"Darna Mana Hai" is about 7 friends on a road trip that get a flat tire at night and are stranded when they realize they have no jack. One has seen a light in the distance (in the jungle) and all except one go to find what it is, and it's an old ruin with a lighted lantern. They make a fire and settle down & to pass the time, they tell each other ghost stories, and most of the film is the visualization of those stories, although from time to time someone must wander away from the fire for some reason or another, and all seem to be meeting with unexpected demises. The stories themselves range from creepy and eerie to somewhat whimsical and silly at times, but all are fairly effective and keep the viewer's interest. No singing and dancing in this film, except with the opening and closing credits; this one is all about keeping the scary atmosphere. There is sort of a "pretty boy/pretty girl" cast, but at least they're not smoking joints or swilling beer around the campfire like in American films. Overall this is a pretty enjoyable and effective film, and I'd recommend it to anyone seeking something different to watch. 8 out of 10.


DARNA MANA HAI is the most refreshing movie of the year 2003.....and those who put it out as a crap are just a bunch of fools who have no idea of movie making.nor do they know the pulse of all the viewers. .

The only disappointment with this movie is that it has been advertised as horror...but is not much of it...its actually a fantasy thriller.

the movie is full of creative zests....something that few foul reviewers cant identify with....the BACKGROUND SOUNDTRACK and Camera-work are worth special mention.Though the film has many newcomers, they have delivered their parts very well, and the acting on the whole is quite good. also, the direction is slick and technically brilliant,although the screenplay needed some corrections. few of the stories were simply amusing and not scary at all....but they should be appreciated for their strange themes. Overall, a very good movie if you care for some really imaginative work. this one {supposed to be inspired from twilight zone, creep show...etc...} is much better than its Hollywood counterparts and cannot be ignored as a spin off..its nothing like it. A Truly GREAT AND CREATIVE MOVIE....WORTH WATCHING MANY TIMES.

P.S:--those who complain about the weird stories should be reminded that this is not a typical bollywood fare and is meant for those who like this subject, ONLY...the others can watch their own crap and need not post their stupid and idiotic comments.!!!


Bollywood tries something never before seen in a Hindi film. A horror film about people telling ghost stories to each other. The main plot of the film is predictable and a little boring. The six stories have some good parts. Story One was pretty exciting towards the end only with Sohail Khan. Story Two is one of the Best and has dark humour added, with Saif Ali Khan and Boman Irani in powerful roles. Story Three is the boring one out of the lot about a teacher. Story Four was a bit stupid but good in some parts, with Shilpa Shetty. Story Five is the Best out of he lot, with Vivek who offers a hitch hiker Nana Patekar a lift. Nana claims to be a ghost, which leads to a amazing twist. Story Six is quite Fun, less horror about a boy who can STOP time. This is Far better then the sequel Darna Zaroori Hai. A good attempt in something different. Not Bad, quite entertaining.


RGV must be praised those days for trying something new

One such adventure which was latter tried by others is DARNA MANA HAI(03) of having multiple stories in 1 film

The film however falls short of expectations though it's novel

The different stories are:

Sohail- Antra Bad and boring Acting- Sohail has nothing to do, Antra is okay

Sanjay- Shilpa This story lacks logic which can be ignored but the treatment could be better, especially the portions showing characters making weird faces while eating apples is too much Yet a decent story Shilpa acts very well while Sanjay is okay Rajpal leaves a mark

Vivek- Nana this is the best story and handled very well though it doesn't make much sense and they are flaws but that is forgiven The story makes for an edge of a seat story Acting wise Nana is brilliant as usual while Vivek too does a great job

Aftab- Isha This story which was latter made as GAYAB(03) has it's moments and the scenes involving Aftab and his power is well handled The culmination too is good but some people may not agree with the story Acting- Aftab is very good and Isha is okay

Saif- Boman This story is implausible but entertaining and well handled though flimsy Acting Boman and Saif are superb

Raghuvir Yadav This story is well handled too Acting- Raghuvir Yadav excels

The worst part of the film is the main story which appears too bad and the scenes involving the college friends are badly handled and the culmination of the film too is horrible

Amongst rest Sameera is okay, Gaurav leaves a mark Sushant is okay


It's slightly flawed but hugely entertaining and not to mention hilarious. Ram Gopal Varma is probably Bollywood's Stephen King when it comes to these sort of things and I hope he takes it as a compliment. I'm a huge fan.

Seven friends from Mumbai set out for holiday in Goa in a truck owned by the parents of one of them. As night falls, their truck hits a bump on the dark and deserted road they are on, leaving them with a conundrum when they realise that the truck doesn't have the proper tools that would enable them to change a flat tire. While conferencing, Shruti (played by Sameera Reddy) discovers a light in what looks like a house in the nearby woods and alerts the rest of the team. All but one decides to head in to see if they can find help or at least a place to lodge for the night. Upon reaching the the source of the light, they discover that it's an abandoned building. Nevertheless, the build a bonfire, gather round it in a circle and begin to tell ghost stories and urban legends. Each story reveals new characters acted out by famous Bollywood actors including but not limited to; Shilpa Shetty, Aftab Shivdasani, Saif Ali Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Antara Mali just to name a few. And each story is just as suspenseful and eerie in its own unique way.

I had several personal favourites which included but are not limited to: The Proud Purab tale as seen on Aftab Shivdasani which had me laughing so hard that I nearly suffered a seizure. LOL! The Apple Seller story as seen on Shilpa Shetty, Sanjay Kapoor & Rajpal Yadav which happened to be the most entertaining urban legend of them all and not to mention the funniest concept. The Amar Aur John Rodriguez Bhootji story as seen on Vivek Oberoi & Nana Patekar. I had a laughing fit on this one too. Just to mention a few. Saif Ali Khan's Anil Manchandani tale was also very good and very well acted.

The worst story lines IMHO were the Anjali & Karan tale as seen on Antara Mali and Sohail Ali Khan. As well as the story of the main characters who were sharing the urban legends with us the viewers to begin with. I wonder what the significance of the missing character in the end meant? Or did the writers not think that the audience would be observant enough to notice that one character was missing by the end of the film? A-


Now this was a true classic movie from Bollywood standards. I've had mix reactions about Ram Gopal Verma so far. Some of his classics include: Raat, Rangeela, and Road, whereas his major disappointments include Vaastu Shastra and Bhoot (foolish endings). However, "Darna Mana Hai" is a true classic! No songs, no wasting time. This is pure "edge of the seat" psycho thriller. Everyone played a great part from unknown people to Vivek, Nana, Saif and others. Antra mali played a good cameo in the first story that the group shares. Shilpa shetty and sanjay kapoor filled in pretty well as well. The Nana Patekar-Vivek Oberoi encounter was a true classic!!!!!!!!!! I would rate it as undoubtedly the best horror movie from Bollywood. 5/5


After watching the slick and creative promos and finding out about the gargantuan star cast, my expectations for this movie were sky-high. Having six/seven different stories, you can't judge the movie as a whole. The first story was extremely scary and had very effectively used great sound effects. The Vivek-Nana story was interesting. Saif's story was very creepy and freaky. Aftab's was cute and shocking. Not to mention, Aftab was awesome in his brief role. Now the other two stories went a wee bit overboard. The homework story made absolutely no sense (well, neither did the others), but this one wasn't scary. Now, Shilpa's story was just crossing the limits. It was absolutely ridiculous! What reaction am I supposed to get after seeing people turn into apples? Come on, man! It would have been better if there were a couple of the tracks in the movie. They were really good and would have given a break. The ending was absolutely stupid. This movie was more bizarre than anything else. Sound effects were amazing, and this was a technically excellent movie. By the end, I had had enough of these weird stories. Maybe next time, there should be a more realistic story(ies)line.


