Bad Day on the Block (1997)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Craig R. Baxley

Writer:

Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh (written by)

Release Date:

22 August 1997 (Turkey)

Genre:

Thriller

Tagline:

He's destroyed everything close to him. Now he's going next door.

Plot:

A decorated firefighter (Charlie Sheen) has his wife and son leave him because of his violent tendencies...

Plot Keywords:

Xenophobia | Goaded On | Racial Violence | Goading | Bitterness

Cast

Charlie Sheen	...	Lyle Wilder (as Charles Sheen)
Mare Winningham	...	Catherine Braverton
David Andrews	...	Reese Braverton
Noah Fleiss	...	Zach Braverton
Dawnn Lewis	...	Sandy Tierra
Chelsea Russo	...	Marcie Braverton
John Ratzenberger	...	Al Calavito
Keone Young	...	Ron the Repairman
Reggie Jackson	...	Himself
Cody Jones	...	D.J.
David Hewlett	...	Andrew
Phillip Jarrett	...	Firefighter
Tino Monte	...	TV Newscaster
Sheldon Turcott	...	Network Newscaster
Karen Brigman	...	Marge Wilder

Also Known As:

The Fireman (International: English title)
Under Pressure

MPAA:

Rated R for violence/terror and language.

Runtime:

88 min | Argentina:104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

UK:15 | Iceland:16 | Argentina:13 | Australia:R | Finland:K-16 (video premiere) | France:U | Germany:16 (video premiere) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Stouffville, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Largo Entertainment

Goofs:

Factual errors: When the model airplane flies through the window, the glass breaks apart in small pieces like safety glass of a car, normal window glass does not break like this.

Quotes:

Lyle Wilder: Two kids... a husband... Marge though you had something great going on here... special she called it. "Why can't we be more like them? Why can't you play with your son like Reese does? Huh? Why?"
Catherine Braverton: [to her kids] Go upstairs to your room... run
Lyle Wilder: [Now glaring at Catherine] You talked to her a lot didn't you? She worshipped you didn't she? Marge thought she knew me... most of the time!
Catherine Braverton: Lyle I'm sorry if we were an issue between you and Marge... but that has nothing to do with us now... please leave
Lyle Wilder: Kenny used to say please a lot to me... I had to be very stern with Kenny... foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child... the rod of discipline will remove it far from him. Mother was ruining him... she was always babying him.
[...]

Very scary suburban psycho-drama

A white middle-class family, married, two kids, and living in a beautiful house in an apparently perfect suburb you already know from several Steven Spielberg and Wes Craven movies. A sinister neighbor and violent fireman, played by real-time psyche Charlie Sheen, watching and threatening the perfect picture family. And of course it won't take long until hell breaks loose...

Nothing new really, but well done. The family actors are doing a fine job, but the credits go to Charlie Sheen this time who plays the psycho neighbor not as an over-the-top weirdo killer, but in a rather silent and retarded way and increasing the thrills of the story by his outstanding performance.

No stupid dialogue and exaggerated over-acting, but just a man sitting in his dark and lonely house and watching old family pictures and his neighborer before his violent feelings are erupting like a volcano. A good thriller, recommended especially for Sheen's disturbing performance.