Jennifer Lopez’s ‘’The Boy Next Door’: Trailer gets erotic, then weird

Jennifer Lopez is back on the big screen and playing with fire in the new trailer for “The Boy Next Door.”

Set for release Jan. 23 from Universal, the erotic thriller stars Lopez as a high-school teacher coping with a failed marriage and raising her teenage son. Things get interesting with the arrival of a helpful — and strapping — young man, played by “Step Up All In” star Ryan Guzman who moves in next door.

Naturally, in true erotic-thriller fashion, a forbidden attraction blooms between Claire (Lopez) and Noah (Guzman), and that is soon complicated by the latter’s increasingly obsessive and manipulative behavior, including transferring into Claire’s class, ingratiating himself with her son, dropping unsubtle innuendos (“I love your mother’s cookies”) and hanging compromising photos in her classroom.

It’s nothing she won’t try to remedy with some stern words, steely gazes and a large kitchen knife.

Also starring are Kristin Chenoweth, John Corbett and Ian Nelson.

Directed by Rob Cohen (“The Fast and the Furious,” “Alex Cross”) from a screenplay by Barbara Curry, “The Boy Next Door” is the latest offering from Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions, which specializes in low-budget thrillers such as the “Paranormal Activity,” “Insidious” and “Sinister” movies.

Lopez, meanwhile, hasn’t had a memorable film role in some time, having starred in such critical and commercial disappointments as “Parker” in 2013 and “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” in 2012.

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