Boys Next Door: The Most Unhinged Crime Rampage Hollywood Forgot (1986)
- Niels Gys
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
TL;DR
This film is like watching two bored teens speedrun moral collapse with the enthusiasm of drunk raccoons in a fireworks shop.
A feral, bleak, sleazy little crime grenade, messy but magnetic, stupid but unforgettable.
🎬 Want to watch The Boys Next Door (1986)?
Criminal Fantasy Fulfillment
If you ever wondered what happens when you take two small-town idiots, feed them cigarettes and testosterone, and then remove every adult supervision within a 50-mile radius, this is your answer.
The Boys Next Door doesn’t glamorize crime; it wallops you with how stupid and terrifying real criminals are. Sheen and Maxwell Caulfield play Roy and Bo like two proto-GTA Online griefers who accidentally spawned in 1986.
They’re not masterminds; they’re ticking beer cans. And the film lets you revel in the chaos from a safe, popcorn-loving distance.
This is the kind of crime cinema CRIMENET lives for, morally bankrupt, wildly unpredictable, and deeply allergic to good decision-making.
Plot & Pacing
You know that moment in a night out where something flips, a stupid joke becomes a bad idea, and the bad idea becomes a felony? That’s this entire movie.
The pacing hits like a stuttering engine: sometimes you’re cruising, sometimes you’re swerving into oncoming traffic, sometimes you’re staring at the screen yelling:“Why are you like this?!”
But it works, because the film’s structure mirrors the boys’ mental unraveling.
Characters & Performances
Maxwell Caulfield delivers a performance so unpredictably violent he makes Travis Bickle look like he just needed a quiet weekend at the spa.
Charlie Sheen? This is the good era, back when he was charming, magnetic, and not yet a full-time meme. He’s the moral compass of the duo, which is like being the designated driver in a car that’s already on fire.
Everyone else is basically set dressing for the boys’ meltdown, but that’s the point.
Dialogue & Writing
The dialogue vacillates between:
surprisingly sharp
jaw-droppingly blunt
“did an actual 17-year-old write this?”
Not Tarantino-tier poetry, but there’s something raw and disturbing about the banality of it. The boys don’t talk like villains, they talk like real kids sliding into horror without realizing it.
That makes it scarier than any Shakespearean monologue about darkness.
World & Atmosphere
This film is pure Reagan-era grime. You can practically smell the sweaty backseats, cigarettes, and cheap leather.
The locations all feel like places where hopes go to die and crimes go to multiply. It’s not glossy Hollywood crime, it’s sticky, uncomfortable realism that lingers on your skin like a bad tattoo.
📀 Crime cult classics on Amazon:
• River’s Edge (1986)
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• Over the Edge (1979)
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Direction & Style
Director Penelope Spheeris, yes, the same woman who later made Wayne’s World, because life is strange, shoots this like a documentary that accidentally wandered into a murder spree.
It’s raw, jittery, unglamorous. No slow-motion hero shots here. Just the monotone hum of two idiots self-destructing.
Soundtrack & Mood
It’s very 80s, very synthy, very “I bought this on vinyl for €2 but now it’s strangely growing on me.”
Not iconic, but perfectly matches the escalating dread.
Morality & Madness
The movie’s moral stance is:“Don’t be these boys.” Which is adorable, because every crime fan watching this is thinking: “Okay but hypothetically… if I WERE these boys… what would the optimal escape route be?”
There’s no message, no redemption arc, just the chilling realization that some criminals are born, not made.
Rewatchability
Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it unforgettable? Absolutely.
This is the kind of film you watch once, think about for a week, then revisit years later like:“Oh right, this is why my brain feels weird.”
FAQ
Is The Boys Next Door (1986) worth watching in 2025? Yes, if you enjoy violent nihilism and performances that feel like social workers’ nightmares.
Is it a realistic crime film? Uncomfortably so. These boys commit crimes the way toddlers spill juice: constantly and without thinking.
Is it scary? Not horror scary, humanity-is-broken scary.
Is Charlie Sheen good in this? Shockingly, yes. This is pre-tiger-blood Sheen, at full power.
Is it suitable for a casual movie night? Only if your idea of “casual” includes escalating homicide.
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