reckoned with.

Canadian director Jacob Tierney’s star is rising for his widely beloved series Heated Rivalry (2025) – and deservedly so. Everything from the thoughtful writing (based on Canadian author Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series) to the beautiful cinematography, to the pitch-perfect music, to the phenomenal acting, combines to create a compelling series about love, relationships and identity.

But long before Tierney created this queer hockey romance, he worked on adapting another, much darker piece of Canadian literature: He wrote and directed Good Neighbours, which is a delightfully nasty thriller based on Chère Voisine (Dear Neighbour) (1982) by Canadian novelist Chrystine Brouillet.

Like Heated Rivalry, Good Neighbours shows Tierney’s ability to creep into a character’s mind (and heart – if they have one) and subtly reveal their thoughts and emotions on screen. However, the trio he focuses on for Good Neighbours is made up of people whose brutality is shocking and whose empathy is missing.

Spencer (Scott Speedman) and Louise (Emily Hampshire) are neighbors in an apartment building in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (also known as NDG) neighbourhood of Montreal. Louise is a waitress who spends her free time obsessing with Spencer over a serial killer who is raping and murdering women in Montreal. She also spends an inordinate amount of time with her cats. Spencer uses a wheelchair and seems to live the life of a hermit, with Louise acting as his connection to the outside world. The two of them seem almost giddy to share details of the serial killer’s latest crimes.

Enter Victor (Jay Baruchel), an awkward young teacher who moves into Spencer and Louise’s building. He cluelessly tries to befriend the antisocial duo; he even begins walking a nervous Louise home after work, since a waitress she worked with was murdered. Spencer runs hot and cold with Victor, switching between being furious at him for perceived slights to acting like they’re pals.

None of these people know each other as well as they think they do. Victor develops a crush on Louise, but Louise only uses him to gain access to his cat. (Her singlemindedness when it comes to cats borders on psychosexual obsession.) Spencer taunts Victor and seems to revel in Louise’s unspoken attraction to him. And Victor, though less cruel than Louise and Spencer, is also not completely on the up and up – he tells his brother (played by Tierney) that he and Louise are engaged, even though they’re not even dating.

After Louise’s cat is murdered by a vindictive woman in their building (Louise, Spencer and Victor are not the only bad neighbours in the film), Louise gets revenge, and in the process, her loyalties to both Spencer and Victor dissolve.

In 1995, the citizens of Quebec, which is a predominantly French-speaking province, were asked whether or not Quebec should become an independent country. This referendum, which was mentioned briefly in Good Neighbours, was voted down. Was Tierney making a statement about the idea of being a good neighbour by referencing this vote? Perhaps Quebec itself was satirized as a bad neighbour in this film; even though the Québécois voted no, the vote was close. Like the folks who voted yes, Spencer, Louise and Victor are more concerned about themselves than their neighbours. (Even more pointedly, the woman who kills Louise’s cats speaks only French, while the rest of the neighbours speak both French and English.)

The thrill of Good Neighbours doesn’t come from the reveal of the serial killer, as the audience finds out who it is about halfway through the film. Instead, the movie succeeds as horror by showing how little we know the people around us – whether they’re the people we trust to protect us, the people who live just a wall away from us or the people we sleep with. Good Neighbours shows just how far people will go when they are devoid of empathy.

Good Neighbours is available on several streaming services.