Very good movie with a multistar cast unique to cinema viewing 6 stories only 4 of them which are really good the 2 stories which i don't like are the homework story and the apple story first of all the homework story isn't that good and well it's different from the other stories and the apple story is just wow bad people turning into apples come on and the ending isn't strong enough either and stupid because the movie would have been interesting had it had a different ending besides the ending and the 2 crappy stories this movie is a pleasure to watch and can make for great cinema and can be quite a great entertainer good movie great directorial debut by Prawal Raman and great script written by Ram Gopal varma's selected writers and driectors and for the first time Ram Gopal Varma did a great job a t producing a movie hats off to him and Prawal


its not scary, but a movie with no head and tail. It has weird stories in it. imagine people eating apples and becoming apples after that. how funny. i couldn't stop laughing at the whole idea. its not even a comedy. is scary at times, specially towards the end, but the end is meaningless.


This is yet another mass-market formula-flick from the (in)famous RGV factory. Well, that should give viewers an idea of what (not) to expect.

Its difficult to recall which movie this was copied from. The multiple stories remind you of the teen slasher flicks such as "Scream", "I Know What You Did Last Summer", "Scary Movie", et al.

The direction is direction-less and not much can be said about the cast or their acting (!), or lack of, or whatever. Yawn. What next? Maybe they should try copying "The Blair Witch Project" ... but one wonders how they'd pull it off?!

This is pretty bad stuff -- a 1 out of 10.


This played for maybe a week on a showcase run in my area and I vaguely remember being the on only one in the theater when I saw it back in 1980...maybe 1979, I can't imagine it was 1980, like the IMDb says... Anyway, the little kid in the movie is Gabriel Macht, who was quite good, as I remember and is now an adult actor...he was excellent recently in A Love Song For Bobby Long, with John Travolta. How weird is it to see an actor you knew as a child suddenly, like 30? Lisa Eichorn was also excellent in this, and it never plays on TV or cable anymore, so let's hope that it will turn up as a budget DVD at some point. Even the people who sell never-released films as bootlegs don't have this one, and they've looked for it! Weird, huh?


I loved this movie and searched for it for a number of years. All I could ever find was the pal format. It was released in Pal format. So if you didn't have a Pal player you were out of luck. I bought the Pal format on ebay from someone in the UK for a high price thinking I would find a player, but that never happened. Someone did contact me after my sale and offered to sell me a DVD of the movie which I accepted right away, I watch the movie at least once or twice a month. It always makes me laugh! I fell in Love with Treat Williams the first time I saw Hair. I didn't know that Treat Williams doesn't like to admit he was in this wonderful movie. I have about everything he was ever in. I wish they would release some of the other wonderful movies of that time period.


This movie has some rough subject matter and some rough language, but it is a really good movie. It put real people in absurd situations. I have heard that NOW has blocked the release of the movie, but I couldn't begin to guess why. It is sad, tragic, and very funny. I have a very old copy I copied off the MOVIE CHANNEL, but it isn't very good quality now. I have been trying to clean it up and burn it to DVD without much success. I know that Turner Classic Movies listed it among their movies and it was scheduled to be shown several years ago, but never aired. Now they deny having it. I have been trying to find a good copy for years. If anyone has one or knows where I can get it, please let me know.


Treat Williams plays a guy who gets hit in the head with a rock during a protest and develops this urge to make things more interesting in life. When anyone thinks his story is a bit too unusual, he says "Why would I lie about a thing like that?" As I remember, a girl (Lisa Eichorn) and her son enter his life and his lies are believed and cause confusion and problems for others. After almost losing those who have become important in his life, he finally learns his lesson.

I had this movie on tape and loaned it to someone and, of course, never got it back. No big deal for most movies, but this one never made it to re-runs, commercial tape, or DVD. Why, I don't know. I remember it as better than many, if not most, in this genre.


I too, caught this movie on HBO back in the day. I liked it so much I made a copy of it. Unfortunately it is on Beta and my machine is toast. If anyone knows where to find a copy, please let me know. This is a film worth watching more than once, a rarity these days. The film carries you through the stages of basically a pathological liars life from childhood problems into adulthood very quickly, then gets you to the meat of the story. This background information is critical to the movie and is worth the wait for the hilarious and touching aspects of life that follow. I do not believe anyone could watch this movie without walking away thinking "what a great flick! Wonder why I never heard of it before."


Why would I lie? I rate this movie a 10 for excellent. It's the best romantic comedy with a surprise ending that I have ever seen. I have to say that this is my all time favorite movie. I was 19 when it first came out on HBO. I would watch it over and over, I have no idea how many times I watched it. I don't think that VCR's were even around yet. If they were I would have taped it. I would love to get a copy of this. I have looked high and low for it and have challenged video stores and friends to find the video. No one can! This is a great movie and I just can't see why it's not available on tape or now that I have a VCR I wish HBO would pull it out of the basement and show it again.


I desperately want a copy of "Why Would I Lie" Used to have one on VHS but the machine ate it. This was a movie the entire family still talks about. I have searched and searched for years. This is the first time I just typed in the title on browser and got some sites to check out. I'm hoping someone can tell me how in the world we can purchase a copy. It just has to exist somewhere. My family truly feels this was the best movie Treat ever made, well he's done some really good movies, but this one remains our favorite. Please let me know if anyway can come up with a way to get our hands on a copy Thank you. I have already tried through Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Borders. Even have looked through Netflix. Maybe someone can tell me the maker of the movie. If I remember right it was a made for TV film, but was it Hallmark??? Simply too long ago for me to remember. Would love to have my grandchildren see it a start a whole nother generation saying "why would I lie about a thing like that?" Just part of the normal conversation in our house. Hopefully whoever produced this one will continue to come up with more great family films


This is a really well done movie that advances gradually toward a really "edge of your seat" ending. One reason why the ending is so exciting is that the characters have been carefully developed so that you care about them at the end. Add to that the superb performances of a thoughtful Lisa Eichhorn, a character who is maturing played by Treat Williams, and a wonderful child portrayal, and you have a movie that should sell on DVD. I've enjoyed watching Lisa Eichhorn every time I see her in a film. She doesn't give away her character in the first scene of the movie, but holds back some of it, making you watch closely to discover the type of person underneath the character's cautious facade. Most really good "romantic comedies" require characters that develop gradually. Otherwise they'd just be a comedy made of nothing but slapstick. I'd buy a copy of this movie if it was available!


"Why Would I Lie" is definitely #1 in my top 10 list. This movie an inspirational in my life. In 1980 my ex took my 5 year old son and disappeared. I spent 13 years tracking them down. We were reunited in 1993 after finding a graduation notice from his high school. The meaning of the biblical story of the prodigal son suddenly became crystal clear to me on that day. I believe that if I had never heard of "Jorge, with a J" I would probably have never seen my son again. It made me realize that family is the most important aspect of living in this world. If anyone knows where to obtain a copy, please let me know where. I would love to share it with my son. As usual, it fell by the wayside because of a bunch of self righteous "critics". It"s always frustrating when people fail to appreciate the entertainment and inspirational value of someone else's creation. Anyone who enjoyed this great movie is is truly a real human being. I'd be willing to bet you liked "The Magic Christian" as well.


My family and I watched this movie on HBO in the 80'S. We made a video tape and played it many times. It is the second best movie on our list. Treat Williams was great. It is true that people don't want to hear the truth because it is too boring. It has been interesting to see several of the actors and actresses from this movie come to life in later films. This always brought great memories of "Why Would I Lie" back to us. We loved watching it. We didn't keep the tape because we thought we could always buy a good one. We never saw one for sale anywhere. We have been searching in earnest first in stores and then on the internet and discovered to our dismay it was never recorded and sold as a VHS or DVD movie. We would love to see it again and will buy it immediately if it ever becomes available. Our number one movie we recommend is: "Somewhere in Time"


My wife and I saw this movie when HBO or Cinemax broadcast it sometime around 1982. We still talk about it.

My wife's boss also saw the movie in her home at the same time, and it seems that all of us were just too tired or lazy to get up and change the channel (this was before the days of wireless remotes for cable).

The movie is SLOW and just incredibly B O R I N G!

But then, like a steam engine pulling a long train, the movie starts picking up speed. By the end of the movie, my wife and I were on the edge of our seats. We later found out that my wife's boss had the exact same experience.

I'd love to see the movie again, but it seems that the slow first part of this movie has turned so many people off that few people have seen the whole thing, and therefore, there's virtually no demand for this nail-biting, on-the-edge-or-your-seat story.


