good

shocking. I mean ... really shocking!

"Like some demented cross between a Norman Rockwell painting and an Eli Roth film." - Rob Humanick

based on the Jack Ketchum novel...this movie is so unforgiving in its scenes of cruelty and torture...the movie is a eye opener and definately works...

this movie actually had quite the impact on me..... as a critic i should give this a lower score ... but im completely entranced by Elisia Cuthbert.

If you can escape and run so far how many powers you have in legs. Very good and very sad movie. ;(

Utterly mortifying and soul-destroying. "The Girl Next Door" is probably the film that has affected me the most emotionally (was pretty depressed for a while afterwards). As with "Men Behind the Sun", the horrors on screen are amplified by the fact that they are based on true events, this being based on the case of Sylvia Likens. Most of the violence is implied but the emotional brutality is so severe here that it has more of a genuine impact than any other extreme film out there.

Brutal and hard to watch, this film doesn't baulk at playing a straight hand in relation to the torture and abuse of an innocent girl. With several scenes which make you look away, and a dark tone and feel to the latter half of the movie, this is a decent attempt to depict the descent into barbarity of a normal family at the instigation of a domineering mother.

If you are looking for the Elisha Cuthbert movie from 2004 (which I will review soon enough), do not get this one by accident. This movie...really bothered me. Only watch this if you are prepared for the worst. It's a good film, it's just hard to say that when thinking about the contents of the film. The woman who plays Ruth is terrifying. This movie will have you hating Ruth and her family, including her god damned kids. Few movies really make me "uneasy", and this is one of them.

I have no suggestions on how to have made this movie better or how to make the material palatable at all, but whatever this final product is comes across as subpar execution, caricature-acting, and a strange narrative device overall.

Sylvia Marie Likens, iskence, psikopat aile, psikopat kadin, psikopat cocuklar, yetim, oksuz, kiz kardes, trafik kazasi, cinayet (cok uzucu bir film, psikolojimi bozdu izlerken)

Disturbing and thrilling, with a deliciously evil climax and a chilling performance from Blance Baker as the villainous Ruth. The main flaws are 1. that Ruth's evil is portrayed superficially; she is a misandrist, a sadist and irritable, but something human is missing that would connect the dots and save her from the flat ogre archetype. Same goes for her boys. 2. The protagonist is a bit too stupid. 3. The Hollywood ending. And William Atherton - such a great actor, such a brief appearance.

Based on the same crime, I'm not sure whether An American Crime was dulled down or The Girl Next Door was made more brutal. Not a bad movie, unsettling to watch though.

I think a lot of people missed the point here. Single handedly the most disturbing film I have ever seen. This because it is based on real events, which aren't that far removed. Is it the best example of filmmaking. No. Is it a reminder of the horrors that we enact upon each other? Yes. I can watch Hostel or any so-called "Torture-Porn" horror film over and over. This? I could never watch again. I put it half way between a film I could watch again and one that I regret ever watching at all.

"If you are easily disturbed, you should not watch this movie."

sick to watch but it's mission to be disturbing and good at that.What kind of sickness is that!

The film doesn't relish in it's horrific acts of violence (inspired by a true horrific crime) but by the end I felt exploited because all that is memorable about it is the violence. It evokes similar feelings to that of Straw Dogs but without the master craftsmanship. The cinematography is in fact annoying in parts, the child actors are simply not up to the sheer horror their roles require of them. Blanche Baker is quite terrifying though so this could be a comeback role.

Very Nice

i couldn't understand any of the characters in this movie, and all it was is a bunch of kids and a lady verbally and physically abusing a girl filled in by Blanche Baker's horrible monologues which are supposed to be her advise toward her children.

Crap. I really fail to see why people would need to watch recreations of atrocities like this. The rape and torture of a young girl brought to the screen in exquisite detail. Maybe they should make one about the Jews too in the actual Nazi gas chambers and furnaces, slowly choking and melting on IMAX so the people would really appreciate their pain, relate. You don't need to see all evil to condemn it. Not recommended.

Couldn't get into it. Another stupid coming of age attempt with the random girl getting tortured and abused in the basement of the house next door.

This is a real mixed bag. The kids' acting is passable at best, and while Aunt Ruth's can be quite unnerving, her woman-hating monologues of advice feel too written and theatrical. The framing story is useless and clichéd. The directing is standard, with a couple occasional flourishes. The controversial scenes and subject matter achieve their horrific goals, but the sub-par filmmaking and ultimately pointless third act are a let down. It elevates itself above torture porn, but not by a whole lot

What could have been a good movie was ruined by a clumsily executed series of events and entirely illogical actions by the characters (namely the main boy. It never attempted to explain WHY he made the choices he did, and that was detrimental to the movie). The kids' acting was almost unbearable at times. I just really hated this movie, and I feel bad for the people associated with the real life story, as this shoddy retelling must feel like a complete travesty.

This caught me off guard - I didn't know what this movie was about before I watched it. And while it kind of has a TV-movie feel and isn't what I would consider a good film, it's utterly disturbing. And not only because of the sickness of the events themselves but because this has really happened. What on earth is wrong with people?!

The failure in this film is that it trivializes the Sylvia Likens torture/murder case really badly and almost makes the film like Stand By Me in its ultimate reflective narrative. It's not a challenging watch compared to most horror films and not confrontational enough for what its themes profess to be. I thought it'd be disturbing, but it turned out dull. The tragedy is most in the fact that a true atrocity was its inspiration.

Very good, but oh so disturbing.