The Girl Next Door
starring: William Atherton, Blanche Baker, Grant Show, Catherine Mary Stewart, Kevin Chamberlin
directed by: Gregory Wilson
directed by: Gregory Wilson
List Price: $14.98
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Product Description:
Based on a true story & book by jack kethum. A teenage girl meg & her crippled sister susam whose parents are dead now are left captive to the savage whims & rages of a distant aunt who is rapidly descending into insanity. Only one troubled boy stands between meg & susan & their cruel torturous deaths.Studio: Starz/spheRelease Date: 09/30/2008Run time: 93 minutesRating: Nr
Amazon.com:
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
Based on a true story & book by jack kethum. A teenage girl meg & her crippled sister susam whose parents are dead now are left captive to the savage whims & rages of a distant aunt who is rapidly descending into insanity. Only one troubled boy stands between meg & susan & their cruel torturous deaths.Studio: Starz/spheRelease Date: 09/30/2008Run time: 93 minutesRating: Nr
Amazon.com:
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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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- So F'd UP!!
that was so screwed that this is a real story, your right some stories are just not meant to be retold.
Rating: 
- This is NOT the true story
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 ... Read More
Rating: 
- Not for the weak hearted
I ordered this movie after i had watched An American Crime. The book is based more on the American Crime movie. I went into this thinking it would be something like that movie, and boy was i wrong. I thought the content inAmerican Crime was bad, but it wasn't compared to this movie. I was getting sooo mad and upset with this movie. I could not believe the cruelty and sickness that was going on. I'm not going to give any of it away. All i can say is when you watch this movie.....Beware.
Rating: - Great flick
Disturbing but amazing.Not cheap thrills. Not exploitation.Terrifying and gross, but not exploitation.
Rating: - Disturbing and Dark...
Wow...This was an absolutely disturbing movie. This is one of those movies that you watch that changes you're perception of humanity permanently, and for the worse. There was no story....no lesson...no noble point to be made, just a raw, disturbing, and dark piece that is just one notch shy of being a snuff film. I would suggest skipping this movie, unless you are a sociopath or serial killer in training. If I could have given it zero stars, I would have done so.
- So F'd UP!!that was so screwed that this is a real story, your right some stories are just not meant to be retold.
- This is NOT the true storyThe 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 ... Read More
- Not for the weak heartedI ordered this movie after i had watched An American Crime. The book is based more on the American Crime movie. I went into this thinking it would be something like that movie, and boy was i wrong. I thought the content inAmerican Crime was bad, but it wasn't compared to this movie. I was getting sooo mad and upset with this movie. I could not believe the cruelty and sickness that was going on. I'm not going to give any of it away. All i can say is when you watch this movie.....Beware.
- Great flickDisturbing but amazing.Not cheap thrills. Not exploitation.Terrifying and gross, but not exploitation.
- Disturbing and Dark...Wow...This was an absolutely disturbing movie. This is one of those movies that you watch that changes you're perception of humanity permanently, and for the worse. There was no story....no lesson...no noble point to be made, just a raw, disturbing, and dark piece that is just one notch shy of being a snuff film. I would suggest skipping this movie, unless you are a sociopath or serial killer in training. If I could have given it zero stars, I would have done so.
