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Quickie Review - The Girl Next Door

The Girl Next Door is a B-movie, horror film, based on the Sylvia Likens torture and murder case many years ago in Indiana.  It's known to some as the worst case of child abuse ever.  Likens was 16 when she died.  The movie is told through the eyes of a young neighbor who had a boyhood crush on the young girl and who was her only friend, other than her sister throughout the movie.  Despite their friendship, he basically did nothing to help her and was witness to all of the brutality.

The movies is exploitative in nature and is incredibly difficult to watch. The young girl is tortured in ways that are unimaginable and is tortured by so many people, it's hard to believe this happened.  The portrayal of the mother, Ruth (who is played by the actress who played Molly Ringwald's sister in 16 Candles) who facilitates the horrors against the poor girl, is probably the most troubling.  Her boys, who she treats like buddies and the neighborhood kids all join in.

If there is socially redeeming quality of the movie, it's to portray the invulnerability and naivety of children.  To read the actual accounts of the torture and subsequent murder is even more harrowing.  Jack Ketchum, who wrote the novel, seems to have a penchant for these tales and that's not to say there might not be something wrong with him. I would not recommend this to anyone who is not capable of handling the mental side effects of such a film.  It's not a good movie, but a powerful one in that it shows, like in the Kitty Genovese case, there is a part of all of us, that will always sit and wait for others to act, despite knowing we can help.  Scary commentary on society and how we behave and the excuses we make for our lack of action.

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