The Girl Next Door (2007) Reviews

• Totally engrossing but painful to watch

  Shudder12007-08-29

  This is an excellent film and therefore in some ways it is a pleasure to watch, but anyone who has seen it will know that it's effectiveness in fact makes it almost unbearable to watch. The story revolves around two girls who have recently been orphaned and are sent to live with their aunt who has three young sons. She is a middle aged woman obsessed with feminine purity who sees the new arrivals as a potentially corrupting influence on the masculine world she presides over. She actively encourages her sons to perpetrate more and more severe acts of bullying and sadism against the older girl who is eventually tied up in the basement and used as a play thing by all the neighbourhood children. Only the boy who lives next door, who has become friends with the girl, has a growing sense of unease about the "games" which are taking a very sinister turn, yet he is powerless to change the course of events. This film is very well written, directed and performed and is therefore a relentlessly depressing affair which is horribly painful to watch. The aunt is a very cold and manipulative figure whose brutality knows no bounds and her sons quickly warm to her ideals. Realising that they have a free reign under her they too become very savage. The culmination of the acts they perpetrate are some of the most shocking I have ever seen in cinema, all the more shocking because they are perpetrated by children, against another child, encouraged by their mother. Truly gripping. Truly horrifying. Hard to watch and hard to look away.

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• True Horror is real horror

  fogfrogblog2007-12-30

  I Like the horror genre and THE GIRL NEXT DOOR is on a different level. This movie is so realistic to the teeth, that it makes you think about life. It makes you think that all the flashy movies you have ever seen are like cartoons compare to this. It's about child abuse, torture, and manipulation. It shows how powerful a parent affects a child's mind. I don't know, I'm still very disturbed by the movie. Although, I would want more bad things to happen to that witch and her boys, the movie ends very well. It's not about revenge, more like a lesson to be thought, that there are sick people out there who are actually doing this to children, and the question is what are you going to do about it?

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• WOW! What a powerful punch this one packs!

  alanmora2007-11-26

  Before I get into the film let me briefly surmise the actual case that this film is based on. Firstly, the actual case of Sylvia Likens was in reality much more brutal than this movie portrays. If you can try for a moment to wrap your mind around that fact than you can begin to fathom the unbelievable torture that this young woman actually endured. The actual case took place in the 1960s but for some odd reason this story is set in the 1950s this is where the confusion begins. Also, in the actual case, Sylvia was not raped nor was she forced to suffer the final indignity that the character in this movie does. That aside, this is a shockingly brutal and powerful film...yes the acting is stiff but I do believe that this was intentional in order to reflect the times. This film is a period piece and should be taken as such. When you take a look at the cast and realize the caliber of actors/actresses in this film anyone can easily see that these are not bad actors. Much of the brutality in this film is implied violence rather than in your face blood and guts. There are cut-aways during some of the more intense moments of the torture scenes but in many ways this makes things even worse! In this sense, this is genius film making. It makes the viewer believe that they have seen something much more horrific than they actually have, not to say that this makes the images seen in this film any less disturbing. A friend of mine who watched this film with me told me that he was unable to sleep for the rest of the night because of this film...and we're talking about a grown man in his late thirties! That's the sort of impact a film like this has. I am looking forward to "An American Crime" which is based on the court transcripts of the actual case and should adhere more to the facts but nonetheless "The Girl Next Door" is a film that punches you in the gut and refuses to relinquish it's grip on your senses.

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• The Most Disturbing Movie You Will Ever See!!!

  eltonpharoah2008-04-20

  Either you will love this movie, or you will hate it. But either way, you will agree... this movie grabs a hold of you and it won't let go! Regardless of what actually happened in real life, or was portrayed in the books... this movie provokes a strong emotion in you. And it takes you to a place you don't want to be. You will feel disgusted, sad, angry, sick, and that's just for starters. Warning: This movie is not for the squeamish!!! For me personally, it made me feel helpless. Because you are sitting there watching the movie unfold, and you can't do anything to stop it. And that for me, was the worse feeling of all. Technical aspects: The acting is great. The dialogue is obscene. The nudity and sexual situations are disgusting. But it brings a realism that could not be achieved otherwise! Bottom line: This movie will give you a small taste of what it's like to be victimized, or be near someone that has. And it will force you to rethink everything you ever thought about in life! So be warned!!!

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• Pushes it genre to the limit

  gqviet5102007-11-30

  Its been a really really long time since I seen a movie this intensely horrifying. This is the type of movie that starts off soft and ends at the climax, leaving viewers breathlessly shocked. I have never before seen children ages probably ranging between 8-13 commit the inhumane acts as seen in this movie. The boy children were given permission by their sick twisted foster mother to torture a beautiful innocent girl. As the torture worsen you feel more and more sympathy for the girl; this is what makes the movie excellent because it captures the audience in a very powerful way. To make this movie even more horrifying is realizing the movie is based on a true story. I would not recommend anyone to watch this movie before they go to bed because it will be hard to sleep having to think about the poor girl being tortured. I have a feeling this movie will be banned because its too explicit for the general public to watch.

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