The Girl Next Door
by Gregory Wilson
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DVD Cover Information
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
Movie Reviews of The Girl Next Door
Movie Review: This is NOT the true story
Summary: 1 Stars
The Girl Next Door is a zero-star movie. Bad acting, bad screenplay, bad direction, bad casting, bad production, bad cinematography, bad audio, all based on a very bad book. To say this film is based on the Sylvia Likens case is true, but misleading. Only the premise is based on the actual Likens story. This film consists strictly of graphically depicted sex crimes, making it nothing more than a low-budget piece of child porn. Even though Ketchum and company have never claimed this film is anything other than fiction, somehow people got the idea that this is the true story. It is not.
The facts of this compelling crime are public and plentiful, from eyewitnesses, court transcripts, jury members, law enforcement, etc. The details are not hard to dig up. Certain types of sexal abuse did happen, but not specifically some of the most horrific depicted in this film. Central to the actual case were numerous forms of non-sexual torture. Focusing solely on the sex angle makes this just a lascivious and superficial horror flick.
If you are interested in the true story of Sylvia Likens, see "An American Crime." It's a richer, dimensional portrayal that investigates the actual crime, without the gratuitous, gruesome sex scenes. It's an infinitely better movie in every way.
Two big thumbs down.
Summary 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.Based 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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