Plot
Based on the Jack Ketchum novel of the same name, The Girl Next Door follows the unspeakable torture and abuses committed on a teenage girl in the care of her aunt...and the boys who witness and fail to report the crime.
Release Year: 2007
Rating: 6.9/10 (8,246 voted)
Critic's Score: 29/100
Director:
Gregory Wilson
Stars: William Atherton, Blythe Auffarth, Blanche Baker
Storyline Based on the Jack Ketchum novel of the same name, The Girl Next Door follows the unspeakable torture and abuses committed on a teenage girl in the care of her aunt...and the boys who witness and fail to report the crime.
Writers: Daniel Farrands, Philip Nutman
Cast: William Atherton
-
Adult David Moran
Blythe Auffarth
-
Meg Loughlin
Blanche Baker
-
Ruth Chandler
Kevin Chamberlin
-
Officer Jennings
Dean Faulkenberry
-
Kenny
Gabrielle Howarth
-
Cheryl Robinson
Benjamin Ross Kaplan
-
Donny Chandler
(as Ben Kaplan)
Spenser Leigh
-
Denise Crocker
Daniel Manche
-
David Moran
Mark Margolis
-
Homeless Man Hit By Car
Graham Patrick Martin
-
Willie Chandler Jr.
Michael Nardella
-
Tony
Greg Northrop
-
Police Officer #2
(as Gregory Northtrop)
Grant Show
-
Mr. Moran
Santo Silvestro
-
Ice Cream Vendor
Trivia:
In the backyard tent scene where the boys are looking at the Playboy magazine, they refer to 1950's actress and pinup girl Carroll Baker, the real-life mother of actress Blanche Baker, who portrays Ruth Chandler in this movie.
Goofs:
Factual errors:
In the scene at the park where Meg is seen talking to Officer Jennings, on his police car it clearly is labeled "Highway Patrol". It is not a Highway Patrol officer's job to preside over such events, nor is it to investigate possible child abuse situations.
Quotes:
[first lines]
Charlie Franklin:
[on David's voice mail]
Hey David, it's Charlie Franklin calling to say Happy Birthday. Sorry I couldn't get those tickets, man. I know you were counting on me, but my brother-in-law's in town. I'll give you a call next week, and maybe we can get together. Okay, have a good birthday. Take care.
User Review
Totally engrossing but painful to watch
Rating: 9/10
This is an excellent film and therefore in some ways it is a pleasure
to watch, but anyone who has seen it will know that it's effectiveness
in fact makes it almost unbearable to watch.
The story revolves around two girls who have recently been orphaned and
are sent to live with their aunt who has three young sons. She is a
middle aged woman obsessed with feminine purity who sees the new
arrivals as a potentially corrupting influence on the masculine world
she presides over.
She actively encourages her sons to perpetrate more and more severe
acts of bullying and sadism against the older girl who is eventually
tied up in the basement and used as a play thing by all the
neighbourhood children.
Only the boy who lives next door, who has become friends with the girl,
has a growing sense of unease about the "games" which are taking a very
sinister turn, yet he is powerless to change the course of events.
This film is very well written, directed and performed and is therefore
a relentlessly depressing affair which is horribly painful to watch.
The aunt is a very cold and manipulative figure whose brutality knows
no bounds and her sons quickly warm to her ideals. Realising that they
have a free reign under her they too become very savage. The
culmination of the acts they perpetrate are some of the most shocking I
have ever seen in cinema, all the more shocking because they are
perpetrated by children, against another child, encouraged by their
mother.
Truly gripping. Truly horrifying. Hard to watch and hard to look away.
Plot
A teenager's dreams come true when a former porn star moves in next door and they fall in love.
Release Year: 2004
Rating: 6.8/10 (84,756 voted)
Critic's Score: 47/100
Director:
Luke Greenfield
Stars: Emile Hirsch, Nicholas Downs, Elisha Cuthbert
Storyline 18-year-old Matthew Kidman is a straight 'A' over-achiever who feels that he has never really lived life till the fall. This is, until he meets 'the girl next door'. Danielle moves in next door, and Matthew thinks he's found the girl of his dreams. All is going well, until Matthew's sex-mad friend Eli reveals that Danielle is actually a ex-porn star. Matthew doesn't know how to take the news or how to treat Danielle, and things go from bad to worse when Danielle's former producer Kelly appears to take her back.
Writers: David Wagner, Brent Goldberg
Cast: Emile Hirsch
-
Matthew Kidman
Elisha Cuthbert
-
Danielle
Timothy Olyphant
-
Kelly
James Remar
-
Hugo Posh
Chris Marquette
-
Eli
Paul Dano
-
Klitz
Timothy Bottoms
-
Mr. Kidman
Donna Bullock
-
Mrs. Kidman
Jacob Young
-
Hunter
Brian Kolodziej
-
Derek
Brandon Irons
-
Troy
Amanda Swisten
-
April
Sung Hi Lee
-
Ferrari
Ulysses Lee
-
Samnang
Harris Laskawy
-
Dr. Salinger
Taglines:
Matt never saw her coming... but all his friends had!
Opening Weekend: $6,003,806
(USA)
(11 April 2004)
(2148 Screens)
Gross: $14,589,444
(USA)
(27 June 2004)
Technical Specs
Runtime:|
(international version) (unrated version)
Did You Know?
Trivia:
During the scene in the strip club when Emile Hirsch is trying to figure out how to smoke the cigar, it falling out of his mouth is an accident. The director liked it so much, he left it in.
Goofs:
Continuity:
When in class Mathew's book is turned to a page with a photo, and then as he looks out the window and the view goes back his book is on a different page. Then when we seem him close his book a second later, the page he was on is an different page again.
Quotes:
[first lines]
Woman:
[voiceover]
How do you want me?
Man:
Oh, that's good. Yeah. Just, uh... just get comfortable.
Woman:
I'm a little nervous.
Man:
Nah, you're doing great.
User Review
The juice is definitely worth the squeeze
Rating: 10/10
Here we have a great example of how decent writers, armed with creative
juice to spare, can take a well-worn plot and rework it to make it seem
fresh. Just when you think you've got the next twist figured out, you're
surprised. This happens throughout the movie, making
The Girl Next Door one of the most charming, smart and subversive teen
comedies I've seen in a long time - beautifully written, perfectly cast, a
real pleasure from start to finish.
Emile Hirsch, Elisha Cuthbert and Timothy Olyphant shine in their respective
roles as the young man at a crossroads in his life, the girl next door of
the title, equally confused, and the scuzball with a heart who knows he has
to do the right thing even if it goes against his 'business instincts.'
These characters are not one-dimensional, thanks to the superb writing, nor
are they caricatures; they come across as genuine individuals, and the
comedy in the film comes not at their expense but rather organically, as
part of their journey. As Olyphant's character asks Hirsch at one point: "Is
the juice worth the squeeze?" In this case, it most definitely
is.
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