My quick rating – 4.4/10. When hard-partying, volatile neighbors move in next door, a quiet woman’s life starts to spiral, triggering a slow, unnerving descent into obsession and revenge. At least, that’s what the synopsis for Restless promises. What we actually get feels more like being trapped in a lukewarm puddle of mild inconvenience.
The film kicks off with one of those overused openings that flashes forward to some dramatic moment before slapping a “One Week Earlier” tag on the screen. And, as usual, knowing exactly where things are headed robs the story of any potential suspense before it even gets going.
Lyndsey Marshal plays the woman, Nicky, at the center of it all, a quiet neighbor driven mad by the endless thumping bass and general jerk behavior next door. Unfortunately, her character makes one bad decision after another, the kind of moves that make you roll your eyes rather than root for her. If this is meant to be a “slow burn,” then it’s the kind of slow burn where the match never even catches.
The film has somehow been labeled as horror, but there’s nothing remotely horror-adjacent here, no real tension, no escalating threat, and no sense of dread. It’s just a static situation: annoying neighbor refuses to turn down the music, and Nicky gets increasingly agitated in ways that feel strangely flat. The trip to supposed madness is uneventful, marked by muted reactions and long stretches where nothing much happens at all.
The premise could have set the stage for something nastier, or at least cathartic, but the resolution lands with a dull thud. The ending is so matter-of-fact that my only reaction was, “Wait, that’s it?” I kept holding out hope for a final-act spark—maybe a dark twist or a satisfying burst of violence—but no dice.
Most of us can relate to the pain of living next to an obnoxious neighbor, but Restless somehow delivers less than the average person would probably do in that situation. At just 89 minutes, it’s mercifully short, yet I still found myself getting pretty damn restless waiting for it to end.
