film - The Girl next Door 2007

[Paralogic]

No not the one with Elisha Cuthbert, the really really fucked up one. Production values and direction are not at all that great, but this movie made me feel worse than Requiem for a Dream and Dancer in the Dark combined. I saw this movie on an internet stream (I wanted the damn Elisha Cuthbert one). I was thinkin about the romantic comedy then this one came to mind and now I cant sleep (its 6:00 am right now). Its a movie version of Jack Ketchum's book The Girl Next Door and suprisingly based on true events. I actually consider it to be the worst movie ever made, not just because it was bad (acting sucks) but because I have no idea how anyone would want to act, direct, or just work in this film in general. Its about this aunt who lets her kids and their friends drink alcohol, and doesnt discipline their kids whatsoever unless they arent doing something immoral. The girl next door is an orphaned teenager who has a little sister with polio, and she gets cared for by this bitch of a mother who shows her resent the first minute she sees her. Thats like the first 20 minutes, then after that its just abuse and humiliation by the aunt and her kids that goes from mustard seed to mustard tree and I hate mustard (certain kinds, now I hate mustard actually). I highly dont reccomend it, like even if your a sicko (or just like grotesque films) I still think this movie would make you feel bad and just straight up gross you out. Like I thought this was kind of funny in the beginning, but it got closer to the end and I was just like "what the fuck??". Im sorry if makin a thread on movies NOT to watch is against the rules, but if anyone else was unlucky enough to see this film than I am pretty sure you would agree to this warning (I totally forgot about this movie until Elisha Cuthbert came to mind, its a trap!!). Heres the amazon so you could read the reviews (5 stars oddly) and save yourself the trouble of watching it.


http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Next-Door-William-Atherton/dp/B000WC38EQ/ref=sr_1_10/105-4434059-4902011?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1206353299&sr=8-10

 

[tribal girl]

I don't get it. If you hated it that much why did you watch the whole thing?

Heres the amazon so you could read the reviews (5 stars oddly) and save yourself the trouble of watching it.

"If you read the T.V. Guide, you don't need a T.V"

 

[Paralogic]

I don't get it. If you hated it that much why did you watch the whole thing?



"If you read the T.V. Guide, you don't need a T.V"

LOL because im evil!!! Well I do the thing where I just play one movie after another when I have time on my hands, so I didnt really have too much of a problem with the movie at the time until I started retrieving the memory. After writing that up I was able to sleep which is super sweet. Its kind of like the review with the guy that said he watched the whole thing and threw it in the trash. I guess it is worth watching as a personal experiment. Insecurity to the core.

EDIT I take it back, everyone should watch this move; I actually had a blast impersonating the dialogue with my other friend that saw it. Low budget films kick ass! PLUR

 

[vibr8tor]

EDIT I take it back, everyone should watch this move; I actually had a blast impersonating the dialogue with my other friend that saw it.

cool; you had a blast impersonating a movie that depicts horrific child abuse.

I saw the movie a few months ago. It's very disturbing, and given the extreme content, I thought the actors did a really good job with it all. Definitely one of the most depressing movies I've ever watched, especially knowing that it was based on actual events.

 

[ego_loss]

It's one thing if you are warning people against watching the movie simply because of it's disturbing content, but you are WAY off in knocking the abilities of the people involved in making it.

Granted, during the first ten minutes or so I was wondering if it would be any good. ANY doubts I had were laid to rest pretty quick. Considering the subject matter and the age of most of the performers involved, I thought the acting was very well done. Sure it was over the top in a few places, but that's to be expected in such a movie. The writing and directing was as sensible as it could have been. Any more extreme and it would have been kiddie porn/snuff. Any less and it would have been a Lifetime Original Movie.

While the movie it's self is almost all about extremes, some of the best moments were the most subtle and subdued... like when David (the main character) talks with his father about hitting women.

It takes a certain type of talent to make a movie like this, and to do it well. It doesn't take any kind of talent at all to say it's "the worst movie ever made".

If you honestly think it's the worst movie ever made, you really need to see more movies.

 

['medicine cabinet']

ahh i thought you were talking about the one with elisha cuthbert.

c'mon ppl....lets make some fucky fucky

 

[L2R]

rate it

 

[captainballs]

I'm going to go ahead and say that I didn't enjoy this movie. Wait - of course not - I really mean that I don't find much merit in this film. "An American Crime" (the more accurate and better version of this film) painted a more complete picture of the situation, did it without feeling completely exploitive. I feel like The Girl Next Door is well done in a lot of ways, but at the end of the day it's more akin to something worthless like Hostel or Saw than any sort of meaningful social commentary. It exploits the story of this girl to make an exercise in "torture porn" and I think it's not necessary. All the characters are paper thin versions of the real story, just an excuse to show sick shit which is actually really disturbing to watch. I can't give it merit points just because of how fucked up it is, after seeing what has been done with the story effectively and with more real emotion in An American Crime.

edit: just realized i missed the whole point - this is based on a book, not the real events - and its supposed to be a horror movie. Mission accomplished, I guess. I really felt sick watching this.

 

[vibr8tor]

so wait... is the next (more accurate) movie out on video? or in the theatre? cuz i really wanna see it. where did you view it?

 

[captainballs]

I don't know if it's out on video - I saw it on a streaming site. There's a thread here on Bluelight. The Girl Next Door is based on a book by Jack Ketchum which is a modified version of the true story. An American Crime is about Sylvia Likens (the victim), and for the most part I think it's fairly accurate. A problem I saw with the Girl Next Door is it was a formulaic movie, with clear cut good guys and bad guys. The depth of the mother's character is not fully explored, as it is in An American Crime - in TGND, the mother is always in control, completely manipulative and powerful. The difficulty and psychosis that are inherent in raising 6 kids, being flat broke, and thrown away by men who she had given everything to is barely given thirty seconds of screen time - and while she is an evil person, it takes a high quality film to show that perspective and give it credence.

The rest of the characters are deep as well - like I said before, TGND is a horror film basically - An American Crime is much more, a real film. It's terribly sad, and very well done.