The Girl Next Door
by Gregory Wilson
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DVD details
Actor: Blanche Baker, Catherine Mary Stewart, Grant Show, Kevin Chamberlin, William AthertonDirector: Gregory Wilson
Brand: STARZ HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Cinematographer: William M. Miller
Composer: Ryan Shore
Editor: M.J. Fiore
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled)
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 91 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-12-04
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: ANCHOR BAY
DVD Reviews of The Girl Next Door
DVD Review: Human brutality knows no limits
Summary: 5 Stars
WARNING, contains spoilers.
Who is worse; the abuser who uses their position of power to torture and maim innocent people, or the person who sits idly by and allows the abuse to continue?
How can I possibly review a movie like The Girl Next Door? I've been sitting in front of my computer screen for the last thirty minutes, knowing that I have to write something about this film but unable to do so. How can I write about the shocking nature of this film, about the brutality of human nature, the sickening imagery of a young and innocent girl forced to suffer and die to appease the demons of an insane woman? I know not the words needed to describe this film, but I will do my best none the less.
Let in 1958 in suburban America, The Girl Next Door tells the story of two newly orphaned girls, Meig and Susan (who is afflicted with polio and uses leg braces to walk) who are sent to live with their Aunt Ruth after their parents are killed in an accident. David, a young boy who lives in the house next door, takes an immediate liking to her and is thrilled to learn that he'll be able to see her every day. If one is unfamiliar with the themes of this film when they start watching it, you might mistake it at first for something along the lines of My Dog Skip, a coming of age story set in the 50's about a boy and his friends discovering all life has to offer. The contrast between the opening ten to twenty minutes and the rest of the film is probably the most powerful aspect of the film. The children go from stealing dirty magazines from their parents and thinking fondly about what it might be like to see a real woman, the next they are torturing and raping a young girl who has done nothing to deserve their hatred and scorn.
From the very beginning it is clear that Aunt Ruth has a strange dislike for these two girls. It begins simple enough with Ruth verbally abusing Meig and her sister for being too "lady like" and calling her a whore for making an oil painting for David, but quickly evolves into something far more sinister. David, as a close friend to Ruth's sons, has ample access to the house and witnesses first hand the brutality of Ruth when she hangs Meig by her arms from the ceiling and leaves her there to suffer all night.
There are many themes that are worth looking at in this film. One is the sense of helplessness that David feels when all the adults he knows have either turned a blind eye to the abuse, want only to mind their own business, or are active participants of the torture. David seems to be the only person in the film that knows exactly what is happening and knows it's wrong, and yet does nothing to stop it. I do not want to excuse his actions at all; after all how long can someone ignore the actions of evil without turning into a monster themselves? But it isn't hard to understand why he allowed the abuse to continue; in his mind there was nothing he could have done. For children, especially those of his age (thirteen) adults represent authority, to be respected and obeyed. But even when Ruth's actions become too much for him to ignore, his parents either ignore him or tell him to mind his own business, and the police don't take his warning seriously. Peer pressure also is a major factor in how David decides to act. His best friends not only know about what is going on, but enthusiastically take part in it as well. There are few things more disturbing then a group of young children, ages eight to fourteen, boys and girls, attentively watching the oldest amongst them rape and cut a defenseless girl while sipping on a bottle of root beer. Even the youngest amongst them would like nothing more then to cut Meig with a knife to mark her as the "whore" Ruth believes she is. These children are David's best friends, kids he's known forever and grew up with. How can he turn on them?
But as I said before, I don't want to excuse David's actions. If fact many times I found myself pleading with David to do something, anything, to make it stop. "You know what's right David" I'd find myself saying, "you have to do something, and you know it." Regardless of the peer pressure, regardless of his authority figures refusal to intervene, David is still the only person in the film with a sense of right wrong; it is his responsibility to do something.
This is not a film for everyone. Although most of the abuse is done off camera and is implied rather then shown, the graphic nature of this film is truly horrifying. I could barely finish this film, and I normally have a very strong stomach. Evil is hard to confront, most people would rather turn their backs and pretend it doesn't exist, so when it is presented in such clear and unmistakable terms, such as in this film, its devastating to its viewers. The Girl Next Door is not a snuff film; it is a dark and unforgiving look into the dark side of American suburbia. Watch at your own risk.
