The Perfect Neighbor (2025) – The Documentary That Hit Me Like a Punch in the Chest

The Perfect Neighbor (2025), directed by Geeta Gandbhir, isn’t entertainment—it’s a wake-up call. 96 minutes of real police bodycam footage, 911 calls, and interviews about how a tiny neighborhood argument in Florida ended with a mom of four shot dead through her own door. Almost zero narration, just raw reality. I watched it gripping the couch the whole time. One of the most important documentaries of the year and easily one of the hardest things I’ve seen. 9/10.

This is the true story of Ajike “AJ” Owens, killed on June 2, 2023, by her neighbor Susan Lorincz in Ocala, Florida—and how Florida’s “stand your ground” law played into everything that followed.

The Story: From Kids’ iPad to a Mother’s Funeral

It starts small: kids playing, an iPad thrown, yelling between neighbors. Normal stuff we’ve all seen or heard. Then it escalates—racial slurs, threats, objects thrown. One night AJ walks over to confront the neighbor who’s been harassing her children… and gets shot through a locked door.

We see it all in real time: the bodycam of the first officers arriving, the neighbor calmly explaining why she “had” to shoot, the moment the four little kids learn their mom is never coming home. That scene… man, I’m not ashamed to say I cried. These aren’t actors. This is life.

Why This Documentary Is Different (And Why It Hurts So Much)

Most crime docs add dramatic music and slow-mo. This one doesn’t need any of that. It just shows the footage and lets the truth speak. You realize how fast a “normal” news headline—“Woman shot by neighbor”—actually destroys real families. Four kids lost their mom because of an argument over noise and an iPad.

It also quietly asks the big question: would the shooter have walked free longer (or at all) if the races were reversed? The “stand your ground” law gets put under a microscope without the movie ever preaching. The footage does the preaching for it.

What I Loved Most

• Almost everything is real bodycam, doorbell cam, phone recordings—feels like you’re there.
• No sugarcoating, no Hollywood spin. Just truth.
• Turns a 30-second news story into a full human tragedy you’ll never forget.
• The kids’ interviews and reactions… heartbreaking but incredibly powerful.

My One Complaint

Some post-shooting scenes of the family grieving in public and kids crying feel a bit exploitative. I get why they’re included, but I wish those moments stayed private. Without them the film would be even stronger.

Ratings and Critical Reception

• IMDb: 7.1/10 (17,000 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes: 99 % critics (84 reviews) / 81 % audience
• Limited theaters Oct 10 → Netflix Oct 17, 2025

Critics are calling it essential viewing. I agree 100 %.

A Must-Watch That Will Stay With You Forever

At 9/10, The Perfect Neighbor is required watching for anyone who thinks “it’s just a news story” or “it can’t happen here.” It can. It did. And it keeps happening.

Watch it, feel angry, feel sad, then go hug your family and maybe be a little kinder to your actual neighbors.

What did you think of The Perfect Neighbor? Did that bodycam footage wreck you too? Drop your thoughts below—I read every single one.

And please suggest my next watch. After this I need either another powerful documentary or something extremely light to recover.

If this review moved you, give it a like, follow, share—let’s make sure more people see AJ’s story. Thanks for watching with me. See you in the next one.