Unlike The Strangers or The Conjuring , which use the "based on a true story" tagline loosely, The Girl Next Door is shackled to the grim reality of Sylvia Likens. Knowing that a real teenager was locked in a basement, branded with hot needles, and eventually killed while her neighbors heard her screams makes the film almost impossible to dismiss as "just a movie." It forces us to confront the capacity for cruelty that exists in the quietest streets of America. The Critical Divide: Art or Exploitation? This is where the conversation gets difficult. Is The Girl Next Door a necessary piece of art that exposes the darkness of human nature, or is it just torture porn with a pretentious gloss?
Trigger Warning: This post discusses graphic depictions of child abuse, torture, and sexual violence. Please proceed with caution. the.girl.next.door.2007
This is a movie for no one. It is too graphic for mainstream drama audiences, and too emotionally devastating for gore-hounds looking for a fun splatter fest. It exists in a lonely, dark corner of cinema reserved for those who want to stare into the abyss and ask, "What am I capable of?" Unlike The Strangers or The Conjuring , which
If you choose to watch it—and I strongly suggest you read the Wikipedia summary of the Sylvia Likens case first—go in knowing that there is no happy ending. There is no justice in the runtime. The only justice is the fact that this story finally forced society to look at what happened in that house in Indianapolis. This is where the conversation gets difficult
Based on the 1989 novel by Jack Ketchum (the pen name of Dallas Mayr), which was itself inspired by the real-life murder of Sylvia Likens in 1965, this film is not entertainment. It is a document of descent. It is a 91-minute-long stomach punch. The story follows two teenage brothers, David and Ralph, living in a quiet New Jersey suburb in the late 1950s. Their idyllic summer is interrupted when their aunt, Ruth, takes in two orphaned sisters, Meg and Susan. At first, David is smitten with the older sister, Meg (played with heartbreaking vulnerability by Blythe Auffarth). She is the "girl next door"—beautiful, mysterious, and kind.