It feels almost weird to review a game that was made almost 10 years ago, but the fact that it still holds a place as one of the best games I've ever played speaks volumes of it's qualities. The story, the game-play, the very world you play in are all parts that make up this masterpiece. In this game, and it's even better sequel, BG 2 - Shadows of Amn, I AM Talle, an orphan from Candlekeep, whom is forced to leave his home and try to survive in a beautiful and at times dangerous Faurun. Few games has made me feel so involved. In fact the only games that compares are the above-mentioned Shadows of Amn, Planescape Torment and Fallout 1 & 2, all products of Interplays daring and artistic vision. With risk of sounding like an old man I have to say it's a shame they don't do games like these anymore.


I haven't played the sequel "Baldur's Gate II - Shadows of Amn" yet, which is said to be even better, but Baldur's Gate is definitely one of the best RPGs of recent times. The storyline is great and there are so many subplots and quests that you can't count them. Of all the games I've played Baldur's Gate is the one that comes closest to the quality of Ultima VII which I consider to be the best RPG of all time.


If you can't find someone to play Dungeons and Dragons with, try your computer. The game is well designed, uses good graphics, and involves a moving story. In a word, it is fun. The Non Player Characters who join your party are easy to like/dislike, they are well designed characters.


A "pro" golfer duking it out with veteran game-show host Bob Barker right in the middle of a tournament. That scene alone makes this one of the more memorable comedies of the last 30 years. Almost everyone I know has either seen or heard of that scene and everyone laughs at it.

It IS ludicrous and that's what makes it so funny. In fact, most of the movie is totally preposterous, totally unbelievable and totally wacky, which is Adam Sandler's trademark in these comedies. He's low key but violent, as he was in Mr. Deeds, Punch-Drunk Love and a few other films.

Here, Sander is even more vocal and violent than normal and definitely more crude, which is saying something since this actor usually doesn't play guys with a lot of class. "Happy" is a hot-tempered hockey player who can hit a golf ball 400 yards so he tries his hand on the PGA tour to help raise money for his grandmother. I just shake my head even writing that last sentence, it sounds so stupid....but this is a stupid movie with an incredibly stupid story but is hilarious, for the most part.

Anyone who is a golfer would appreciate this movie more than others, because Sandler says and does things we'd all like to do on the links at times but, thankfully, don't. In short: this is a crude but very funny movie.


"Happy Gilmore" is the Adam Sandler movie to see. If everyone had to see one Sandler movie before their lives were complete, I would seriously hope this is the movie they see. It's nice to see golf and hockey in a movie again. I don't think there is another movie out there that makes me laugh as much as "Happy Gilmore" does. You have Happy, the ultimate hero, fighting to win a life of security for his grandma. There's Shooter McGavin, the villain you love to hate, who attempts to foil Happy's quest. And then there's Mr. Larson, Happy's 8' tall monster of a former employer, threatening Shooter at every turn. Hey Bob Barker is in this movie! It doesn't get much funnier than Mr. Price Is Right insulting our hero. Well maybe Ben Stiller's part in this movie is funnier, as he corruptly directs a retirement home. It doesn't matter what's the funniest. This whole movie is one hilarious moment after another.


This movie is an incredibly hilarious movie, no matter how many times you watch it. It's true that it's profane, violent, and stupid, but in this film, that's what makes it so funny! The timing is just perfect. It's a great movie to watch with friends for the first time, especially for the fact that you will be quoting lines with them randomly for quite a while. I have seen it over 30 times, and I still laugh. This is Adam Sandler at his very best. Great random characters, such as the "Jackass" man, the homeless guy, and very best, Bob Barker! To tell you the truth,"It'll make you laugh until you hyperventilate". There's not only great vocal humor, but the visuals and especially the body language coming from the actors is classic. To me, there is not a better comedy.


This film is great! I knew nothing about golf before, but this film helped me understand it better, and laugh for hours!

It's about a guy who thinks he is meant to be a hockey player, but is actually rubbish. Happy: Yeah, I had a record once. I was the only guy to take off my ice skate and try to stab a guy...

He shouts at the golf ball a lot which is amusing and the characters in this film are amazingly funny. It's fun to see Adam Sandler mix up bits from other films in the past and put them into his newer ones. You can actually see Chubbs (Golf Instructor) in Heaven in another Adam Sandler film, LITTLE NICKY. He even uses the catchphrase "It's all in the hips" which is amusing.

If you like immature fun, laughing at people goofing off and stuff like that, then this is the film for you!!!


In what is Adam Sandlers best work to date, the hopeless hockey failure Happy Gilmore must join the Professional Golfers Tour to help his Grandmother with her finances.

As a golfer myself I can say that the antics pulled in this golf caper are are riot! I have seen the film probably over 50 times but each time I laugh as if it were my first time viewing it.

From Carl Weathers and his wooden hand, to Happy teaming up with Bob Barker, this movie keep you laughing the whole way through. Even my 80 year old grandparent loved it!

Perhaps the best review I can give for this movie comes from Happy himself-- "Talk about a hole in one!"


This film is the one that introduced me to one of my favorite actors, Adam Sandler. His movies are mostly hit-or-miss gag machines, but this is one of his movies in which nearly every gag works. I almost miss the old Adam Sandler. The old Adam Sandler character would be a man who acts nice, but turns violent and angry when he doesn't get his way. Now he plays a mild-mannered every-man who makes little wisecracks. Not that the latter isn't funny, but the former is what he'll always be remembered for, and this is a perfect example of an Adam Sandler's true comedic side.

Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) is a nearly unlikeable loser who after a strangely traumatic childhood, grew up to be a raving, anti-social lunatic, who happens to be obsessed with hockey. He constantly tries out for hockey teams, and proudly holds two league records (Most time spent in the penalty box, and he was the only person in history to ever take off his skate and try to stab somebody). One day, his girlfriend dumps him, he doesn't make the hockey team, and the IRS repossesses his grandmothers house which he grew up in. Soon, he discovers that he has an incredible talent for golf, with a record breaking long drive. Unwillingly taken under the wing of one-handed former golf pro Chubbs Peterson (Carl Weathers), and becomes a golf sensation due to his long drive, and extremely rude behavior, much to the dismay of the leading tour money winner, Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald). A bitter rivalry and a race-against-time ensue, as Happy tries to earn back his grandma's house, and beat Shooter.

Happy Gilmore is a movie that I truly adore, and will always cherish. There are many quotable lines, and hilariously random scenes and/or characters. One of the funniest ones is a cameo by Ben Stiller as a cold-blooded orderly at an old folks home, who treats the citizens like inmates. One of the funniest comic bits in any Adam Sandler movie is the sequence in which Happy gets into a fistfight with Bob Barker, the host of "The Price is Right." For some reason, Bob fails to notice the heckler who's most frequently uttered word never fails to affect Happy's game for the worst.

Another hilarious thing about this movie is how many of the characters in the movie manage to play their parts and keep a straight face, even when Happy is assaulting innocent people for the smallest reasons, and cussing out the golf ball when it won't go "home." Happy is one of a group of quirky characters in the film, but much of the humor comes from the reactions of the serious characters, and/or the extras when Happy does something stupid. One hilarious example of this is when Happy repeatedly screams out every word that can't be said on TV, well... on TV. The overall premise of the film is fun, and the film delivers non-stop laughs. Sit back and enjoy the classic Adam Sandler vehicle. I highly recommend this film, and give it 10/10.

It is proudly rated PG-13 for Language and Comic Sexuality. Sex: 4/10 Violence: 5/10 Swearing: 5/10 Drugs: 2/10


This is Sandler's best movie to date. I could watch this movie 50 times and still laugh. It doesn't get any better than this, except for Tommy Boy! Sandler can only go downhill from here, Waterboy was dumb compared to this. Goddamn I hate that Bob Barker, Classic!!!


Happy Gilmore is Adam Sandler's only standout performance in a long list of half-assed, unfunny comedies. But this is it, the real deal. This is the film that all other Sandler films make references to, quote and celebrate, in case you ever wondered where phrases like "It's all in the hips" (as said in Little Nicky) and "You eat pieces of sh*t for breakfast?" (quoted everywhere) came from. Well, Happy Gilmore is the birth of these phrases as well as the birth of a comedic star. It is also just all-around solid comedic entertainment and a crash-course in golf. Or rather, 101 Things Not To Do On The Golf Course.

