Netflix’s New Crime Hit With a Rare Perfect RT Score Is More Horrifying Than Any Scary Movie

by

This year, the streaming service has gained attention for its compelling true crime documentaries, including the popular Unknown Caller: The High School Catfish, which caused widespread anger after revealing the identity of the cyberbully involved. This week, another documentary, The Perfect Neighbor, has become a major topic of conversation. Like its counterparts, this film tackles important social problems and examines how law enforcement responds to them – or fails to.

The documentary The Perfect Neighbor has earned perfect scores from critics, who commend its distinctive approach and disturbing look at problems within our police and legal systems. The film details how a simple disagreement between one person and their neighbors tragically escalated into a senseless murder. The filmmakers highlight unfair behavior and explain how a failure to hold people accountable can lead to violence and significant damage.

The Perfect Neighbor Is a Real-Life Horror Story

The new documentary, The Perfect Neighbor, has gained significant attention for its chilling and realistic portrayal of a true crime. It focuses on a woman who repeatedly calls the police on her neighbors’ children for playing outside, even when there’s no real issue. Using mostly police bodycam and surveillance footage, the film shows how this neighborhood dispute gradually escalated, ultimately leading to a shocking and tragic death that no one anticipated.

In 2021, Susan Lorincz started a two-year conflict by repeatedly calling the police about neighborhood children playing on a grassy area. She claimed they were trespassing on her landlord’s property, but it turned out she didn’t have the right to control the land – most of it wasn’t even owned by her landlord, and the children had permission to play there. Despite this, and without any evidence to support her claims, Lorincz continued to call the authorities multiple times, alleging the children were bothering her, touching her property, or causing disturbances.

The situation escalated on the evening of June 2, 2023, when Susan, 58, harassed some young boys near her home. This led Ajike Owens to go to Susan’s apartment to address her behavior towards Owens’ children. In the following two minutes, Susan called the police twice before shooting through her closed door, seriously wounding Owens. Despite immediate medical attention, Owens died from the gunshot wound. Susan initially claimed self-defense under Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, but the investigation revealed no real threat to her safety. As a result, she was charged and ultimately sentenced to 25 years in prison for the death of Ajike Owens, leaving behind four children.

True crime is full of shocking stories, but this 90-minute documentary about Susan Lorincz and the tragic murder of Ajike Owens is particularly unsettling. What makes it so disturbing isn’t that Susan was a notorious criminal, but that she seemed like an ordinary, withdrawn woman – someone you wouldn’t expect to commit such a violent act. The film highlights a frightening truth: anyone is capable of terrible things, and even someone who appears harmless can inflict harm, especially when they have access to a weapon.

This Extreme Dispute Highlighted Major Societal Issues

True crime often focuses too much on the criminals themselves, sometimes turning them into sympathetic figures or sensationalizing their lives as if they’re fictional characters. While some documentaries do a better job of centering the victims and their families, it’s still a common issue. The documentary The Perfect Neighbor avoids this trap, instead presenting Susan Lorincz as someone who harassed neighborhood children, caused unnecessary conflict, and wrongly believed her status would protect her, even when the children hadn’t done anything wrong or broken any laws.

Even before the tragic shooting of Ajike Owens, Susan Lorincz consistently avoided taking responsibility for her actions, always offering excuses. The documentary shows she was previously arrested for driving through a closed gate, claiming she felt threatened even though there was no apparent danger. Over a two-year period, records revealed a pattern of careless or harmful behavior, coupled with an expectation that authorities would support her. Ultimately, The Perfect Neighbor demonstrates that Lorincz had a history of denying accountability, and after the shooting, she shockingly attempted to blame Ajike Owens for her own death.

The investigation into the shooting revealed additional troubling details, including reports that the shooter, a white woman named Lorincz, had repeatedly used racist language and even called Black children “slaves.” While authorities appeared reluctant to connect Lorincz’s racism to the shooting, Ajike Owens’ family and groups like Black Lives Matter strongly argued that her prejudiced beliefs likely motivated the killing. The case, and a recent documentary about it, also raised important questions about “stand your ground” laws and whether they can be used to excuse unjustified shootings.

As a movie lover, I was really struck by how The Perfect Neighbor doesn’t just want to shock you, but really make you think. It’s based on the tragic story of Ajike Owens, and it left me deeply unsettled. It’s scary because it shows how easily everyday interactions with neighbors can turn deadly, and that’s terrifying. But what’s even more disturbing is how the documentary connects prejudice and racial bias to this case, and how easily self-defense laws can be twisted by someone’s own biases, potentially justifying violence. It’s not just about being afraid of your neighbors; it’s about understanding the dangerous role prejudice plays in these situations.

The Documentary Style Was Revolutionary

Award-winning director Geeta Gandbhir, connected to the victim Ajike Owens through her sister-in-law, started gathering information about the case when they worried Ajike’s death wouldn’t be properly investigated due to Florida’s “stand your ground” laws. This led to the acquisition of crucial police body cam footage – the core of the documentary – which demonstrates that the events surrounding Susan Lorincz’s actions haven’t been altered to support a specific argument. Instead, the footage reveals how Susan treated her neighbors and attempted to influence the police. The Perfect Neighbor has the potential to be a landmark documentary, and its straightforward, impactful design prioritizes presenting the evidence and letting it speak for itself.

Given the current, often critical, social and political climate in the United States, people are increasingly asking for proof and context when trying to understand events and their significance. The documentary The Perfect Neighbor effectively addresses this need by presenting a recent true crime case – the death of Ajike Owens – and highlighting how it reveals important issues within society and the legal system. The film successfully focuses on both the shocking crime itself and the biases that played a role in what happened.

Read More

2025-10-29 03:37