Lakeview Terrace (2008)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
A racist police officer begins a campaign of harassment against his new next-door neighbors, an interracially married couple.
The story
African-American LAPD officer Abel Turner lives in the Lakeview Terrace neighborhood of Los Angeles with his two young children, whom he is very controlling over. When Chris and Lisa Mattson, an interracial married couple, move in next door, Abel begins antagonizing them. After witnessing the couple having sex in their pool in view of his children's bedrooms, Abel begins repositioning his home security floodlights to shine into their bedroom window at night and makes underhanded racial remarks to Chris. When the Mattsons suspect Abel of slashing their car tires, they call the police, but no action is taken due to Abel's status within the LAPD.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Abel Turner, a racist LAPD officer, harasses his neighbors Chris and Lisa Mattson because they are an interracial couple. After a series of escalations—including slashed tires, floodlight wars, and a loud bachelor party where Abel has Chris sexually assaulted by a stripper—Abel is suspended from the LAPD. He eventually sends an informant to break into the Mattsons' home, but Lisa is knocked unconscious and Chris discovers the break-in. During a wildfire evacuation, Abel enters the home to retrieve the informant's phone. Chris finds the phone and calls it, realizing Abel was the intruder. Abel invades the home with a gun, leading to a violent struggle. Lisa escapes in a car that Abel shoots, causing it to crash. Chris subdues Abel and takes his gun. When LASD deputy sheriffs arrive, Abel tries to pose as the authority figure, but Chris taunts him about his wife's death. Enraged, Abel shoots Chris in the shoulder before being gunned down by his former colleagues. Chris survives and remains in Lakeview Terrace with Lisa.
- First release year
- 2008
- Runtime (minutes)
- 110
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Neil LaBute
- Writers
- David Loughery · screenplay; Howard Korder · screenplay; David Loughery · story
- Cast and characters
- Samuel L. Jackson · Abel Turner; Patrick Wilson · Chris Mattson; Kerry Washington · Lisa Mattson; Jay Hernandez
- Genres
- crime thriller; psychological thriller
- Themes
- racism; interracial marriage; police corruption; neighborly conflict
- Tone and mood
- tense; dangerous; foul; joyless
- Premise and plot tags
- crime; thriller; racism; home invasion; police
- Source material / true-story basis
- loosely based on real life events in Altadena, California, involving an interracial couple, John and Mellaine Hamilton, and Irsie Henry, an African-American Los Angeles police officer.
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews, with critics praising its tension and complexity in the first two-thirds but criticizing its 'over-the-top' and 'generic' climax. It held a 44% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 47/100 score on Metacritic.
- Production trivia
- The film was loosely based on real-life events in Altadena, California.; The majority of the film was shot in Walnut, California.; The title is a reference to the ethnically mixed middle class Los Angeles neighborhood of Lake View Terrace.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…