Adam Sandler is Happy. But this is only his character's ironic name, because Happy is really quite angry and extremely frustrated at getting nowhere in his amateur hockey career. He slips into golf by what can only be described as a fluke, and is able to take out his aggressions on the golf-court, setting records for longest drives ever as he aggressively hits the ball. The anger he has is advantageous here, but a big problem when it comes to putting - and an even bigger problem when it comes to dealing with smug competitors like Shooter McGavin (superbly played by Christopher McDonald).

Happy Gilmore thus follows Sandler on the golf-court, where 90% of the film takes place. Happy is one of those rare characters in films that you desperately pull for and end up hating all of his competitors and enemies. In this way, Happy Gilmore is a very effective film as it establishes a hero-feeling with its main character, in spite of his flaws. I can't think of many other films in which I've wanted the lead character to win as much as in this one. On top of that device, you have such gems like Adam Sandler beating up old man Bob Barker on the green, Adam Sandler screaming at a golf ball asking it "Are you too good for your home?", and Christopher McDonald in one of the most hilarious and subtlety comedic performances of the 1990s.

So Happy Gilmore is the Godfather of all Sandler films, as well as the only truly good one. It borrows somewhat from Caddyshack in the goofy golf sense so it can't be considered truly original, but it IS original when it comes to Happy Madison productions.

8/10


Happy Gilmore is probably one of the funniest movies since this day. I truly recommend a lot of people to go see this movie. This is Adam Sandler's best film and it sure will be for a long time. The humor of this film is outstanding. At it's best!!! Golf has never been better although Caddyshack might be a little bit better than this but I'll tell you that this was great. Norman McDonald played excellent as Shooter McGavin. He was so funny. " I eat sh*t like you for breakfast."

" You eat sh*t for breakfast"

" No!" Omg that part was just so funny and also when Shooter brags it's funny. I also love Happy's dreams and Chubs was great to with no hand. I love this movie and I hope you love it to.

10/10


This movie is hilarious! It is just so funny. It is full of non-stop laughs for me, because I love this kind of comedy. I love this movie. It is one of my ten favorite comedies of all time. It is also my favorite Adam Sandler movie. I just love it. It is very, very funny for me. It could be funny for you if you like this kind of comedy. This movie has tons of very memorable quotes that are very funny. So, all in all, in the end, I love this movie and I always will. I love it. 10/10. I have to do ten lines, so, this is a good movie. This is a good movie. This is a good movie. This good movie. This is a good movie. This is a good movie. This is a good movie. This is a good movie.


Adam Sandler as Happy Gilmore brings laughs once again to the career of Adam Sandler. This movie is one of the movies Sandler started out with. Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore are both the two movies Adam Sandler started out with. Going Overboard was no professional movie at all. With Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore you have Happy Madison Productions. Happy Madison has done well good movies. They did the first Deuce Bigelow and they did Dickie Roberts Former Child Star. Adam has come from Saturday Night Live with all he knows and has acted with what he knows. David Spade, Chris Farley, Dana Carvey, Mike Myers, Ben Stiller, Steve Martin, and Bill Murray are the other men who have done well after Saturday Night Live. Adam Sandler still has a great career ahead of him.


Adam Sandler is rapidly becoming my favourite on-screen comedian. He has this knack of doing incredibly stupid films that nevertheless manage to put a big stupid grin on my face for the whole show. This one has all the Sandler trademarks: a daft plot, a pervading sense of (mostly) innocent fun, incredibly funny supporting cast, plenty of cameos, cartoon-like laws of physics, references to his other films (or is that vice-versa in this case?). His characters tend to start out unlikeable (such as Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison), but the viewer ends up rooting for them anyway as the film progresses and the character's good side is revealed. There is usually a positive, inclusive feeling to the comedy style: just about all the characters in the film (even the sleaze-bags) are treated well by Sandler's character (once he gets over his temper tantrums in this case), which puts these films head and shoulders above the derisive, divisive style of humour that seems so common elsewhere these days. Sandler's characters tend to only make headway when they are being good, which isn't a bad message for the kids in the audience. Yet there's nothing saccharine or Disney-esquire here. While some gags are a bit predictable, there are still plenty of surprises and some outright lunacy that keep it fresh. Even once you suds out what the Sandler formula is, the films are still enjoyable to watch. Sheer fun!


Happy Gilmore is one of my top ten favorite comedies and brings out what little humor their is in golf. It's the best golf comedy since Caddyshack (1980) and really puts you in the golfing spirit.

Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) is the grandson of loving grandmother Gilmore (Frances Bay). He is in love with hockey but can't break into the roster of the local hockey team. After being cut he returns home to find his girlfriend leaving him. After a crazy night with a Japanese lady, Happy gets a call from his grandma saying that she is being evicted.

Happy doesn't know what to do so he takes her to the local nursing home run by a psycho orderly (Ben Stiler). Happy goes back to the house to make sure everything is going alright to find the movers playing golf. Happy tells them to go back to work but say that they're on break. Happy says that if he can hit a golf ball past the two guys than they go back to work.

Happy does more than that by hitting the ball 300+ yards and hitting two people at the end of the street. Happy, after meeting Chubbs (Carl Weathers), goes to the Waterbury open where he nearly kills his caddy because he thinks he's getting robbed. After winning he is on the pro tour and ready to get his grandma's house back.

Along the way, Happy must deal with pro Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald), Bob Barker (Himself), and hostile fans who he ends up beating the hell out of. Happy is kind at heart but has problems with anger when frustrated or unhappy. One of the funniest scenes involves Bob Barker saying he should be working at the snack bar and Happy head butts him.

The story is just plain old fish out of water story with some unforgettable laughs. Happy's official caddy is the best part as a hobo bathing in the 8th holes pond or washing his underwear in the ball washer.

This film is funny, it's attractive, and it really brought Sandler into acting. The golf scenes are pretty well filmed and accurate with real golf. Chris McDonald is sinister as the hostile pro competing for the Gold Jacket and Richard Kiel is hilarious in his cameo as Happy's ex-boss turned loving fan.

Happy Gilmore. Starring: Adam Sandler, Christopher McDonald, Julie Bowen, Frances Bay, and Carl Weathers.

4 out of 5 Stars.


I am not a particular lover of Adam Sandler, but out of all his movies I would rate 50 First Dates and Happy Gilmore as not only his two shining moments but two of the funniest and enjoyable films I have seen.

Sandler plays the title character, a deluded hockey player of limited intelligence and unlimited instability, who due to the repossession of his Grandmothers home, reluctantly takes up pro golf in order that he can win enough money to settle with the IRS and reclaim the house.

The only problem with this plan is that his golfing skills are on par with his abilities as a hockey player, which leaves a lot to be desired.

The only thing he has going for him is his talent for driving the ball over 400 yards using his hockey slap shot.

He turns to one-handed former golf pro Chubbs Peterson played to comic perfection by Carl Weathers, to iron out his short game in order he does not lose his long driving advantage when he reaches the green.

He also takes on board the beautiful Virginia Venit the tournament's PR, who helps Happy control his almost psychotic temper and focus more on his game. I don't know about you, but with someone as gorgeous as Julie Bowen next to me, golf would be the very last thing on my mind! She must be one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen in the movies.

The film offers run of the mill Zero to Hero schmaltz and from the word 'Go' we are left with no uncertainty of how it will turn out, but his journey to the final championship, is a cleverly written comedy with strong performances from all involved most notably by Christopher McDonald as Gilmore's arrogant and devious opponent Shooter Mcgavin.

McGavin will stop at nothing to finally win his much coveted Gold Jacket and his interplay with Gilmore as he tries all sorts of ways to have him removed from the tournament is hilarious, and provides the film with most of the gags.

However what I found to be the most gut wrenchingly funniest moment in the picture, was the old man at the ice rink as he solemnly mimes the words to Endless Love. Brilliant.

