The Girl Next Door

THIS MOVIE IS 10+/10
EPIC ON A DIFFERENT LEVEL.
THE MOST UPSETTING EXPERIENCE
EVER. I HAVE A MASSIVE MASSIVE HORROR COLLECTION OF SIMILAR MOVIES & STORIES
ONES THAT WILL TURN YOUR HAIR WHITE
BUT THIS IS DEFINITELY UP THE
LIST FOR BEING ONE OF THE MOST
HORRIFIC AND DISTURBING
AND UPSETTING OF ALL TIME.
I'M IN TEARS EVERY SINGLE TIME I VIEW THIS
BRUTAL AND TRAGIC STORY
AND BELIEVE ME FOR WHAT I HAVE
IN THE HORROR SECTION OF MY COLLECTION
THAT IS SAYING SOMETHING.
I'VE NEVER
WANTED TO HELP SOMEBODY
SO SO MUCH.
AFTER YET ANOTHER VIEW
I HAVE COME TO THE REALISATION
THAT I CAN ONLY BRING MYSELF
TO WATCH THIS MOVIE
ONCE A YEAR EVEN THOUGH I LOVE
THE MOVIE 3000, IT JUST TAKES
SO MUCH OUT OF ME.
I AM A HORROR FANATIC
AND THIS IS RIGHT AT THE TOP OF MY ARCHIVES
HORROR SECTION
THE STORY AND THE CHAIN OF EVENTS
THAT FOLLOW ARE BASED ON TRUE EVENTS
ONLY IN REAL LIFE IT WAS THE 40s not
50s AND RUTH ACTUALLY
GOT AWAY WITH IT
AFTER BEING FOUND NOT GUILTY,
BUT THAT'S A HOLE OTHER STORY.
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCES
ALL AROUND IN THIS DARK,TWISTED
BRUTAL, NASTY MOVIE
THAT WILL ALWAYS HIT ME RIGHT
IN THE FEELS.
AND QUIET RIGHT TOO
(If this movie doesn't move you,
Then you need to check your Pulse).

Holy shit! This movie left me in awe... I never felt so dirty, helpless and uneasy after watching a movie. The acting was supurb, pacing is great and direction is spot on!!! Would totally recommend it to you torture porn viewers out there.

If movies or tv shows have taught me one thing its; if you really hate a character or a group of people with everything inside of you. ITS BRILLIANT ACTING, and def worth watching it to the end.

Man, that was real hard to watch. Ugh. I will NEVER watch this again.

Its taken me a long time to get round to watching this film. Its subject matter disturbed me, more so than such films as Saw and The Human Centipede because this film is based on truth and still happens to this day. The film is well made but its not entertainment. If there is one message that should be taken from the film, its this, DON"T IGNORE WHAT ABUSE COULD BE HAPPENING TO SOMEBODY YOU KNOW. IF YOU SUSPECT SOMETHING HORRIBLE HAPPENING TO A NEIGHBOUR, COLLEAGUE OR SOMEBODY AT SCHOOL, TELL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE TO DO ANYTHING ELSE!

This movie actually did disturb me.

Ruth is one of the best villains I've seen. Evil. Heartless. Makes her children hate women because she hates women and herself. Gets her boys to drink alcohol because she's a drinker and doesnt want to drink alone. She teaches sadism and power trips to kids and speaks on their level to communicate the evil. It's truly messed up. Nothing short of torture. It's not just shock, the character of Ruth says some interesting psycologically revealing things. It just adds to the darkness.
It did feel tiresome near the end as Ruth's manipulative wasn't a bigger part because the character of David didn't really shine when he needed to. It became torture without a motive. David never had much of a personal journey. I didnt feel his pain. He didn't react to the torture in interesting or natural enough ways. The movie doesn't have much replay value as a result but it's worth a watch.

Based o a true story? Maybe it should have told us that unless I missed it.

I don't understand the negative reviews because of the shocking content. If you want horror then this is horrific. It's no cosy Stephen King adaptation.

according to my trakt history, i've seen this before. i don't know that i have, because i didn't recognize any of it, aside from the relatively similar events as the real life likens case. that said, i have a hard time watching this without comparing it directly to the movie an american crime. both are upsetting, but an american crime's acting is more intensely so (and that honestly may just be due to elliot page's acting skills?) and the changes made from the original book's plot (jack ketchum's) lessened the movie's impact. the decision to have the police officer come in prior to meg's passing was a directorial disaster; i don't care if it was the 50s, i do not see how his decision to take susan upstairs and out of the house and leave david behind with a dying girl was at all realistic.

i will say that this movie benefits from having a relatively decent protagonist. as in, there is a character that clearly does not condone what's happening and is young enough that his silence makes sense; his attempts to speak to his parents seem minor, but given what he's witnessed and the fact that there's an adult involved in what's happening, it does make sense. the sad thing is that there were entirely too many people who weren't too young to do something and intervene, both in this fictionalized version of the story and the actual likens case. so it's a very, very tiny bandaid on a very depressing look into humanity.

neither are enjoyable movies, obviously. the likens case is deeply disturbing, and one i heard about entirely too early on in my life thanks to having a mother obsessed with true crime and incapable of parenting. i have always had an uncomfortable fascination-and-revulsion over it and i don't feel any less unsettled having watched this adaptation than i did prior to watching it. i would suggest to anyone interested in the likens case that you go read the court documents. the real testimony about what sylvia went through is truly difficult to stomach, but it's ultimately what made me stop being preoccupied by the case.

The fact this based on a real crime makes it even more guy churning. It's a tough watch, recommended to me on a disturbing films list. But there is a lot left to the imagination, it's not as visually visceral as it could have been, but what it doesn't show, doesn't make it easier to get through.

What is the name of a movie very similar to An American Crime and The Girl Netx Door, where a girl is kidnapped by a couple when she goes to a party and eventually manages to escape finding her mother in the street?

One night David, the protagonist of this story, pulls out an old drawing given to him by his childhood friend Meg. Meg and her disabled sister Susan are adopted by their aunt, Ruth, after their parents die in a car crash. Unfortunately for them, it's the '50s, a horrible, sexist and old-fashioned decade where women are the lesser race. Ruth starts slowly to abuse Meg, using Susan for leverage and getting her sons and neighbourhood kids in on it. David can't stand watching his friend be abused but what can he do?

I was horrified by the torture in this film, but that really seems to be all that was on offer. David is reflecting on his life, and how little he could do back then. He tried to reach out to a few people but never really said anything because that was "none of his business"; he's a child also manipulated by the adult in the situation and overwhelmed by the "bystander effect" and intimidated by Ruth's sons. It's hard to say I really liked anything in this film - none of the shots were particularly amazing. I think the effects were quite good and the whole thing was very twisted.

Unfortunately there were no redeeming factors - I felt like there were no lessons to be learned. David never really developed as a character. We don't learn about what happens to Susan after she is rescued. We don't see the perpetrators get punished and it is presumed that Meg dies of her injuries. Sort of a waste of time overall. 4/10.