Replay value; low.
DVD Review: The Truth Is Far worse Than This Fiction
Summary: 3 Stars
Like Ketchum, I became aware as a young adult with the Likens case after reading Nash's excellent "Bloodletters and Badmen" series back in the seventies. It also haunted me and I couldn't understand why no one had written more on the case. It was only recently I learned of and read John Dean's "House of Evil" originally published in the sixties. I have to say that I was a bit offended by the embellishments made in this screenplay; it's hard to explain why though. Something about the Likens case brings out sadness and anger like no other - Manson, Gacy, Henry Lee Lucas - no other crime exposed by the media quite effected me personally as the one reported here. I think the only way to tell Sylvia's story is in a straight forward factual way. I do see Ketchum's perspective and felt the "rite of passage" his boy hero was experiencing but this incident leaves such a bad taste in the mouth one wants to know the facts about the real case more than fiction. As for Ketchum's audience, hopefully some of Likens real torturers that walked away scot-free (and there were several) caught it... and relived their monstrous acts enough to experience a torture until the end of time. For those interested in the real facts check out "An American Crime" which is just as gut wrenching but a quite factual docu-drama and the better film. DVD Review: It's Not True! Low Budget Horror Flick Claims To Be More, But Fails
Summary: 2 Stars
"Based On A True Story" may be the most abused sentence in Hollywood history. "The Girl Next Door" claims variously to be "based on a true story", "inspired by actual events", etc. It is, however, an adaptation of a novel and while both may well have been "inspired" by a 1965 Indiana child abuse case, the only thing I could find in common between the film and the actual case was that significant portions of both took place in a basement.
Seen as a horror film, "The Girl Next Door" certainly delivers. It is indeed horrifying--shockingly so. The acting and direction are competent, and what appears to be a miniscule budget is extremely well-used. So if you like your frights with some "sick" overtones, this might be for you.
Viewed as a recounting of "actual events", however, this film fails miserably. For reasons of their own, both novelist and screenwriters included essentially nothing from the case which inspired the story. The time period is shifted to the 1950s, the location and basic situation are changed, and every one of the events is fictionalized. Perhaps most disturbingly, while drawing inspiration from a real-life child abuse case, the writers found it necessary to invent utterly grotesque torments to which the victim at the center of the movie is subjected and from which the camera just barely turns away. At that point, the film becomes an exercise in voyeurism, basically an exploitation film which, due to the age of the fictional victim and most of the other characters, has a decidedly unsavory feeling to it. I felt dirty after watching this movie. Not informed about a tragic and ugly historical event or about the horrors of child abuse, just used psychologically much as the film's victim was abused physically.
If you have seen the infinitely superior "An American Crime" and considered this film as a possible alternate view of the real-life case, forget it. And if you came upon this film first, do yourself a favor and see "An American Crime" instead.
DVD Review: The systematic destruction of something innocent and beautiful
Summary: 5 Stars
This got to me, although I've already seen "An American Crime" and am familiar with true story this was based on. the story of Sylvia Likens, the worst torture murder ever to take place in the state of Indiana.
Like I said, it was loosely based on a true story, the people who actually did this were even more monstrous still and the death of Sylvia Likens was even more tragically pointless. It makes me angry that they were given leniant sentences as permitted to continue breathing. Sylvia's torture lasted for three months. Fiction as it tends to be, is softened by the author in a quest for some sort of overall meaning, something that will make a difficult story okay. No one wants to read a pointless book about the some of the most vile people to walk the earth and hear of their suffering without gleaning some sort of meaning from it. Jack Ketchum did well in this respect, and this is my first acquaintance with his work.
Be warned, the true story, if you do decide to read it, is very grim. Lots of people saw what was going on but chose to ignore it. Sylvia spent her last night alive pounding on the basement floor with a shovel trying to get someone to help her. The neighbors heard, and were disturbed by the noise, but none of them called the police. The things they did to her and made her do are unthinkably horrible. Her body was covered with 150 plus cigarette burns, she bit through her lip so hard it was partially severed. So many elements make this into a nightmare. I took what light I could from a couple of small parts. Sylvia, her last night alive bravely telling her sister Jenny that "she knew Jenny didn't want her to die, but she was going to. She could feel it." And Sylvia telling that awful Gertrude to feed her stupid crackers to the dog who was "hungrier than her" her last night alive.
