Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

The Girl Next Door Blu-ray Movie Review

A nerve-rattling tale of torture in middle America.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 4, 2010

Nothing in my life has been right since the summer of 1958.

No, this isn't the spunky 2004 Elisha Cuthbert Comedy and this The Girl Next Door isn't quite as bouncy and traditional in an audience-friendly flavor as its in-name-only counterpart. No, the 2007 picture entitled The Girl Next Door, based on a novel of the same name by author Jack Ketchum (see The Lost) and loosely based on true events, is the depiction of an innocent girl tortured by her hateful relatives in 1958 suburbia. A well-crafted but also poignant, highly disturbing, and heartbreaking experience, The Girl Next Door isn't a Thriller meant to entertain audiences or even deliver some pertinent moral message. The film seemingly has no purpose other than to devastate its viewers with its depiction of lost innocence and the inhumane treatment of a young girl, and viewers will leave The Girl Next Door not with a smile but rather with a shattered spirit and sense of hopelessness, perhaps even questioning the sanity of the world around them and pondering the deeper meanings of life itself.

Unspeakable.

Young preteen David (Daniel Manche) lives in an idyllic Middle-America small town. In the summer of 1958, he meets Meg (Blythe Auffarth), a girl of around the same age who, along with her younger and crippled sister Susan (Madeline Taylor), move into the house next to David's with their aunt Ruth (Blanche Baker), a single mother of three boys, after an accident took the lives of Meg's and Susan's parents. David and Meg quickly form a bond of friendship that's put to the test when David learns that Ruth treats her nieces with disrespect. Not only does she smoke, drink, and use foul language in front of them, she belittles them, teaches them to hate themselves and their femininity, and routinely humiliates them in front of her sons, not to mention David and other assorted neighborhood children. Verbal abuse quickly turns into physical punishment which devolves into outright torture that has Meg locked in the cellar, blindfolded, hung by her wrists, burned, cut, and forced to sleep on an old box spring. David's protests are met with disdain from Ruth and the brothers, but he lacks the courage to drive the point home and tell his parents outright about the inhumane and pointless torture being endured by the girl next door.

It's hard not to find the pulse of The Girl Next Door, but it is instead difficult to try and decipher any number of reasons why it beats at all. There's certainly no allure here from an entertainment perspective; even films like any of those in the Saw series offer some form of escapist "entertainment" whereby one can cheer on various people and things and receive some sort of gratification from over-the-top violence and the constantly-unraveling story. With The Girl Next Door, however, there's no such reprieve from or purpose to the constant grind of the film's dastardly deeds. The true torture comes in watching the film, agonizing alongside Meg and David, and sharing in the feeling of hopelessness as the story unfolds and rude behavior turns to cruel and unusual punishment which turns into outright torture. Still, the film, too, holds its audience in a proverbial captive state, effectively pounding on viewers as the malicious group of people cruelly subject Meg to various forms of physical torture. It would seem, then, that The Girl Next Door presents viewers with no good reason to watch, but of course, there is a method to the madness and a purpose behind the film's manipulation of its audience to willingly embrace a form of psychological torture as events unfold on-screen.

