The Girl Next Door (2007)

08 Jun 2023

Rating: 3/5

f you read the synopsis of this movie, it sounds like a grindhouse flick, but the movie’s tone is closer to a Lifetime movie. I mean, there are some upsetting scenes, but it’s not dwelled on in an exploitation way, but more trying to communicate what is happening. Still, what happens is genuinely disturbing

The thin line between the morbid fascinations of children — killing bugs, pulling apart worms, stomping on frogs (I didn’t do the last one, but I knew a kid who did) — and the harming of others seems only held together by the caregiver or teacher who helps establish that boundary and punishes its transgression. Add to that the human fascination with freak shows and the dehumanization that comes with it, and we see that the events of this story are more likely than we’d like to admit

If you want to look at the dark heart of American suburbia, this film does it


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