Destroy All Neighbors Plot Summary
Currently streaming on Shudder is Destroy All Neighbors, a schlocky horror comedy about a prog rocker named William Brown who is struggling to complete his latest piece of music. There are various reasons for his creative blockage – the distraction of his girlfriend; his job as a sound engineer – but it’s the arrival of Vlad, his new neighbour that really stifles William’s creativity. This is because of the music Vlad plays in his apartment. It’s loud and off-putting and in no way conducive to a good working environment for William.
William’s girlfriend Emily isn’t as annoyed about the noise but she still offers to talk to Vlad about it. William refuses her offer, however, and plucks up the courage to speak to his nuisance neighbour. But when he goes into Vlad’s apartment and kindly asks him to turn his music down, a fight ensues, resulting in Vlad’s unfortunate (and accidental) demise.
William tries to remedy the situation by slicing up Vlad’s body but his life goes from bad to worse when more people start dying around him. Bizarrely, his life begins to improve when the reanimated corpses of those whose deaths he caused begin to speak to him. They even help William complete his album. But as the police have taken an interest in William because of the rising body count, there’s a chance he won’t be guaranteed a happy ending.
So, what happens to William? Let’s take a look at this strange new movie.
How does Vlad die?
After William incurs Vlad’s wrath (and spit) after pounding on his wall, he decides to call the police for help with his noisy new neighbour. When the cops decide the case isn’t worth investigating, William decides to pay Vlad a visit at his apartment.
When William enters the apartment, he sees Vlad exercising with weights while listening to his loud music. Unhappy that William has invaded his space, Vlad entices the luckless guy into a fight. But after showing William how to use the sharp end of a broken bottle to cause injury, Vlad slips on a chicken wing and falls backwards onto the iron rod of his weights, thus impaling himself.
William tries in vain to help Vlad but in the process decapitates him. Understandably, William starts to panic – he hasn’t killed anybody before – but he receives unlikely help from Swigg Anderson, who switches from giving music tutorial videos on William’s phone app to giving advice on removing dead bodies. It’s unlikely that Swigg is really giving corpse removal advice as it’s more likely the case that William’s mind is unravelling.
Who is next to die?
After William cuts up Vlad’s body, he is shocked when the dismembered head of the dead Russian starts speaking to him. Again, this likely didn’t happen. Committing accidental murder clearly had an effect on William, who began to mentally deteriorate as a consequence.
Willam decides to store Vlad’s body in his van but he is interrupted by Auggie, a homeless man he once helped by giving him food. After a hostile interaction between them, William accidentally reverses his van into Auggie and kills him. The distraught William then discovers the real identity of the homeless man by the ring on his finger – Swigg Andersson, the prog rock legend on his phone app.
After dumping the bodies in the woods, William returns to his apartment. Previously, Eleanor the building manager had asked for his help with a wiring problem but William refused to help. It’s a pity he didn’t give her any assistance as when he returns to the building, he discovers the police with her charred body. She died when trying to fix the electrics and William blames himself for her death.
Another death occurs a little later on. After Auggie and Vlad return from their woodland graves, they party with William in the apartment building (another weird event in William’s mind).
When William’s neighbour Phillip arrives at the room to complain about the noise, he too winds up dead after arguing with William. When William tries to deal with the body, his girlfriend Emily arrives and sees what is happening. After fleeing from the building in panicked terror, she calls the cops, who then arrest William.
What happens to William?
A lack of evidence (hard to believe, we know) leads to William’s release but before he leaves prison, the police ask him to identify Eleanor’s body. After sneaking her out of the morgue, the dead woman gives him the musical instruments that were once used by his dead mentor, Swigg Andersson.
With the right instruments to hand and the support of his bandmates – the reincarnated bodies of the people he inadvertently killed – William is able to record his album at the recording studio. He does this in view of Scotty, the studio owner, and a cocky musician named Caleb Bang Jansen, who he holds hostage.
Outside, Emily and the police arrive. Emily delays the police’s arrival in the building by acting as a hostage negotiator and speaking to William through a megaphone. She purposefully narrates a long story from their past to give William time to complete his album. She had always supported him with his music and this was her final attempt to do so.
William is eventually arrested and sent to prison for three life sentences because of the murders he committed. Of course, this might seem unfair as he didn’t kill his victims on purpose, but regardless, his ending isn’t a completely unhappy one. We see via TV footage that he won the Album of the Year award, an achievement that is capitalized on by Scotty and Caleb. We also see William get a visit from Emily, so it’s clear their relationship isn’t quite over. Not that they’ll be able to remain very close, of course, due to William’s imprisonment.
So, it’s a rather bittersweet ending for Willam’s story. Is there a point to his tale? We’re unsure. The movie is a messy and confusing one that took some bizarre turns to get to its conclusion. If you think there is a profound message to take away from this strange horror comedy, feel free to leave us a comment below with your suggestions.
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