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Overall Rating : 7.5/10
Directed By : Gregory Wilson
Blanche Baker (Holocaust)
William Atherton (Die Hard)
Catherine Mary Stewart (Night of the Comet)
Grant Show (Melrose Place (TV) )
Supplied By : Anchor Bay Entertainment
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : November. 27, 2007
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| PLOT In a quiet suburban town in the summer of 1958, two recently orphaned sisters are placed in the care of their mentally unstable Aunt Ruth. But Ruth’s depraved sense of discipline will soon lead to unspeakable acts of abuse and torture that involve her young sons, the neighborhood children, and one 12-year-old boy whose life will be changed forever. |
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| THE REVIEW In the film adaptation of a book by Author Jack Ketchum titled THE GIRL NEXT DOOR we meet Meg and her handicapped Sister Susan. After an horrific automobile accident claimed the life of their parents, the two Sisters have no choice but to go live with their Aunt Ruth. When it comes to the neighborhood children - for the most part, the boy's Ruth is seen as someone cool to them because she allows them to drink beers and do other things they'd never get away with with anyone else. With the arrival of both Meg and Susan things begin to change - especially for the eldest girl Meg. Since Ruth has raised only her three boys, having girls around, is a bit different for Ruth it isn't long after they arrive that Meg begins to be verbally abused by her Aunt in front of the boys, while also Susan also is punished simply because of her association. Soon, the abuse escalates to the point where Meg is being tied up in a basement on a nightly basis, enduring various methods of torture - including sexual abuse by the young boys. However, early on Meg happened to befriend one of the young boys named David and in that short time they developed a strong friendship When David finally witnesses the abuse first hand, he seems to be the only one appalled by it and as time goes on, he tries to desperately help Meg and Susan. The book by Jack Ketchum and this film is loosely based on the real; life case of a young 16 year old girl named Sylvia Marie Likens with happened in 1964 Indianapolis Indiana in which Sylvia was beaten, tortured and burned to death by several children - whom were lead in their was by 37 year old Gertrude Baniszewski. At the time, Sylvia's parents had left she and her polio stricken Sister Jenny in the hands of Baniszewski while they traveled to work - as a result, the tenure would end tragically for Sylvia. Before seeing THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, I knew that the film was not 100% factual, when based on the real life case - some events that occurred, and things such as names were altered, but I was surprised at how much inspiration was drawn from the actual case. One thing I was really worried about was, like most true story films that are based and inspired by a real case, would THE GIRL NEXT DOOR be overly glamorized and fabricated, all at the sometime losing it's feeling of realism in the process? I found that the answer to that question was "No". Yet again to my surprise, THE GIRL NEXT DOOR is shocking, and feels gritty and real, especially in the last half of the film. Essentially, Director Gregory Wilson does a fine good showing us that sometimes, the appearance of peaceful suburbia could be nothing but a facade covering up the inner evil that might occur in just about any household in America(or anywhere else for that matter) - the types of stories we hear on our news just about every day. Presented here, although partially fictionalized, is a story that puts you right in the midst of an horrific act, it seems real and just to imagine that something to this affect really did happen to someone is completely unfathomable....but it did - some of the dialogue and acts depicted here, are just gruff and vile. The film is also quite well acted by the cast, Blanche Baker's character of Aunt Ruth is just scary. It's not so much because of what she says or does, but rather the way Baker handles the character. Instead of being your typical, over the top maniac, making her actions that much more obvious, Ruth is calm and collected - just the fact that she abuses and tortures someone so nonchalantly - is already scary in itself. I was also quite impressed with the performances of the younger cast members...for the touch subject matter, they did a great job, Blythe Auffarth, as Meg and Daniel Manche as David, especially, who work together to make their on-screen relationship highly believable. Daniel Manche really stood out as he offered a strong performance, showing great ability in making he's character's raw emotions seem genuine. I really liked this film, as it's an ultra realistic look into the darkest form of evil that could very well be happening right under our noses - it certainly makes one want to begin to take closer notice of just what goes on in our, somewhat dysfunctional world. |
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| GORE
METER 4/10 More is suggested than actually showed, but it's creepy atmosphere is enough to convince. We be have Ruth carving works into the stomach of Meg, this stood out, as well as instances of implied burning of flesh. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 3.5/10 I wasn't to crazy about the score. We have some really somber scoring, along with the occasional 1950's inspired tune |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM THE GIRL NEXT DOOR is essentially a coming of age film, as in the beginning, an adult David flashbacks to these events of his childhood - in the middle of these bad memories is a story of unfinished love, and in the end THE GIRL NEXT DOOR is a film that displays how horrific events, such as in the film effects everyone around it. This is an excellent movie that I really did enjoy - I recommend it. those that want a film based on the true case of Sylvia Marie Likens will get that in the film AN AMERICAN CRIME, starring HARD CANDY's Ellen Page as Sylvia, which is scheduled to be released next year. This DVD will be released on December 4, 2007 |
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