The Girl Next Door does feature sound production values, though they in and of themselves offer no reason to give the film the time of day. Directed by Gregory Wilson, the picture offers sound technical attributes, decent performances from the entire cast, and a good mixture of period music that intersects and contrasts with foreboding and disturbing notes during the more intense sequences. The child actors -- including Blythe Auffarth and Daniel Manche in career-shaping, potentially life-changing, and emotionally draining performances -- acquit themselves superbly in the way the carry themselves and deal with an onslaught of decidedly adult-oriented themes, language, and visuals throughout. Only Blanche Baker serves as something of a weak spot amongst the cast; while she plays the role with a sadistic, disturbed edge, she often seems to be reciting lines as if reading them straight out of the novel with little inflection or attention to detail. It's a monotone, routine effort, but one that does not otherwise hinder the picture. Still, all of the above can, in some degree or combination, be found in other, more cheerful pictures, even those that are based in the Thriller/Mystery/Horror genres. What, then is the purpose of spending time with such a down-and-out, heartbreaking, disturbing piece of cinema like The Girl Next Door, particularly considering that its visuals, story, and language are accentuated all the more by a story that offers no explanation for its actions, its attention focused on the hows rather than the whys, which makes the film even more chilling and, even more damning, tangible, in a "it could happen to anyone and anywhere" sort of way. The answer is that, even through the misery and the feelings of helplessness, hate, and uncertainty about the world and its people that the film engenders, it does leave its audiences -- later after the shock has subsided -- eager to embrace the good in life, to appreciate health and happiness, to create rather than to destroy, to lend a helping hand in a time of need, and to, possibly, come to some rudimentary understanding of what true pain is and work towards easing it, for it can never be eliminated.

The Girl Next Door Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Girl Next Door moves onto Blu-ray with a decent but ultimately underwhelming 1080p, 1.85:1-framed transfer. The picture is somewhat sharp but also sometimes excessively soft. Fine detail can be sloppy as distant trees and shrubs jumble together in an undefined and unfocused green mass, though many close-up shots offer improved definition and higher levels of visible and intricate detail, whether pavement, clothing, assorted objects inside various homes, or facial features. Exteriors are bright and shiny, with the many green grasses, bushes, and leaves dominating the frame, which makes for an excellent contrast to the dreary, depressing, cold, gray basement that becomes a torture chamber and Meg's eventual full-time residence, the uninviting space only accentuating the terrors found within its walls. Black levels are a bit hit-or-miss, and flesh tones occasionally traverse towards a slight red tint. Though by no means a memorable or in any way exceptional high definition image, The Girl Next Door delivers a suitable transfer that's reflective of the picture's rather obscure origins and small budget and the Blu-ray disc's aggressive pricing.

The Girl Next Door Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Girl Next Door features no lossless or uncompressed soundtrack; only a Dolby Digital 5.1 offering is included. The track delivers a fair ambience and creates a palpable, but not altogether realistic, sense of space. Chirping birds and other small-town environmental ambience add a nice touch to the track, and this mix isn't wanting for extensively superior clarity. On the flip side, some of the 50s period music does feature a noticeable absence of space and lacks a more aggressive posture and presentation, sounding a bit pitiful and low in volume but nevertheless delivered with a flow that allows it do its duty in relation to the film. In contrast, the picture's fine use of foreboding notes that quietly and horrifically float into the listening area are delivered with just the right haunting tone, volume, and clarity to ensure maximum effect in reinforcing some of the film's more disturbing and nauseating scenes and sequences. For the most part, however, The Girl Next Door is a dialogue-centric film, and despite its lossy nature, there are no discernible problems with dialogue reproduction or clarity. All said, this is a decent soundtrack to a film that's not exactly the sort to put a sound system to its limits, a suitable companion to a film of this nature.

The Girl Next Door Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of The Girl Next Door contains no special features.

The Girl Next Door Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Girl Next Door is but a means to an end, a journey that leaves audiences pondering greater questions, reflecting on the purpose of life, and contemplating the value of a world that can allow the pointless destruction of an innocent life. The Girl Next Door is a well-made picture but also one that's almost impossible to watch, every new turn only tightening the grasp around the heart and engendering anger towards both the characters in the film and wrongdoers at large, but by film's end and upon further reflection, the experience only serves, seemingly, to reinforce the notion that cruelty will always exist in some form or fashion and that a single man can only hope to make a difference, but it also, and more importantly, opens the door for its audience to appreciate the good in the world as well, to embrace it, to live every day as if it were the last, to live with a purpose, strength of will, and goodness of heart. This Starz/Anchor Bay Blu-ray release features acceptable video and audio presentations but, sadly, no extra features. This is a difficult movie to outright recommend considering its deplorable content, and viewers need be advised to prepare themselves ahead of time.