Read + Write + Report
Home | Start a blog | About Orble | FAQ | Blogs | Writers | Paid | My Orble | Login
 
"I always do an all-night horror marathon on Saturdays where we start at seven and go until five in the morning." --- Quentin Tarantino ::::::::::: MY CRITERIA FOR DISCUSSION ENCOMPASSES THE HORROR GENRE AND BEYOND, SO I USE THE TERM "NIGHTMARE MOVIES". SPOILERS CAN OCCUR WITH OR WITHOUT WARNING. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

The Girl Next Door

October 1st 2009 22:58
Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door movie poster
Not to be confused with the lame adolescent comedy of the same name starring Elisha Cuthbert, The Girl Next Door (2007) is based on the book by Jack Ketchum which in turn is based on real events which occurred in America in the 60s (though the book and movie has the events take place in the 50s). Both movies feature a distractingly striking young woman in the lead and are essentially TV movies in regards to their no-frills visual style, but I digress …

Middle-aged David Moran (William Atherton) studies an innocent painting and is reminded of his childhood, and of the horrendous crimes he witnessed when he was a young teenager. He’d prefer not to remember them, for he failed to save a girl with whom he’d fallen in love with, but one cannot change the past. And so the flashback unfolds …
The Girl Next Door Blythe Auffarth and Daniel Manche
Blythe Auffarth as Megan and Daniel Manche as David
Young David (Daniel Manche) is befriended by his new neighbour 16-year-old Megan Loughlin (Blythe Auffarth). She is so pretty and carefree that David is immediately smitten. Megan and her invalid young sister Susan (Madeline Taylor) are orphans and are living in the foster care of Ruth Chandler (Blanche Baker) and her three sons, Willie (Graham Patrick Martin), Donny (Benjamin Ross Kaplan) and Ralphie (Austin Williams). As David soon discovers Ruth is a disturbed woman with an evil and corrupt control and influence over her sons. Ruth despises both Megan and Susan, but makes it her pet project to humiliate and torture Megan, whom she sees as a dangerous temptation; a manipulative slut.
The Girl Next Door Blanche Baker
Blanche Baker as Ruth Chandler
Ruth, with the willing assistance of her teenaged sons – with David and Susan watching on in incredulity – imprison Megan in the basement of the house, bind and torture her, culminating in allowing neighbouring bully Eddie (Michael Zegan) to rape her in front of the rest of the children, including two other teenage girls, and (in the movie’s most ghastly moment) mutilate her (female circumcision). That this appalling crime actually took place only fuels one’s disgust at human kind.
The Girl Next Door Madeline Taylor
Megan's kid sister Susan (Madeline Taylor) is given a beating by Ruth
While the calibre of many of the supporting performances is average, Blythe Auffarth shines. Her role is emotionally and physically demanding and she is a brave actress. Certainly she is one to watch and deserves great things. Blanche Baker is excellent as the monster utterly bereft of morality or humanity. Her motives are dark and unfathomable. And of course, that David stalls in his efforts to try and save Megan and her sister creates frustration and immense sadness by movie’s end.
The Girl Next Door Blythe Auffarth
Megan is bound in the basement
The real life crime took place in 1965 in Indiana. The victim’s name was Sylvia Likens. The instigator's name was Gertrude Baniszewski. Another movie also released in 2007 (America has a very strange habit of duplicating its potentially successful movies simultaneously), An American Crime, follows the real events more closely, but is less sensational in its depiction. It stars Catherine Keener as Gertrude and Ellen Page as Sylvia. I have yet to see this version, and as good as Ellen is, she’ll have to be very good indeed to better the performance of Auffarth.
The Girl Next Door Austin Williams, Graham Patrick Martin, Blythe Auffarth, Benjamin Ross Kaplan
Under their mother's instructions the Chandler boys torture Megan
The Girl Next Door, despite its narrative repetitions and theatrical trappings, is a truly disturbing and horrific account. Many questions remain unanswered at movie’s end, leaving the viewer lingering on the abyss, but the central issues resonant so strongly; insanity and manipulation, corruption of morality, the perceived triumph of evil over good; this is one nightmarish study of suburban hell guaranteed to shock. It always fascinates me how directors (and casting agents primarily) manage to get children to act in such overtly adult situations without psychological repercussions. There are several scenes in this movie with violent/sexual content involving children that would have most parents very alarmed and distressed. The character of Megan is meant to be 16-years-old and Blythe Auffarth looks the age, but was in fact 22-years-old, but the younger children can't be much older than the ages they're playing.
Jack Ketchum's Evil German DVD cover art
German DVD cover art with alternate title


Here's the trailer:


81
Vote

   
subscribe to this blog 


   

   

[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews
Related Posts:

Comments
19 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by JohnDoe

October 1st 2009 23:21


Film & TV on DVD
hey Bryn,

Actually have this and American Crime on my netflix list as as a scheduled double feature. i think they are about 3 weeks down the line...only have about 400 movies in that list

Good to have your reviews back!


Comment by Bryn

October 1st 2009 23:54


Horrorphile
JD, yeah, my stats are right up at the moment, so trying to strike while the iron is hot and deliver some relatively current stuff before I slip back into my obsession with the older stuff ... I really wanna see An American Crime, I'll check to see if Dr. What has it ...

