Does the “evil eye” work?

I have this annoying neighbor who wants me to move and I remembered that my Italian grandmother told me that you could bounce back evil to somebody by giving them the evil eye or “il malocchio”. So one day when the guy was outside I pulled up alongside him and gave him my most intense stare directly into his eyes for about 5 seconds and then looked away. My nonna told me that it was very important to be the first to look away.