'Neighborhood Watch' Movie Ending Explained & Summary: Was The Abduction Real?

On its surface, the new crime thriller film, Neighborhood Watch, is all about a personal investigation carried out by the protagonists, Simon McNally and Ed Deerman, after a young woman is supposedly abducted in broad daylight. But as the film progresses, it gradually becomes more about the bond between the two men, which is new, and quite pleasant, for Simon, although the matter is presented quite subtly. Overall, Neighborhood Watch has an interesting premise and commendable performances, but it somewhat struggles to integrate the elements of drama into the overarching genre of crime thriller.

Spoiler Alert

What is the film about?

Neighborhood Watch begins by establishing the location of its story, which is a small town seemingly on the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama. A man named Simon McNally takes a bus to a diner, where he has come for a job interview after having submitted an application earlier. Before the actual meeting, to be held by the manager of the company, one of the lower-level employees asks a few questions of Simon, clearly as she had been instructed by her higher-ups, for there is something unusual about his CV. As per the official records, Simon had last been employed some 10 years ago, and so raising questions about this long gap in employment is quite natural. He clarifies that he had to take this gap because of some sickness, because of which he had had to spend many years admitted at a hospital. Since Simon has also never attended school, he is quite an unusual candidate who has applied for the job, and so the worker is understandably intrigued about him.

At this point, she notices the marks on Simon’s wrists, clearly from instances of self-harm, but cannot ask any questions as he quickly hides them and makes it evident that he is not interested in talking about his past. Therefore, the worker has no option but to start explaining how he is not going to be a good fit for the company, but Simon has zoned out of the conversation by this time, as he is distracted by the voice of a different man inside his head. The voice keeps ridiculing and humiliating Simon for not being good enough for even unskilled menial jobs and for being a reject and a failure in life, all of which gradually make him angry and frustrated. Although he is temporarily distracted from the self-doubting voice when a server accidentally drops some plates and glasses, causing a loud noise, Simon then starts to see an old man in place of the worker he had just been talking to.

This hallucination continues for quite some time, but Simon is able to maintain his calm till the end of the informal interview, which ends with him being told that he will be contacted later if needed. The man knows that he is never going to receive any calls from the diner, just like with all the places where he had tried looking for employment, as they all get alerted and spooked after learning that he has some serious mental ailments. Later that day, he visits his doctor for a routine checkup, complaining about his spasms, which have been getting out of hand lately. It is while returning from the clinic that he happens to see a man assault a woman in the empty lanes by the main road and then abduct her in a white van. Despite his self-humiliating inner voice telling him to not do anything about the matter, Simon decides to seek help in saving the helpless woman in whatever way possible.

How does Ed Deerman get involved with Simon?

The very introduction of Ed Deerman in Neighborhood Watch makes it evident that he is not a normal man either but is stuck in his past and in his obsession to keep himself busy. Throughout the film, Ed has a knack for playing the detective, because of which he is seen working as the campus security guard at the dining hall of a college. But the catch is that although Ed was once part of the campus security, he had been fired from the position quite some time ago, and yet he keeps carrying a fake badge and acts against defaulting students just like before. In the beginning, he is seen catching a student while he was stealing food from the canteen and dragging the young man to the actual campus security office after having sprayed him with hand sanitizer, which is extremely dangerous. It is perhaps because of this very habit of taking things too seriously and not knowing where to draw the line that Ed was fired from the university. 

The reason for Ed’s constant need to keep working becomes slightly clear when we are allowed a peek into his personal life, where he is terribly lonely, having no company at all. Ed’s aggressive nature suggests that he wants to keep himself away from people as well, and he is also rather hostile towards his neighbors, particularly Simon. Ed knows that Simon suffers from some mental ailment, but he has no sympathy for him whatsoever, and he wants to avoid the younger man at all costs. This is why when Simon comes knocking on his door the first time, Ed turns him away quite aggressively. Even the next time around, he is disinterested in hearing out what Simon has to say, even when the latter reports the abduction of the woman that he had apparently witnessed. Ed is someone who does not want to get involved in anything that does not concern him, and so he wants to stay away from the whole matter.

However, when Ed finally takes Simon a bit seriously and does get interested in the situation, it gives him the chance to play the role of a detective and carry out his own investigation, which is perhaps something he has been wanting to do throughout his life. What seems to get him hooked even more is the fact that the police do not believe Simon’s statement, and they are also unable to find anything significant with the registration number of the white van, which had apparently been used for the kidnapping. Ed instantly gets a chance to prove himself superior to the police, and so he jumps right into the matter, explaining that Simon might have seen some of the numbers or letters wrong because of the intensity of the situation, and he uses a website to try similar numbers. It is Ed who then sticks with Simon throughout the investigation, helping him at every possible step, and himself thoroughly enjoying the whole experience.

Why is Simon’s report not believed by most people?

