The Boy Next Door

The Boy Next Door is a thriller about Claire Peterson, a high school teacher adjusting to life after separating from her husband. When a younger man named Noah moves in nearby, a brief encounter between them turns into something far more troubling. Noah becomes increasingly present in Claire's life, befriending her teenage son and appearing at her school, and what began as a single mistake develops into an obsession she struggles to escape.

The film was directed by Rob Cohen, released in 2015 as the eleventh of his twelve features to date, following Alex Cross and preceding The Hurricane Heist. Barbara Curry wrote the screenplay, and Jennifer Lopez produced through Nuyorican Productions alongside John Jacobs and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas; Lopez also stars as Claire, with Ryan Guzman as Noah, Ian Nelson as her son Kevin, John Corbett as her estranged husband Garrett, Kristin Chenoweth as her friend Vicky, and Hill Harper as Principal Warren.

Made for about 4 million dollars and produced with Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions and Smart Entertainment, the film took roughly 52 million dollars worldwide, a strong return on a modest budget. Audience response was mixed: it holds a rating of 4.9 out of 10 on TMDB across more than two thousand votes, and 5.4 out of 10 on IMDb.