by: Letitia
Posted on 03.21.10 in All Horror Films > Torture
Release Date: 2007

The Girl Next Door, based on a novel by Jack Ketchum, seems like a great set-up for a psychological horror movie. The film is about a single, older woman in the 1950’s who gets custody of her two nieces after the death of their parents. One neice is a pre-teen with polio, and the other is the “girl next door” of the title, Meg, a thirteen-year-old who Ruth immediately takes a dislike to.

The movie is loosely based on the death of Sylvia Likens in the 50’s, a horrifying group torture and murder of a teenager girl by her adult guardian and apparently several other children her age over the period of several weeks. The true story is horrifying enough (and was made into the drama An American Crime), but Ketchum’s novel adds some interesting twists: the element of sexual competition between the adult guardian and the girl as well as the guilt of one of the children who knows about the torture but does not participate. Unfortunately, the stale, by-the-numbers direction, script, and acting in this movie drain the film of any possible tension and give no insight into the event.

The subject matter here, of course, would never result in a “fun” horror movie–the death and sexual assault of a very young teenage girl by an adult woman and her teenage sons is not going to be a popcorn movie. So what does a movie like this do? It could provide tension, for one, a sense that the two main characters, Aunt Ruth and Meg, are two forces pitted against each other. It could also provide some insight into aunt Ruth, some sense of the need, misery, and insecurities that might prompt her behavior. The movie could also provide an interesting perspective of the setting–the underbelly of the apparent idyllic and squeaky-clean 50’s could make an interesting contrast to what’s happening in Aunt Ruth’s basement. The movie doesn’t seem to know how to approach these topics, though. It skitters around, from hinting at the sexual curiosity of the boys (and how it is fed by Ruth) and the contrast between the outward appearance of Ruth and what happens behind closed doors, but it never commits to a particular idea or spends enough time in a scene to make it clear exactly what we are dealing with.

Suspense or thrills are pretty much nonexistent: the movie gives away everything too quickly. It’s established from the beginning that Aunt Ruth is a bit off her rocker and that she has gained the trust of the neighborhood kids, who will therefore probably never tell on her. Aunt Ruth is a bitter single woman who wears pounds of pancake makeup and allows her sons and a group of neighborhood boys to hang out around her house, drinking beer and cursing. She’s supposed to be the “cool” woman in the neighborhood, but her scary-clown makeup and creepy, overtly sexual flirtations with the boys is more macabre than “cool”–no teenage boy in their right mind would watch their 50-year-old mother lift up her skirt in front of their friends and not be a little uncomfortable.

The child actors in the movie aren’t awful, but they aren’t good enough to carry the film. Meg, the primary victim of Aunt Ruth, doesn’t have much of a personality, which makes it hard to really empathize with the horrible things that happen to her or to believe the supposed budding romance between her and the neighbor boy, Billy. The group of neighborhood boys and Ruth’s sons are largely interchangeable–they have slicked-back hair and a well-developed disdain for women, apparently developed from Aunt Ruth’s disparaging remarks about sluts and other women in general. The one “good kid”, Billy, is so characterless that I forgot from scene to scene which one he was.

The primary problem here is the direction and acting, not the script. There were several moments in the movie where Aunt Ruth said something that seemed like a good insight into her behavior and that could have been absolutely chilling and effective performed by another actor. The scenes between Billy and his womanizing father, too, bear some fascinating moments where we get an idea of exactly why Billy might be conflicted about telling what is happening in the house next door. When his father explains that you should never hit a woman unless she’s really asking for it, you can see Billy thinking back to Aunt Ruth and her reasons for abusing Meg and wondering if maybe he is the one who’s crazy. But the good writing can’t overcome the limited acting and uninteresting direction.

This low-budget movie simply doesn’t have the talent behind it to do the material justice, and it isn’t in a the least bit fun, frightening, or surprising.

• ★★★★★

  Acting:

• ★★★★★

  Blood:

• ★★★★★

  Violence:

• ★★★★★

  Partying:

• ★★★★★

  Language:

• ★★★★★

  Humor:

• ★★★★★

  Predictable:

• ★★★★★

  Girls:

• ★★★★★

  Gore:

• ★★★★★

  Sexuality:

• ★★★★★

  Torture:

• ★★★★★

  Overall:

I really enjoyed Ketchum's book, in fact it's probably one of my favourite horrors. It's not suspensful, but I can't think of another book that's more disturbing or chilling than "The Girl Next Door". However, from what I saw of the movie, I'd have to agree with you. Appeared to be very incompetently shot, poor acting, etc. I eventually shut it off, as I didn't want it to ruin the book.