Look out for a wonderful and hilarious scene where Happy has a violent punch up with American game show host Bob Barker and a great cameo from Ben Stiller as the sadistic nursing home orderly.

One question though. The midget cowboy on the unicycle in the dream sequences......Whats all that about?


The fact that this is based on a true story make this movie all the more horrifying. Based upon the true crime novel, "Missy's Murder" by Karen Kingsbury, the movie surrounds the death of a high school girl whose body was found in a nearby river with a 100lb log on her body, and a mother's search for justice.

This is probably one of my favorite TV movies. Patty Duke moved me as Jean Monroe, a mother who would do anything to find out who killed her only daughter. My favorite line of all, when Jean confronts Det. Staley (Loretta Swit) and says "I may be a little woman, but I have a big mouth." Having seen the real woman whom Patty portrayed, I have no doubt in my mind that the line was actually said.

Ellen was probably one of the most vindictive manipulators I have ever seen. She finds a way to move into her dead friend's home with her young child (in her room no less!) and then starts wearing her clothes and trying to be her. The fact that she made her own child say that she knew who killed Jenny, was one of the most horrible things I have ever seen.

SPOILER ALERT!!! By the time you find out that Ellen and Carla were the murders, you are thrilled that Jean smacks Ellen on the face, yet panged that Ellen and Carla led her on for so many years.

IF you haven't read "Missy's Murder", you should really try to seek it out. I got mine off eBay after a bidding war.


I watched this movie when it first came out. I remember seeing previews for it and I think i was 10 or 11 not sure but I remember waiting so anxiously to see it because I loved Tiffani Amber-Theissen. When I started watching it right from the beginning I was hooked. I never knew that this was a true story. Now I know and now I cringe even more thinking about the poor girl that this was done too. And her poor mother/family. The "People" that did that to her In my opinion should have gotten more then a slap in the face by the mother who took the one girlfriend, Ellen into her home. The girl that was there and didn't do anything about it, I was shocked I couldn't have A.) Let that happen to someone and B.)Not tell for that long she had a shot anytime she wanted Ellen was automatically locked up as soon as they got word of the killers. Anyways I loved the movie, it was directed great and the cast was great but I'm so sorry for the Monroe's families loss.


As i only started watching the movie half way through because there was nothing better on, what struck me was how compelling the story was, as it was a a B-Movie with hammy acting, it spotlighted the issues that occur amongst teenage girls-its scary how powerful envy can be & how it can drive someone to such a horrible act- but i found it hard to believe ( as manipulative as Ellen was) how Patty Duke's character could not see through her -although i have to say that Patty Duke did a great service to the movie And Ellens character being so 2 faced and Clingy makes you detest her.

Not a bad effort for a TV flick from the early nineties


Jenny Monroe gets murdered by her best friends Ellen Holloway and Carla Lewis. Kathy Pearl was the only one who knew it was them who killed Jenny. Ellen told her to keep her mouth shut. She grabbed a knife and left a cut on Kathy's face. The one day down in the woods Ellen and Carla faked a fight. Thats when it all went wrong. When Jenny tried to stop it, Ellen and Carla said "we don't hate each other, it's you we hate". They started pummeling on Jenny. They said "let's take a walk". The trail leaded to a creek. Thats where it all began. Carla pushed Jenny. Ellen cut Jenny's long brown hair. They both started Tring to kill Jenny. Then Carla tried to grab a log to drown Jenny but it was too heavy. Ellen Tried to help Carla lift the log. Once they got it they put it over Jenny and then she died.


It is no surprise who the killer is in this movie of the disturbing murder of a sweet teenage girl raised by Patty Duke Astin, who tries to be a friend as well as a mother. There are lots of preachy/teachy speeches at first, before the murder, and then a full obsession into finding the killers. As obvious as the storyline was, and as overwrought the acting was, I was sucked in nonetheless, to see how it ended, even though you could see it coming from miles and miles away. It was just awful. The female detective looks like a poor man's Michelle Lee in egg-and-pancake makeup. This is a cast of nobodies, with the exception of Ms. Duke and the young woman who would become Tiffany-Amber Thiessen of 90120 fame. I gave it two stars because the bad acting sufficiently pulled me in to watch the whole


The moonfaced girl from 90210 stars as God-knows-why-she's-supposed to-be-so-popular Jenny Monroe.

In a mall scene, I laughed as every man's head turned to see her bad 80s hair and tree-trunk legs bulging out of yellow short-shorts.

Of course her best friend is a luckless plain-jane teen mom in overalls, who actually is much prettier than the unbelievably beloved Jenny.

Plain Jane was adopted, AND nobody loves her, so she wants to be a substitute daughter to Jenny's mom.

Stupid, right?

She obviously masterminded Jenny's murder.

BUT... she did it all... for love!

I don't know for sure, because I really couldn't stand this pathetic estrogen-fest masquerading for psychological drama. I was just watching it because I ran out of sleeping pills, and it sure did the trick!


This is one of the few times a true story is nearly made unbelievable by the idiotic cast of characters. Fortunately, the presence of Patty Duke holds it together somewhat, although for most of the movie, she's as bad as everyone else. It seems that everyone in the world is completely blind to the fact that the real killer is the loon that they've decided is their friend... they miss things like "Jenny told her in a dream," and "You need to go kill him, he did it. And bring me a finger to prove he's dead." Of course, she's not going to just join the lynch mob/family... she's apparently going to wait at home. If you want to know the story, which is tragic, but interesting, read the book... don't waste your time on this movie unless you've nothing else to do and you're snowed in.


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.


Before I get into the film let me briefly surmise the actual case that this film is based on. Firstly, the actual case of Sylvia Likens was in reality much more brutal than this movie portrays. If you can try for a moment to wrap your mind around that fact than you can begin to fathom the unbelievable torture that this young woman actually endured. The actual case took place in the 1960s but for some odd reason this story is set in the 1950s this is where the confusion begins. Also, in the actual case, Sylvia was not raped nor was she forced to suffer the final indignity that the character in this movie does. That aside, this is a shockingly brutal and powerful film...yes the acting is stiff but I do believe that this was intentional in order to reflect the times. This film is a period piece and should be taken as such. When you take a look at the cast and realize the caliber of actors/actresses in this film anyone can easily see that these are not bad actors. Much of the brutality in this film is implied violence rather than in your face blood and guts. There are cut-aways during some of the more intense moments of the torture scenes but in many ways this makes things even worse! In this sense, this is genius film making. It makes the viewer believe that they have seen something much more horrific than they actually have, not to say that this makes the images seen in this film any less disturbing. A friend of mine who watched this film with me told me that he was unable to sleep for the rest of the night because of this film...and we're talking about a grown man in his late thirties! That's the sort of impact a film like this has. I am looking forward to "An American Crime" which is based on the court transcripts of the actual case and should adhere more to the facts but nonetheless "The Girl Next Door" is a film that punches you in the gut and refuses to relinquish it's grip on your senses.


Its been a really really long time since I seen a movie this intensely horrifying. This is the type of movie that starts off soft and ends at the climax, leaving viewers breathlessly shocked. I have never before seen children ages probably ranging between 8-13 commit the inhumane acts as seen in this movie. The boy children were given permission by their sick twisted foster mother to torture a beautiful innocent girl. As the torture worsen you feel more and more sympathy for the girl; this is what makes the movie excellent because it captures the audience in a very powerful way. To make this movie even more horrifying is realizing the movie is based on a true story. I would not recommend anyone to watch this movie before they go to bed because it will be hard to sleep having to think about the poor girl being tortured. I have a feeling this movie will be banned because its too explicit for the general public to watch.


This movie disturbed me to my very core. The acting is superb. The plot is very engrossing. Everything about this movie screams unbelievably well done and the makers of it should be extremely proud. This is the first Horror / Thriller were I actually felt for the characters. This is certainly the best film in its genera. This is also the reason why I wouldn't recommend watching it to most people... Watching this gives you a feeling as if you just accidentally killed your pet (worse actually)... It is far more horrifying then anything I have ever seen and the script makes it come to life which makes it even more terrifying....

If you are looking for a horror movie and don't have heart problem then watching it should be a priority just expect to feel horrible afterwards...

