Author Stephen King’s cover blurb is displayed prominently
on the face of the DVD release of Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door, and why not? Just as King’s endorsement gave an
early boost to Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead,
so too does it help prop up this grim little indie bauble, inspired by actual
events. “Authentically shocking… a long look into hell, suburban-style, [this
film] will not disappoint,” reads the text on front, with King going on to call
the movie “the dark-side-of-the-moon version of Stand By Me.”
He’s not too terribly off, actually; it’s not King merely
stumping for one of his own, with contemporary Ketchum being one of the premier
horror writers of his day. This well-plotted tale of betrayal, violence and
terror unfolds in a quiet, picket-fence kind of town in the lazy, hazy summer
of 1958, and is all the more shocking because it actually happened.
for their perfectly bruised and/or jolting imagery, is a sense of ominous,
accumulating dread. The Girl Next Door
nails that. The film’s performances anchor it in fine fashion, and it feels
real, in this case in all the worst senses of the word.
(Blythe Auffarth) and Susan Laughlin (Madeline Taylor), who are placed in the
care of their distant aunt Ruth (Emmy winner Blanche Baker). Susan is disabled,
and Ruth’s depraved sense of discipline — an illness that extends to her three
teenage sons as well as a group of their peers — manifests itself in
unreasonable demands and needling about Meg’s body and burgeoning sexuality. With
Ruth modeling sadism and supplying liquor to these impressionable kids, this behavior
soon gives way to even more unspeakable acts of abuse and torment — emotional manipulation, branding and even rape. In the end,
only 12-year-old neighbor David Moran (Daniel Manche) stands between the sisters and
what threatens to be their protracted and torturous deaths.
Housed in a regular plastic Amray case, The Girl Next Door is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen,
with Dolby digital 5.1 surround sound and Dolby 2.0 surround audio tracks. The
digital transfer is a solid one, with only a few minor problems with edge
enhancement, fairly consistent and deep blacks, and minimal grain. Supplemental
extras consist of not one but two separate audio commentary tracks, the first
with director Gregory M. Wilson, producer Andrew van den Houten and
cinematographer-producer William Miller, and the latter with novelist Ketchum
and screenwriters Daniel Farrands and Philip Nutman. These are nice, and certainly the dual high points of the extra offerings. EPK-style interviews with
cast and crew provide plenty of opportunity for congratulatory reminiscence, and a behind-the-scenes making-of featurette offers up a perfunctory glimpse at the movie’s production. Rounding out things are a DVD-ROM copy of the movie’s script
and an original full-length trailer. B (Movie) C+ (Disc)