La ragazza della porta accanto

I was presented with this movie on the Chiller station. I was expecting Freddy Kruger-like horror. This was not that type of movie and I am upset that it was on this station even though it is one of the most horrifying movies out there. And it's based on true facts. Throughout this movie my thoughts kept going to the book "A Child Called It"--also true. I'm writing this at 4 a.m. because after watching this show, I can't sleep. Although I wouldn't have picked this show to watch, now that I have seen it I realize the importance of our world not EVER forgetting that this can and does happen. People know about it but don't want to admit it or "pry". Even though, in 2009, we'd like to believe the neighbors, CPS or the police would step in, I fear that is not the truth. This is an important movie and shouldn't be relegated to cable stations as a sensationalist movie.

This had the feel of a made for TV movie from the 1980's. It starts slowly but you gradually get a sense of dread at what will happen next. Unfortunately even if you are prepared for what will happen it is still pretty shocking.

The acting is generally pretty low rate though the two main young actors Blythe Auffarth as Meg and Daniel Manche as David are both excellent.

This is not a film to enjoy unless you are some kind of sick sadist. It is grim and undeniably hard to watch and the fact it is based on a true story makes it even more shocking and it's a sad fact that things like this went on and still go on.

You may ask why make a film like this. Well in my mind if these things are swept under the carpet then nothing changes. If films like this make even one person speak up about the abuse they have suffered in silence then that's a good thing.

I didn't enjoy watching the film but it is well done and has an important message that you should never keep quiet when you know something is wrong.

I was very unsure on how to rate this film. I watched it all and to be fair the film held my interest throughout. I would say it is probably a good film but something I cannot say I enjoyed watching, which was probably the aim of the director. Taboo subjects in society change rapidly over the years and this film deals with argumentibly the most taboo, certainly a topic most people find hard to talk about. Abuse and torture happen. Fact. What this film managed to do for me is to take both subjects and ram them down my throat at a more than uncomfortable rate. And that is the story line. No humour. No romance as such and no happiness. For me this was not entertainment. I guess some people will enjoy this film, in the same way that people like to rubber neck at accidents when they drive past. The publicity will make this film popular and it will no doubt develop a form of notoriety that clockwork orange and the exorcist enjoyed twenty years ago. But for me. I will not be watching it again as I would not be able to get anything positive out of it.

I found this film in a list of best torture films. I love saw and hostel and was hoping for this kind of thing. It's a slow burner at first, it sets the scene for over half an hour and I began thinking am I watching the right film? But when it starts it REALLY starts. I could say a lot about this film, like how the main guy could have done a lot more to help the situation. But I won't say much because I want you to watch it knowing and expecting nothing like I did. What I will say though, is I actually cried at this film. And I don't think I've ever done that in a horror film before. Enjoy!

A bum is run over by a car. Some guy in a business suit gives him CPR for some reason and save his life somehow. The suit then tells us about pain and that nothing has been right in his life since the summer of '58. He pulls some painting out of an envelope.

Now we're in 1958 when this guy, named David of course, was a kid. While at the river he runs into some older girl. They get along well. She tells him she lives with her aunt, Ruth, and sister, Susan, next door to him, after her parent died in a car accident.

This was a time when doors were kept unlocked and kids just showed up in your living room. We meet some of the other teen and preteen kids in the neighborhood, mostly mean guys who don't treat girls well. They also play mean games. David and the girl, Meg, run into each other a couple more times and they start liking each other, even though David seems several years younger. David starts visiting Meg at Ruth's place. There are always a bunch of kids there. Ruth is single, and for some reason she offers these kids beer and cigarettes. She gives moralizing speeches aimed to belittle Meg and Susan. Susan is disabled, wears knee braces, and uses crutches, but that doesn't stop Ruth from violently disciplining her in front of the kids.

One day Meg gives David a painting--the same painting from the intro. When Ruth finds out she interprets it as proof that Meg is a slut. After more abuse eventually Meg is bound in some torture position in the basement while Ruth and all the kids figure out how to make her suffer. They take her clothes off, start cutting her, burning her, eventually raping her. And things go downhill from there, while no one dares say a word and everyone except David participates enthusiastically.

And that's what this movie is about--human inhumanity and cruelty--for the sake of cruelty. It's never clear what Ruth gains from all this, what her motivation is. Perhaps it's just the sorry need to feel superior and doing something because it can be done. I guess that's the common denominator in all torture whether in the 50s or today, allegedly for the sake of "security." More than horror torture porn, this is rather drama torture porn, it's not particularly explicit or visually gruesome. The movie is fairly slow and oddly enough the filmmakers don't bother to establish the character of Meg enough, which is why we can't really feel for her all that much until the very end.