I can't believe this managed to get R rated in USA... I guess it is true that there are no censors for movies anymore...


Meg Loughlin's parents are dead, causing her and her sister to live with their aunt Ruth. Ruth is not like the other parents: she allows the neighborhood children to smoke and drink, and has an intense dislike for Meg -- for no real reason. After telling the police about mistreatment, Meg's punishment becomes more and more severe.

First, let me say that Blythe Auffarth (who plays Meg Loughlin) is an amazing actress. Some of the scenes in this film are truly awful -- not acted awful, mind you, but are just visually repellent. Most actresses would say no to the torture, rape and beatings contained in this film. And you cannot blame them. But Auffarth accepts the role and does an amazing job of being the normal "girl next door".

While watching this film, I told myself I had finally found the spiritual successor to "Last House on the Left" and my opinion remains the same. Like "Last House", this film is scary because of its realism. The events could actually happen to the victim, it's not just a psycho with an ax (which, while possible, is more fantasy than anything). Perhaps this film even trumps "Last House" in a way because the events really did happen, and actually happened worse than depicted here. The real girl, for example, also had to consume human waste, which is not shown here.

Making the film even more powerful is that we are shown the events from the point of view of the neighbor boy, who has a crush on Meg (despite being a few years younger). We watch them meet, become friends and then as events spin more and more out of control we see how completely helpless the boy is. While the boy is only mildly harmed in the film, it's an emotional roller coaster to be put in his shoes knowing everything that is happening and having nothing available to remedy it. The suffering he feels vicariously, we also feel vicariously. It's a pain train.

I cannot recommend this film for the squeamish. I was very uneasy watching it, making this film a member of a very exclusive list (with such others as "Kids"). Even those who enjoy seeing a film of slaughter (and sometimes I do) will be shocked in some way by this one. It's not your Jason or Freddy film, it's your sister or girlfriend really being kidnapped and there's nothing you can do about it. And yes, this really did happen and it can happen again.


Directed by Gregory Wilson, and shot and produced by William Miller, Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door is a movie that few who've seen it will ever forget. Black-hole dark and beyond harrowing, it's nonetheless a carefully crafted work and also extraordinarily sensitive. In fact, if it's not strictly a horror film, then one can only conclude that it's the genre's loss. Jack Ketchum's novel, like much of his work, is based on compelling real-life events. In this instance the story draws upon a 1960s case of almost unspeakable child abusemost of that abuse committed by other children under adult supervision. Ketchum, who is extremely proud of this film adaptation, speaks openly about production company Moderncine's initial pitch to him: "Let us make this movie before Hollywood does and ruins it." To bring The Girl Next Door to the screen, Moderncine enlisted some topnotch talent, including award-winning director Gregory Wilson, who here displays a tremendous talent working with actors, and veteran writers Philip Nutman and Daniel Farrands. Still, in a period when horror movies have repeatedly pushed, and even mangled, the envelope, this one derives most of its emotional shock not from graphic content but from the realistic and courageous presentation of a long-standing cultural taboo: on-screen violence to children. Unfortunately, it's all too easy for mainstream critics to shoot down this kind of movie by terming it "exploitative" when actually it's the opposite: a tragedy that immerses the audience in the misery of the real rather than promoting escapism with comfortable, and clichéd, lessons about violence and evil. After a successful theatrical run in New York early in the fall, The Girl Next Door is now available here on DVD. I urge you to see it. Like another powerful film released in 2007, Bug, it may hit too close to home to appeal to the typical horror fan. Indeed, it has a slightly different audience in mind: human beings.


My preliminary research into this adaptation of a tale of demented human cruelty had me primed to expect a grueling viewing experience, if only I could be sure I would make it to the UK premier screening. But it was looking as if London's Tubes were against me. Time was ticking by, and the announcement of a fire alert at Hyde Park Corner only served to induce a fierce sense of frustration in me. Deciding to change lines, I quickly scrambled up the escalators at South Kensington, switching to the Circle and District Lines that could take me to Embankment, from where it was only a quick sprint up the Northern Line to the Leicester Square tube station- a mere stone's throw away from my final Fright Fest destination. As I hurriedly took my seat in a darkened auditorium, I wiped the sweat from my brow and settled down to the narration of David, a 50+ man remembering a painful past. I had made it, but only just. 'Brace yourself' I thought, my journey into torture and child abuse was about to begin...

Obviously haunted by a series of traumatic past incidents and his own conflicted involvement, his monologue of regret quickly segues into a vivid portrayal of an idyllic 1950s US suburbia, or so it would seem. As in David Lynch's 'Blue Velvet', the viewer realises that still waters run deep, that all will not be as it seems, making the anticipated revelation all the more shocking. In 'The Girl Next Door' we are waiting for this idyll of childhood innocence to be shattered-after all, it has haunted our narrator for nigh on 50 years! Aware that forthcoming scenes had led to some instances of horrified audience walkouts, I took whatever solace I could in this preliminary scene-setting, desperately hoping that young David's first foray down into the basement would be a mere tease from the filmmakers.

At first the young David seems like a lucky fellow-playing games with local friends, drinking beer next door at his neighbour's place, and meeting Meg, a lovely young lass who is adjusting to a new life at Auntie Ruth's house with her caliper-splint wearing sister after losing her parents in an automobile accident. Ruth's sons aren't quite so likable however- they enjoy watching ants devour worms. It could just be harmless childhood curiosity, but as it happens, it serves to augur something far worse. Similarly, Ruth's dispensing of beer to underage kids might also be written off as relatively harmless, but again it serves to signal the potential for something else. We begin to realise that something scary lurks behind that smile and all that hospitality. Ruth's perspective on the world is subtly skewed. Ultimately, she resents her lonely, man-less predicament, burdened by three sons, and holds neither the male nor the female sex in high regard.

It's here that 'The Girl Next Door' displays a remarkable economy of storytelling- a few key actions and utterances are all that is required to create a set of fully realised and psychologically plausible characters by which a remarkable set of occurrences are made credible. Full credit has to go the scripting, the casting and the acting. Lesser films with more generous budgets would require 2 hours to achieve what 'The Girl Next Door' manages in only one-and-a-half. The pacing is also remarkable- by the time Meg has been imprisoned in the basement and 'the game' has begun, we have become unwilling but necessary witnesses of a despicable crime, uncertain as to the precise point at which the line was irrevocably crossed. So many otherwise innocent children have come under Ruth's sway, observing and engaging in acts they would never normally countenance, and it doesn't even seem remarkable, merely plausible.

This is no mere sensationalist exercise in exploitation. As painful as it may be to become party to David's anguish and Meg's suffering, our identification with their plight provides the only tolerable way to participate in the witnessing of a crime that's all the more shocking because something so very similar really happened. Without its basis in veracity it might not even be justifiable as anything but perverse voyeurism. And this is why this film will be remembered. I anticipate a chain of Chinese whispers according this a deserved notoriety, assuring 'The Girl Next Door' a special place in film history alongside such shocking and cautionary works as 'Peeping Tom', 'A Clockwork Orange', and '10 Rillington Place'. Like all of these films, 'The Girl Next Door' is profoundly disturbing, not for its visceral content, but for the psychological implications of its characters' actions. After branding Meg's belly with derogatory expletives and then lighting a blow torch (at which point a member of the audience vacated the cinema), you know Ruth has gone beyond sanity, beyond any hope of an existence that can ever escape the mental ramifications of her sadism. Once Meg's suffering had concluded and Ruth's evil had been extinguished, I emerged from the cinema tear stricken. Anger, repulsion and pity may have been pulsing through my guts, but my spirit was celebrating the power of cinema. I will be forever touched by the atrocity this film forced me to confront. 'The Girl Next Door' is a film of rare pedigree.


