Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door

Cover of The Girl Next Door

I have recently had the chance to review a movie that was based on a book from one of my favorite authors Jack Ketchum. It is called The Girl Next Door. The movie, like the book, was dark and twisted and showed a gruesome nature in which one woman can treat someone so badly. It also showed the spirit of a young girl and her fight for survival when being detained.

The movie was based on a true story of Sylvia Likens. This was a dismal story that ended in the murder of a teenage girl. It portrays the evil side that humans posses and the willingness to nurture that hate to a point of no return. 

The movie takes place in a New Jersey suburb when Meg and her sister move in with their aunt after their parents are killed in an accident. The plot starts to develop after they arrive. Meg is the older sister and the Aunt Ruth thinks that she should be responsible and keep her nose clean. The intentions are good at first but we can see that Ruth is not a good person. She has two sons of her own that live with her and she is an alcoholic. She gives her sons and neighborhood children beer and they have grown fond her keeping secrets due to this.

The movie has many moral decisions that are not for the good and slowly they begin to unravel as we look into the new lives of these sisters living with their aunt Ruth.

Meg tries to gain Ruth’s affections but being a good girl and doing what she is told. Chores are done and live seems to be normal but yet Ruth seems t be sinking into darker thoughts of Meg. 

Meg paints a watercolor for a young boy David and then David attempts to help Meg by giving it to Ruth stating that it was made for her. She immediately realizes that it was not meant for her but for David. She explains that gifts are given and that girls only want one thing; sex. David refutes this and Meg is sent to her room for being less than lady-like even though she has done nothing wrong. 

The physical abuse grows towards Meg and she starts to get worried about her sister. She only wants to protect her and her sister. She attempts to tell an office of the abuse but that is quickly dismissed as Ruth is a sociopath and convinces the officers that nothing is wrong. The other children say nothing to help Meg. The children feel excitement in torturing Meg as well. 

Soon after the incident with the police, Ruth decides they must tie her up in the basement and teach her a lesson. She is to never tell anyone of the abuse again. She is then tortured physically by Ruth and the boys. Ruth maintains that she is a used woman, referring to her as a whore throughout the rest of the film. She is subjected to much torture for only wanting to do the right thing.

David is the character in the film that has fallen in love with Meg and cant stand to see her this way. He is forced to watch her torture and never tell anyone. 

The boys end up stripping her and violating her in many ways indescribable to the healthy minded. After this, Ruth then proceeds to continue with the torture and starvation and make it impossible for her to have sex ever again by the film insinuating that she applied a blow torch to her private area. 

Having enough of witnessing the abuse, David has a plan to have her rescued. The authorities show up just as David is bludgeoning Ruth to death with a pair of crutches. The cop knows what David did but still declared it accidental after seeing what horror had occurred in the basement.

The final part of the story is David laying down with Meg while the officer is getting medical help. David has a moment of connection with her before she can not hold on any longer and she passes away.

The final part of the story is a grown up David explaining how much he has learned from the situation. He understands that humanity is dark but he also can appreciate the willfulness to survive such horror. He always remembers Meg and she remains in his heart. 

I think that there are many morals to the story. One of the morals would to be not to underestimate the dark places that a mind can go. Another is that secrets can always be kept no matter how bad they are. The children should have been able to tell authorities of the abuse but they sank into the psyche of Aunt Ruth and she was able to feed the darkness into them by making them think they are getting away with it. She provided them with a comfort to the secret they shared. 

I watched this film with a relative of mine who was appalled by the graphic content. She was sickened by the morality of it and wasn’t able to analyze it as deep as I can. She told me there was no entertainment value in the movie which I half-heartedly agreed. I am a fan of horror films but I am not a fan of torture. I do like a good ghost story or a zombie story. This movie was not about either. It was about how frightening a normal person can be behind closed doors and you never know what to expect. There was limited entertainment in the grotesqueness of the film but as far as one that plays on your fears, this one hit every nerve in my body. 

There is much to be learned from this movie. First thing that I learned is that no one is perfect. The perfect world that we all have imagined in our head can be shattered at anytime. Its horrific to think that something like this story could actually be taking place in the home that resides next to your. I hope that I never have to witness or hear of something like this happening so close to me. The movie helps me understand that it can and does happen and we should always keep a watchful eye on our surroundings. 

Jack Ketchum imaged below-

Image via Wikipedia