The Girl Next Door (2007 film)

The Girl Next Door
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Gregory M. Wilson
Screenplay by	Daniel Farrands Philip Nutman
Based on	The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
Produced by	William M. Miller Andrew van den Houten
Starring	Blanche Baker Daniel Manche Blythe Auffarth
Narrated by	William Atherton
Cinematography	William M. Miller
Edited by	M.J. Fiore
Music by	Ryan Shore
Production companies	Modernciné Modern Girl Productions
Distributed by	Starz Home Entertainment
Release date	October 3, 2007 (2007-10-03)
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door (also known as Jack Ketchum's Evil) is a 2007 American horror film directed by Gregory M. Wilson from a screenplay by Daniel Farrands and Philip Nutman. It is based on Jack Ketchum's 1989 novel of the same name,^[1] which was inspired by the real-life murder of Sylvia Likens, to whom the movie is also dedicated.

Plot[]

In 2007, David Moran witnesses a man hit and run by a car in New York City. He responds to the situation and tries to resuscitate the victim. That evening, he reflects on his past in the summer of 1958, when he meets his first teenage crush, Meg Loughlin. Meg and her disabled sister Susan have lost their parents in a car accident and are now living with their aunt, Ruth Chandler, and her sons, Willie, Ralphie, and Donny.

Ruth freely allows her sons' young friends to her house, where she entertains them and offers them beer and cigarettes. Meanwhile, Ruth starves Meg, subjects her to misogynistic lectures and accuses her of being a whore whilst her children listen. She even beats Susan's bare buttocks after Meg hits Ralphie when he inappropriately touches her.

Meg reports the abuse to Officer Jennings. As punishment, Ruth and her sons bind Meg in the basement and torment her, strip her, and then leave her overnight, hanging by the arms from the rafters. She eventually becomes dehydrated and is unable to even eat the dry toast that Ruth feeds her. Ruth again beats Susan's bare buttocks as punishment for Meg.

With Ruth's approval, the neighborhood children visit the Chandler residence to tie, beat, burn and cut Meg for fun. Ruth cauterizes the wounds Meg receives with cigarettes. David tries to tell his parents but is unable to do so. Officer Jennings checks in once more, answering a call about Meg being used as a "punching bag". Before answering the door, Ruth threatens to murder Meg and David if they make a noise in the basement. While Ruth and her sons are upstairs and convince Officer Jennings that they were simply roughhousing, David loosens Meg's bindings and tells her to escape that night. She is unsuccessful.

David returns to the Chandler house and is guided to the basement, where Meg is being raped as punishment for trying to escape. Donny also wishes to rape Meg, but Ruth dismisses his volunteer because she thinks it is incest for him to "skinny dip in his brother's scum". Ralphie then suggests to Ruth that she should "cut" Meg so that she'll be known as a whore. Ruth agrees and carves the words "I FUCK, FUCK ME" on Meg's abdomen with a heated bobby pin. After that, she soon taunts Meg, gloating about how no one can save her from the death she deserves since she will die leaving the Chandler residence soon. Ruth then decides to perform a clitorectomy to remove Meg's sexual desire. David attempts to flee and get help, but is caught and tied up and forced to watch Ruth burn Meg's clitoris with a blowtorch.

The next morning, David awakes still on the basement floor. He frees himself from his bindings and finds Susan sitting with an unconscious Meg. Susan tells David that Meg failed to escape because she was caught trying to take Susan with her instead of waiting to come back for her. She blames herself for telling Meg about Ruth molesting her, which made Meg hesitant to escape alone. David plans their escape, and lights a fire in the basement. As Ruth enters, David vengefully bludgeons her to death with Susan's crutches. Ruth's sons also arrive in the basement with Willie trying to stab David with a knife and Donny mourning Ruth's death. Officer Jennings intervenes and arrests the Chandler boys. The police take Susan from the basement so that she can testify in court and leave Meg with David for her final moments of her life. She thanks David for what he has done before dying from her injuries.

Back in 2007, the adult David reflects on how his past still haunts him to the present day. However, as Meg taught him, "It's what you do last that counts."

Cast[]

Additionally, Mark Margolis portrays the homeless man struck by a vehicle at the beginning of the film and Peter Stickles portrays an EMT. Jack Ketchum, the author of the novel that the film is based on, appears as a carnival worker.

Reception[]

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The film had a polarizing effect on film critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it currently holds a 67% "Fresh" rating, based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10.^[2] In contrast, Metacritic assigns it a 29.^[3]

Stephen King said about the film, "The first authentically shocking American film I've seen since Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer over 20 years ago. If you are easily disturbed, you should not watch this movie. If, on the other hand, you are prepared for a long look into hell, suburban style, The Girl Next Door will not disappoint. This is the dark-side-of-the-moon version of Stand by Me."^{[citation needed]}

See also[]

• An American Crime: A film which leans more in the direction of a true crime portrayal of Likens's murder. This film was scheduled for release at roughly the same time, but was not released until a Showtime premiere on May 10, 2008.

References[]

External links[]

• The Girl Next Door at IMDb
• The Girl Next Door at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Girl Next Door at Metacritic