In lieu of rolling out yet another instance of contrived and manufactured Hollywood evil, Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door opts instead to enrage and provoke by drawing its monsters from the very streets upon which we all live. By forcing its viewer to stare deeply into the grubby and cracked suburban mirror it evokes, this is a film that duly suffers as it attempts to succeed.
It is easy to condemn and dismiss as exploitative when the subject matter is, as here, so shockingly raw and brutal. Understandably it is material not easily viewed. But, especially now in this time were similar cases increasingly pollute our evening news, it is sadly one even less readily discussed.
Based Upon the Novel of the Same Name
Horror writer Jack Ketchum based the original novel from which this script was inspired on the tragic real life case of Sylvia Likens. It is this slowly tugging fact that backbones The Girl Next Door’s on screen depiction of sadistic violence, empowering it to become all the more tactile and shocking.
The works deceptively mundane title perfectly captures the essence of its central premise. That the evil creatures that inhabit this most bleak of narratives are not drawn from the supernatural, they are our neighbors, the kindly woman who sits next to us on the bus, they that brush by as we work and play; invisible in clear view as their dark secrets simmer.
The Girl Next Door – Synopsis (Spoilers Ahead)
Narration sets the scene as an adult David (William Atherton) laments his part in a horrific trail of events that has left him broken, and hopelessly scarred. His marriages have failed and his business success’ seem hollow as he struggles to find sense in the unconscionable.
The plot then proceeds to roll back from the present day to the summer of 1958. It is here that we are welcomed to the outer shining veneer of suburban, postcard perfect, America. Two recently orphaned sisters have been placed in the care of their Aunt Ruth (Blanche Baker), a seemingly innocuous act that all too soon stirs a cauldron of unwarranted resentment and perverse jealousy.
Blythe Auffarth, Blanche Baker & Daniel Manche Star
Meg (Blythe Auffarth), the older of the sisters, bears the brunt of this barely restrained violence. This as a pitch-perfect Blanche Baker embodies her chilling characterization as if there were a slow gas leak on the set. Hers is a gently creeping evil, as both her emotions and demeanor slide into baseline. It is here that she nimbly nudges herself ever so slightly off the rails of sanity, switching with ease into her very own wicked and cruel alternate universe.
Aunt Ruth has three young sons of her own. They take center stage as the barely teenage boys toward whom she excessively dotes. Watching over them, nonchalant and coldly oblivious, as they guzzle beer and suck back cigarettes before her.
This is a home life that defies and flips the petticoats and Brylcreem ideal that the film so successfully fools us into seeing. A story so bitter and foul it falls to family friend and next door neighbor David (Daniel Manche) to provide its narrative with one of its very few stuttering moments of innocence.
His suffocated screams for help, muffled by youth and a debilitating fear of what extra horrors goodly Aunt Ruth may have in store, gives Meg and the audience a strained and futile cable of hope. But salvation is not at hand and it instead becomes apparent that Aunt Ruth's penchant for vile degradation is in fact infectious.
The torture and abuse that befalls Meg increases at the hands of not only her Aunt and miscreant Cousins, but also by a growing band of various neighborhood children. Meg's sister Susan (Madeline Taylor) is also beaten, mildly by comparison, and forced into the role of reluctant spectator. And it is just this combination of stolen innocence and extreme violence that salts the wounds of those who unwittingly witness Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door.
It is a gut punch inflames and begs answer to the often leveled criticism attached to films such as this – why? What nourishment could possibly be derived from such utterly contemptible behavior?. The answer of course is none. These are not films to be enjoyed, any more than a piece depicting the horrors of concentration camp life can be deemed entertainment. What they do provide is reflection, a provocation that pleads that our desire to forget the horrific does not out box its desire to be confronted.
The Antithesis of Torture Porn
The Girl Next Door is an independent film that dragged for nearly ten years from first draft until its eventual production. With the full support of the novels original author the screenplay is one that provocatively places the viewer in the same musty basement as the ill-fated Meg. The intention being that we are stood in a similar voyeuristic zone as that occupied by any one of Meg’s soda pop swilling tormentors.
But this is no storefront for cheap twisted thrills. The violence that occupies this space is, although graphically implied, rarely ever seen on screen. It is a credit to the film that it is not, nor does it need to be. The mere notion of the sadism at play is bitter pill enough. This being so, there is nothing even remotely titillating about this film and those who find enjoyment in such suffering will thankfully be greatly disappointed. A flawed yet well intended dark glimpse into the very worst that humanity can be.
Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door
- Director … Gregory Wilson (Home Invaders)
- Writer … Daniel Farrands & Philip Nutman (screenplay), Jack Ketchum (source novel)
- Cast:
- Blythe Auffarth as Meg Loughlin
- Blanche Baker as Ruth Chandler
- Daniel Manche as David Moran
- Madeline Taylor as Susan Loughlin
- Runtime … 91 minutes
- DVD Release Date: December 4, 2007 (US)
- ANCHOR BAY
- Trailer: Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door
Hari Navarro - Hari Navarro is Topic Editor for Suite 101's Horror Film section and Editor/ Writer at online horror review site, The Hell Street ...
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