Screamfestindo 2007: Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door (2007)

Quick report on this film. Shock factor? Nil. Gore and blood? Ignorable. Scream? Nada. Oh, wait, there's one scream that i had. It said, "give me back my money!!!"

I am not an expert in film techinques, but at least i've got an opinion and i'm intended to voice the opinion by stating that i believe, there's at least two techniques in making a horror-film. Character driven, and plot driven. And since i've been said often, up to a point where i'm regurgitating, that i had a certain inclination toward drama, it's easy to see which kind of horror suits me.

Again, i'm not an expert nor i'm claiming to be one. But, Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door is the one that i would put in a character-driven horror film. Okay, i was wrong and being generous in both account. This film had no character at all, and to call this film a horror, a thriller, or even a comedy, would be an insult. Oh, yeah, it is that bad.

First thing first, i had put this film into a character-driven stuff because even before you sit in the theater, you already knew what fate is going to fell on poor Meg (Blythe Auffarth. Therefore, i had wanted this film to at the very least let us glance deeper into Meg. But the film doesn't allow me to at least able to pretend that i'd care about Meg. Heck, i've got more feeling toward poor Itchy (or was it Scratchy?) in the Simpson's infamous cat-and-mouse cartoon than to Meg. I was so disinterested that when they begin to torture the poor girl, i yawned. No feeling at all.

Based on a true story of Sylvia Likens, the film depicted the torture and subsequent killing of Meg a young girl who just moved in to an unnamed urban city with her aunt through the eye of Danny, the girl's aunt Ruth's neighbor boy. But the torture didn't even begun before long. I had glanced frequently to my watch, shifting uncomfortably (from boredom not from excitement), and fighting the urge to sleep. Worse, i feel like watching It - the film, not the novel - in a way that these child actors were sooo terrible it's painful to look at. Meg had a crippled sister, Susan (Madeline Taylor). But her emotions were flat. Even when she saw the torture of her 'beloved' sister. Watching her it's like watching a static on a TV. Boring and hurtful to your eyes. The other child actors were much the same. Even worse. The dialogs were also too smart to my liking, rather unbelievable that some kid just in their teens had uttered them. It gave an undeniable impression that these kids memorize the dialog. And it's a bad, bad, impression.

When the film unceremonously arrived to its final conclusion, i didn't waste my time to get off of my seat. And that's when i heard the scream within me. "Give me back my money!!!!".

I had wondered wether the cencorship had extended their long hands and cut the film extensively. Because really, i had expected some graphic and ultra-violent torture but i've got nothing. Ah, probably i was asleep all the time.