After just sitting through Jack Ketchums THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, I had mixed emotions, but mainly I felt extremely sad at what I had just watched. The film is a true story set in the 50's about a two young sisters who go to live with their aunt after losing both parents in a car accident. The younger sister got badly injured and has to walk with steel frames supporting her legs. But her older sister, Meg, takes care of her and in general is a really nice kid. But when they go to live with their aunt, things turn nasty, really nasty. The aunt is a really horrible person, she has all the local lads round her home all the time drinking beer and doing basically anything they please. But aunt really does call the tune, anything she says - goes! And as soon as she takes a dislike to Meg thats when the torture and downright cruelty begins. Now, I'm not going to go into any great detail, but what happens to Meg in this film is disturbing, but incredibly engrossing to watch.

The acting on all fronts is nothing short of brilliant, the detail on the set is stunning, bearing in mind it is set in the 50's the attention to detail is excellent.

How anybody can give this a low rating beats me - if you don't think you are going to like it, don't watch it - it is'nt nice, but it is an essential piece of film-making, well written, well directed, well acted - and devastatingly delivered.

AWESOME...10 out of 10.


Based on a true story, this is one sick and very very disturbing movie. A foster Mother has a couple of young Sisters join her foster family, and the boy next door becomes friendly with the oldest girl. The foster Mother is an unbelievable bitch, and for no reason gives the younger impaired with leg braces Sister a spanking with a long brush for nothing. But it's the older Sister that gets taken to the basement and strung up by her wrists as other kids begin to torment her, stripping her, torturing her, even raping her later, while the foster Mother encourages them on. And believe me, the worst was still to come for this girl. The boy next door tries his best to help her, but there's not much he can do, except never forget it for the rest of his life. I was glued to this movie, as was everybody else watching it, and when it was over, it was like wow, that was one disturbing movie. You'll probably hear about "Girl Next Door", especially being a true story, and I would suggest you check it out. The last fifteen minutes are pretty hard to watch. I saw the movie at a special preview at the Indianapolis Horror Hound Weekend convention.


I Like the horror genre and THE GIRL NEXT DOOR is on a different level.

This movie is so realistic to the teeth, that it makes you think about life. It makes you think that all the flashy movies you have ever seen are like cartoons compare to this.

It's about child abuse, torture, and manipulation.

It shows how powerful a parent affects a child's mind.

I don't know, I'm still very disturbed by the movie.

Although, I would want more bad things to happen to that witch and her boys, the movie ends very well.

It's not about revenge, more like a lesson to be thought, that there are sick people out there who are actually doing this to children, and the question is what are you going to do about it?


Either you will love this movie, or you will hate it. But either way, you will agree... this movie grabs a hold of you and it won't let go!

Regardless of what actually happened in real life, or was portrayed in the books... this movie provokes a strong emotion in you. And it takes you to a place you don't want to be. You will feel disgusted, sad, angry, sick, and that's just for starters.

Warning: This movie is not for the squeamish!!! For me personally, it made me feel helpless. Because you are sitting there watching the movie unfold, and you can't do anything to stop it. And that for me, was the worse feeling of all.

Technical aspects: The acting is great. The dialogue is obscene. The nudity and sexual situations are disgusting. But it brings a realism that could not be achieved otherwise!

Bottom line: This movie will give you a small taste of what it's like to be victimized, or be near someone that has. And it will force you to rethink everything you ever thought about in life! So be warned!!!


This is a pointless presentation of a horribly sad story that deserved better. The casting was poor, acting laughable (especially Blythe as 14-yr-old Meg-- she looked every bit her 20 years and was amateur at best), dialog stupid and the David character a frustrating farce. Nobody decent (as David's character was supposed to be) would stand around for as long as he did and not tell his parents or somebody! And the neighbors were so clueless in this small town (where scandal and gossip is usually welcome amid the boredom) that they were unaware that the drunkard single mom on the block (divorced moms were suspect back then, too) was feeding alcohol to their own kids and raising a brood of bully, violent brats? Completely NON believable.

And I doubt a little guy like David would be able to off a maniacal, adult woman w/ two swings of a crutch!

It's a shame that the opportunity to bring this excruciatingly sad, yet important story about child abuse to the world via film was squandered so miserably.


I'm a fan of the gut-wrenching. I like horror & suspense. I like to be shocked. Some of my all-time favorite films I wouldn't dare show my closest of friends out of fear that they would think I was mentally unstable. This film, 'The Girl Next Door', I would choose to not show them simply because it's a bad film. I'm not sure what Greg Wilson tried to accomplish here, and the screenplay was poorly adapted from Ketchum's novel. This is torture-porn, lightly cloaked by a terrible excuse for a love story.

You've got two sisters, Meg & Susan Loughlin who are based on Sylvia & Jenny Likens, who were both horribly abused by one Gertrude Baniszewski - who is portrayed in the film as Ruth Chandler. In the true story of these crimes, the girls are abandoned by their circus traveling parents and left to live with Gertrude. In the film, the girls parents were killed and they end up with the same fate - to live with Ruth. Ruth is abusive and out of her mind and so are her accomplices who happen to also be her own children and some neighborhood kids. So as days pass, both girls are abused and tortured in terrible ways, with the older of the two getting the brunt of it. Ruth uses her basement as her chamber of horrors and calls what she does "games", for instance one "game" involves hanging & blindfolding Meg by her arms and stripping her nude. The boys take care of this for her, and Meg is left there over night. This type of thing makes up the majority if the second half of the film. Enter the ridiculous premise of one of the boys and Meg having feelings for each other. This is ridiculous because the boy continues to go over to the house time after time watching (and sometimes partaking) in said torturous activities. The police show up a few times. He tells his parents (in a round about way). Point is, the way the movie unfolds, these girls wouldve been saved, numerous times. It's almost laughable how we are supposed to believe none of these morons wouldve done something. What happened in real life is nowhere near what went down on film. The story has so many holes that you could throw it in a cave in France, take it out in a year, then slap a sticker on it "100% Grade A Swiss Cheese". It's terribly lame & incredibly unbelievable. I assume this side story of love was added to try and get some emotion from the audience so that the ending of the film could pull some tears out. The acting is plastic & any emotional investment, other than imaging that some form of this film actually happened, is completely impossible to reach. If you want to shock us, take what REALLY happened for once and just show that. Don't waste our time with preposterous side & back stories.

The only reason I didn't give this a 1 is because the last 12 minutes or so were actually intense. The rest of the film, however, is tripe. Skip it.

-iii


Never have I been so disgusted that Hollywood would put out such foul material. Although I have never read Jack Ketchum the idea of even writing or filming a story of this nature is revolting!

Torture against children is a serious and horrible issue that should be made aware of but this movie is beyond educating people about abuse.

But the most upsetting thing in this film is the fact that children were used in the film doing and saying things that no parent should allow.

Unfortunately money seemed more enticing to the parents which is an abuse itself! How any person could even let their child pretend to abuse another child in this way is disgusting!!! I will make a habit of never watching Gregory Wilson's movies in the future seeing that I could not finish this one!


Wow, even some of the reviewers of this movie seem to be at a complete loss of words when they try to describe the picture. They barely understand why it is so frightening, why they can't sleep afterwards or what it is that chills them to the bone. I can offer an explanation: this film depicts acts made of pure evil, evil in its most disturbing form. Not committed by some entertaining movie-maniac like Freddy or Pinhead that cracks jokes while slaughtering folks, but by something that is a lot more frightening, more haunting and terrifying: an entirely normal human being. Other reviewers seem to miss a motive for the atrocities, a reason for the escalation, apart from Ruths obvious derangement and general frustration with life, and ask why the others (especially since they're still kids) join in so easily. They are actually looking for explanations. C'mon, people, wake up! It's the same thing that makes drunk daddy hit his five year old with an empty liquor bottle or beat mommy to a pulp right in front of the eyes of his terror-frozen offspring. Because he can, that's why. Because he's frustrated and in a position of absolute power, and power tends to corrupt, doesn't it? Now, combine this with barely suppressed unfocused anger and you have your motive. First comes frustration, then anger, then violence, then abuse. One might say it's the devils ladder, a downward spiral straight to hell. And when they get to the bottom, sick individuals like Ruth might even get some revolting kind of kick out of the fact they can use and abuse the weak to their liking. Just like a kid that tortures a frog or beats up a smaller co-ed, tapes it with a handy-cam and posts the clip on youtube to boast with his inhumanity. Plus, you never needed the devil to rape, mutilate or open up a KZ - a mere human will always suffice. So, to the rest of you: be warned, folks, if you're looking for cheap thrills, this is not the right movie for you. Neither is there anything in it one in his right mind could "enjoy", like, let's say, your average horror flick. Rather be prepared to be filled up with anger and sadness to the bottom of your very soul. I won't watch this a second time, but surely its art, though not the pleasant kind.