All in all, good adaptation, it was nice to see someone trying to protect her. No one helped the real Sylvia Likens.
DVD Review: Watch an American Crime Instead
Summary: 3 Stars
Unlike An American Crime this isn't a faithful adaptation, but more kiddie snuff porn with an academic leftist feminist propaganda bent to it. I would argue that this is for perverts with an agenda, (not necessarily that of compassion). Esp. given how relentlessly this script tried to force all kinds of Hollywood political correctness upon this story: For example they switched this to the 1950s when it took place in the '60s. It's ironically, of course, set in a clean peaceful luxurious suburb, which Hollywood always-nudge nudge wink wink-insists contains hidden evils. In reality this story took place in utter squalor; the single mother who commited this crime lived in such desperate squalor that her brood had to take turns sharing three spoons, stole clothes off other peoples lines, and vegetables out of other people's gardens.
This film endlessly tries to pound home the dangers of "patriarchy" when the reality was that this was a single mother doing and instigating all the abuse. (BTW women actually commit the majority of child abuse, not men.) And in reality, you should know, that while this girl was sexually humiliated, starved and and physically tortured to death, she was not raped and her clitoris was not burned off. The villain of this specific movie, who kind of reminded me of a campy Divine character, is given almost word for word speeches from Kate Millet's disingenuous feminist polemic on the real events. (Which makes you wonder who really hates women.)
And while thank God Laws have been passed since to protect children, keep in mind that the real life situation that Sylvia Lykens suffered and was immolated in is actually closer to the foster family situations that the government forces children into after taking them away from their families.
If out of human compassion you want to see the unimaginable ordeal of Sylvia Likens, watch An American Crime. (A film Which also screams for chivalry, personal responsibility and an abadonment of herd mentality-something so needed in the era of political correctness.) However, even An American Crime is not 100% faithful, because the reality of what happened to the actual victim is too horrible to be shown. But Girl Next Door is some of the most evil exploitation. It does nothing to honor the real Likens. Don't really know what to call it.
Description of The Girl Next Door
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 (Emmy? winner Blanche Baker of HOLOCAUST). 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. William Atherton (DIE HARD) Catherine Mary Stewart (NIGHT OF THE COMET) and Grant Show (MELROSE PLACE) co-star in this devastating drama adapted from the controversial best seller by Jack Ketchum that Rue Morgue Magazine called one of the most disturbing reads in the history of horror literature. System Requirements:Length: 97 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre:?TELEVISION/MADE FOR TV MOVIES Rating:?R UPC:?013131559699 Manufacturer No:?DV15596Based on the novel by acclaimed author Jack Ketchum, The Girl Next Door draws its nerve-wracking power from a real-life horror show--the torture of Sylvia Likens and her sister by Gertrude Baniszewski and her offspring in the mid-1960s (the case also serves as the basis for the film An American Crime). Here, the Likens character is a recently orphaned teen (Blythe Auffarth) taken in by Ruth Chandler (Blanche Baker), a single mother who plies her adolescent sons and their friends with alcohol and lax supervision. Ruth takes an almost instant disliking to the bright young girl and her sister (who is afflicted with polio) and mounts a campaign of mental and physical abuse upon them; her sons quickly fall into step behind their mother, and a neighborhood friend (Daniel Manche) struggles with his own participation in the atrocities. As true crime thrillers go, The Girl Next Door succeeds on many fronts: Baker and Auffarth give impressive performances, and the violence, though harrowing, is never offered as exploitation. Director Gregory Wilson also keeps the pace brisk and breathtaking as the torture escalates; however, he is less capable in the expositional scenes, and the script by Daniel Farrands and Philip Nutman has a leaden ring at times (which undoes the efforts of the younger cast). Still, it's challenging fare for strong-hearted horror and suspense fans. The DVD includes two sets of commentary: one by Wilson, producer Andrew van den Houten, and cinematographer/co-producer William M. Miller, and another by Ketchum and the screenwriters, who pull no punches in expressing their displeasure over changes made to the film's conclusion (and their assessments are entirely correct). Interviews with the cast and crew and the original screenplay (in DVD-ROM format) round out the supplemental features. --Paul Gaita
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