Comment by Anonymous

October 2nd 2009 02:06
I agree that Auffarth did an exceptional job and this is a "don't-miss" movie. Of course, I'm a huge Jack Ketchum fan and thus far, have seen every film adaptation of his work. Not as recommended as the books, but a cut above standard horror fare.

Kemi~

Comment by Bryn

October 2nd 2009 03:56


Horrorphile
Hi Kemi, how are you stranger?
I've not heard of Jack Ketchum before ... what are his other publications?

Comment by Natalina

October 2nd 2009 06:19


My Life My Muse
Beta Girl Blog
Ah you finally saw it. Told you this was a disturbing movie.

I recall as I watched the bonus features... or maybe it was something on HBO, that there were special precautions taken with the kids on the set. When one kid would do a scene the others would be isolated and certain camera angles would be used to give the appearance that the children were doing things that they actually weren't aware of. The kids never really knew the plot of the movie. As nice as that all sounds... I think it's a bit hard to swallow as some scenes would have been impossible to shoot without the kids at least being exposed to SOME horrific situations.

Overall this was difficult to watch but very well executed and I completely agree with you that the main actress was exceptional.

I second JD's sentiments. So nice to have you back!

Comment by Wilson Pon

October 2nd 2009 11:10


Health 2 Know
Adventure Toes
boxing sound
Business Rope
Fun Places 2 Travel
Bryn, even Stephen King himself loves this film. Guess I have to rush to the nearby DVD store and browse for this "baby" right now...

Comment by Anonymous

October 2nd 2009 14:59
Bryn,

You definitely need to read Off Season (it's about canniblism), because that's what got me hooked. Ketchum is brutal in his portrayals, but he doesn't let the reader off the hook no matter what. If you'd like to check him out further, go to his website and take a look around.

Good to see you too stranger.

Kemi~

Comment by Bryn

October 2nd 2009 23:23


Horrorphile
Lilith, cheers for the (severed) heads up of Ketchum. I'll scour the second hand book stores for that one, and check out his website. Hey did you end up checking out that expo thang?

Comment by Anonymous

October 2nd 2009 23:37
Yeah, we did. But I only got to be there just for the time I saw Mr. Cooper, so I missed everything else. The former was great and the latter sucked, but what can you do?

Comment by Bryn

October 2nd 2009 23:52


Horrorphile
The former and the latter?? Do you mean old Cooper vs. new Cooper?

Comment by Anonymous

October 3rd 2009 00:06
No silly. Alice is perfect, missing everything else sucked.

Good luck finding some Ketchum. I think you'll love it.

Comment by Paul from Spook Central: The Ghostbusters Companion

October 13th 2009 04:10
I caught this on TV a few months ago in its "edited for tv" form and it was still very disturbing. Definitely one of the most disturbing horror films I've ever seen.

Comment by Bryn

October 13th 2009 05:50


Horrorphile
Paul, I'm very keen to see the made-for-cable movie An American Crime which stars Catherine Keener and Ellen Page which is based on the same true crime, although apparently is closer to the truth than Jack Ketchum's book.

Comment by JohnDoe

August 7th 2011 17:25


Film & TV on DVD
Another great review Bryn,

I actually watched this as a double on DVD with An American Crime starring Catherine Keener as the abusive matriarch and Ellen Page as the victim. Really interesting seeing the same basic story from two completely opposite tact.

Girl is much more of a traditional horror film where as American Crime is a classier more traditional "based on a true story" type. Both equally disturbing and deserving of attention.

Comment by Bryn

August 7th 2011 23:07


Horrorphile
Hey JD, yeah I wanna see An American Crime, I'm surprised it hasn't had a local release here.

Comment by Simon cobos

September 4th 2011 04:51
This movie was so disturbing that I had to turn it off only 30 min into it, and after reading your review it doesn't look like I'll be finishing it. Don't get me wrong it's a great movie but I could only be pushed so far....

Comment by Bryn

September 4th 2011 09:01


Horrorphile
Simon ... ya wuss!

Comment by Simon cobos

September 10th 2011 19:20
Thanks for the encouragement to finish this movie , I'm glad you did. After finishing the girl next door I was so intrigued about it's true story that I hunted down a American crime. A much different story but also very good. While the girl next door has the love story, a american crime simply is a tragedy. I believe that the girl next door is the more superior one but thanks to opening my eyes to both films

Add A Comment

To create a fully formatted comment please click here.


CLICK HERE TO LOGIN | CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Name or Orble Tag
Home Page (optional)
Comments
Bold Italic Underline Strikethrough Separator Left Center Right Separator Quote Insert Link Insert Email
Notify me of replies
Your Email Address
(optional)
(required for reply notification)
Submit
More Posts
May 2012
4 Posts
April 2012
2 Posts
March 2012
5 Posts
Older Posts
1060 Posts dating from August 2006
Email Subscription
Receive e-mail notifications of new posts on this blog:
0
[ View Blog Summary ] [ Create A New Post ] [ Add A Comment ]
Moderated by Bryn
Copyright © 2012 On Topic Media PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved. Design by Vimu.com.
On Topic Media ZPages: Sydney |  Melbourne |  Brisbane |  London |  Birmingham |  Leeds     [ Advertise ] [ Contact Us ] [ Privacy Policy ]