When Simon reports the incident he had witnessed to various people, including the police officers, nobody takes him seriously or believes him because of his mental health issues. While those who know Simon personally are already well aware of how he suffers from mental illnesses, the police department quickly finds out about it when they search his name up on the database. Simon’s exact ailments are not mentioned, but he definitely suffers from schizophrenia and paranoia, because of which he has had some really violent episodes. Simon gets agitated way quicker than the usual person, because of which he has often gotten violent and therefore had his name put into the police database as a potential troublemaker. Even during his personal investigation, we see Simon lose his calm when the DMV officials do not cooperate with him and Ed, and the police detective eventually overseeing his case investigates this outburst as well.

Simon suffers from word salad, which means that he often mixes up words while in an excited or agitated state, because of which he is considered even more deranged by common people, who do not understand what is wrong with him. Furthermore, he often has hallucinations and imaginary visions, all of which are because of his advanced level of schizophrenia, and since this is a known matter to everyone, including the police, since it is mentioned in his profile on the database, they refuse to take him seriously. This is the primary reason they’re skeptical about his report, and even though what Simon claims is quite concerning, since it involves the well-being of a young woman, everyone thinks that he is basically crying wolf.

What is the meaning behind Simon’s hallucinations?

Simon has a particular kind of hallucination throughout the duration of Neighborhood Watch, in which he sees an elderly man berating and humiliating him, along with calling him names. This man is definitely Simon’s father, who is not present in his life anymore and is probably even dead, but whose abusive nature has left him traumatized even to this day. It is suggested that the man was abusive towards both Simon and his elder daughter, DeeDee, and the young boy was particularly traumatized because he could not do anything to protect his sister. It is also mentioned that Simon was once extremely fond of singing, but he no longer has any interest in it, only because his father used to ridicule him for it, and according to his orthodox values, singing was a hobby suitable only for women. The man took his belief to a concerning level when he would make Simon dress up like a little girl only to humiliate and mock the boy, which is why Simon still hears his father refer to him by the name of a girl. 

Horribly affected by these experiences in his childhood, the man has now developed a number of mental illnesses, which have also made him extremely socially awkward. This is why he has made multiple attempts on his own life as well, but since he could not go through with the horrific acts, his father’s voice haunts him regarding this ‘failure’ as well. Simon finds it impossible to even look straight at a person’s eyes while talking to them, which shows how very afraid he is of the world at all times, and this is where Ed comes to his rescue. Despite initially being quite prejudiced against patients of mental illnesses and particularly unfriendly towards Simon, Ed gradually starts to feel for the younger man, in his own way, and then starts to try and help him. Ed not only helps in the investigation, but more importantly, he plays a crucial role in helping Simon develop self-confidence and a feeling of self-worth, which will stay with him for the rest of his life.

What is the actual reason behind the supposed abduction?

Early into their investigation, Ed and Simon had realized that the registration number that the latter had seen on the white van did not actually belong to any vehicle of that description, meaning that the plate had been stolen from some other vehicle. They tracked down five vehicles with similar number plates and then realized that one of the pickup trucks had been towed to a junkyard called Kurt’s Salvage. Once they reached the junkyard and met the owner, the latter stated that he did not particularly remember what had happened to the towed vehicle. However, it is later revealed that this very owner, Kurt, had handed over the number plate of the towed car to the driver of the van, who had then carried out the abduction of the young woman.

In Neighborhood Watch’s ending, when Ed and Simon raid Kurt’s office once again, they discover a bunch of passports of foreign nationals, all young women, stored away in a hidden compartment inside a wall clock in his office. Turns out, Kurt had been running a human trafficking ring in which he was having young women from other countries abducted when they were on a visit to the United States and then forcing them into prostitution or slavery for hefty amounts of money. He was storing their passports in order to threaten them into doing whatever he wanted, but the protagonists’ brave efforts finally bring down this illicit trade. 

Although Kurt sends one of his three partners to Ed’s house in order to kill the man, Simon intervenes at the right time and protects the older man, who is now his friend. They then hand over Kurt to the police before rushing to the address that he had mentioned, where his third partner and the kidnapped woman are supposed to be present. As it turns out, the third partner is Kurt’s mother, who is seen running out of the house, but she is definitely arrested by the police waiting outside. Thus, two out of the three perpetrators are caught, while the remaining one is killed by Simon unintentionally. But most importantly, the abducted woman is found and rescued from the house by Ed and Simon.

Neighborhood Watch’s ending revealed that Simon had not hallucinated the incident but had really witnessed a horrific crime, following which his brave reaction and decisions had helped save the woman. Despite having acted like a true hero, Simon is arrested by the police because he is indeed the murderer of the intruder. But as Detective Glover compliments him for his actions, it is suggested that Simon will face very little to no charges for the unintentional murder, possibly since he had acted in self-defense. The validation and small praises that Simon receives, first and foremost from Ed, then Detective Glover, and then from the very woman he had helped rescue, surely contribute a great deal to healing some of his curable ailments. Thus, Neighborhood Watch ends with a shot of Simon’s face beaming with happiness, for he has finally been understood by the world, and most importantly, his efforts have been appreciated.

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