8/10


The fact that someone took the time to create this movie as entertainment is, quite possibly, the sickest thing I've ever heard. This is a "horror" movie? Really? It was actually made to be watched by people and enjoyed in some way? .

I get that people have a dark side, that we're fascinated with the concept of horror and pain, and sometimes can't pull ourselves away from watching it. After all, it's just a movie...Watching something like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or even a psycho thriller like Rosemary's Baby, OK, that's fine. It's messed up stuff, but the "bad guys" are clearly just film characters, something someone made up (I don't care how much they plaster "based on a true story" across the Chainsaw Massacre - they took INCREDIBLE historical and artistic licenses in its production).

Leatherface was left in a dumpster at birth, had a degenerative facial disease that caused his face to...well, fall off, and was made fun of his entire life. Harsh. As for Rosemary's Baby, well, we all know the Devil is the incarnation of evil...

And the woman in this film? She was depressed, had some bad marriages under her belt, and too many kids to show for it. In other words, she could easily be a real woman.

Wait, that's right - she is. Her real name is Gertrude Baniszewski, and she really did torture and beat a girl to death in her basement with the help of her children (and one of her daughter's boyfriends). I don't care how depressed you are, that is just sick.

So congratulations to the filmmakers: you have chosen to make a movie, for entertainment and possibly profit, based on the real murder of a real young girl by some messed up woman and a bunch of kids. That's so great. I'm sure that Sylvia Likens, the girl who was actually tortured to death, is glad her story will live on in our memories, and that people will pay to see it.

Some closing facts: No, I did not pay to see this film, nor did I choose to sit through to the end. And yes, I know how the film ends. Allow me to quote the last line, as the main character sits thoughtfully by the river he met "Meg Laughlin" (aka Sylvia Likens) on so many years before: "I will never forget the gift of Meg Laughlin, though I am plagued with the torment of failing again...failing somebody...But as she taught me, it's what you do last that counts." Uh-huh, of course she taught you that.

You tried to find something positive about the situation, writers, good job. Too bad that character wasn't there in real life...

Honestly, I can think of no good reason to watch this film. Mediocre cinematography, average acting, incredibly disturbing plot...If you want to know about the murder, just go read the news reports. But stay away from this movie.


I find myself disgusted at myself for watching this film. I literally feel as filthy as the people engaged in the acts portrayed in the film.

However, sitting in judgment while watching the torture scenes I find myself drawn into their world because I too want to find the offspring of everyone involved and break every bone in their body and burn their skin and dismember their sexual organs.

So obviously we can all be driven to cruelty and somehow feel justified in our feelings. We wonder how societies can turn and things like the Holocaust can happen, how the torture of terror suspects by our own current administration can take place while we all sit idly by.

It reminds me of one thing, we are the only animals on this planet capable of torture. No other animal purposely imposes pain-most won't even kill their own species, yet we humans with our philosophies and religions find a way to be so pompous and arrogant to believe we are the master species of the planet. That we deserve some "afterlife" or blessing from a creator. If there is an intelligent creator-he/she/it would just set us all ablaze after seeing the things we do.

After seeing this I know this for sure, we are the filth of this earth, we are an infestation that does not deserve to live because all of us can turn a blind eye to cruelty to save our own asses. We always seem to find a way to justify cruelty to not only our own kind, but every living thing on this planet.

Wow, I feel like a real piece of crap tonight. Just for being human.

Is that how this movie was supposed to make me feel? WTF? WTF? WTF? I am sure there is some excuse for that woman like she was raped by her daddy or tortured or whatever, but when bad things happen to you doesn't that make you want to be better than that? I am so mindf**ked by this movie I don't even know what to think.

I am going to go vomit now.

(I did have to add this)

The film was masterfully done. The actors drew me in like I was there. I haven't literally "talked" to a screen in years. I did this time. Those actors doing the evil really made me hate them. I don't even know if I could look those actors in the eye without that feeling creeping over me if I ran into them in an airport-that is how engrossed I became in this story. The foster mother in this story plays the role incredibly. I will have nightmares about her face. Those kids were little bastards to a degree that is unbecoming an actor of their ages.

The movie is disturbing and believable. Hardly anything left to the imagination. If I had to give it a name to reflect what it was about and the horror it portrayed I would say, "Nazi-American Family Auschwitz"

I did not want to leave my "vomit" comment as my opinion of the film itself. The film is really well done, but you feel filthy for watching it.


The Girl Next Door suffers from a boatload of problems, from the very premise  which is exciting if you thought Hostel 2 was too classy  to the acting  which is good if you've never actually met and conversed with live people. This movie is rotten from foundation to rafters, and suffers a series of huge gaps in logic and development, both of which are highly necessary to establish that any of the monstrous caricatures we're forced to watch are anything more than someone's paper-thin excuse for getting their kicks out at 24 frames a second.

I know, I know, it's based on a book, so therefore it's somehow loftier than Captivity or Turistas, but those movies actually had something in the way of set design and ambition to set them apart, rotten as they are. The Girl Next Door gives us hasty sketches of a monstrous mother figure who you've no choice but to hate from the word go, kids who fall into a lockstep of torture and abuse for no discernible reason and a washout main character who might as well be wallpaper-colored for all the impact he has as a narrator or character.

The setup is brief before the torture porn starts, and from there it's a freefall of implausibility. One day they're fighting in a bedroom, the next they've got a girl bound in the basement, tearing her clothes off, the next they're engaged in kiddie rape, while the Cruella DeVille mom urges things on. Neighborhood kids file in and out, never bothering to mention anything going on to their parents, the main character only seems to get around to caring about what's going on in the last 20 minutes and everything wraps up in a nice neat little bow, complete with a movie-of-the-week moral moment tacked on.

I could be snide and say the only good thing about this movie was how short it was, but there is no saving grace to this film. It's just plain ugly. If that's what you're hungry for, by all means, but if you actually enjoy horror films and don't utterly despise every other person on the planet, there are far better options on the shelf.


The only reason this film should not receive a 1(awful) is because the story is so grotesque it draws you in till the very end. After that it is nothing more than a snuff film hidden amongst dramas and horror flicks. The acting is poor except for the mother which only stands out for portraying insanity to the extreme.

What surprises me the most is that this movie was playing on standard cable in the middle of the afternoon during the summer. When selecting this movie to air they should have picked a more appropriate time, say at night when all kids should be asleep. It received an R rating for a reason. Parents be warned this is not for children.


I don't know how it got good ratings!!!! I don't Care if it was a true story, I expected this movie to be really a Horror one, But it was really lame. The acting is Extremely BAD, The story telling is absolutely weak. I simply advise you to AVOID it, I wasted my time on it; Don't Waste yours. I don't know how it got good ratings!!!! I don't Care if it was a true story, I expected this movie to be really a Horror one, But it was really lame. The acting is Extremely BAD, The story telling is absolutely weak. I simply advise you to AVOID it, I wasted my time on it; Don't Waste yours. I don't know how it got good ratings!!!! I don't Care if it was a true story, I expected this movie to be really a Horror one, But it was really lame. The acting is Extremely BAD, The story telling is absolutely weak. I simply advise you to AVOID it, I wasted my time on it; Don't Waste yours.


This movie was shocking in its perverted exploitation of a teenage girl and her disabled younger sister (who's parents have died), by their twisted aunt and her disturbed sons. The movie gives no reasons for the aunts twisted behaviour nor does it explain why a neighbourhood full of children who visit the house whilst this poor girl is strung up, raped, beaten, genitally mutilated, and starved, say nothing at all despite the story being set in a 1950's world where such events were not heard of even in the movies. Furthermore the movie does not justify why these children participate in unbelievable levels of abuse before running off to play out with their ice-creams and trikes - it just doesn't make any sense. It goes no way to explain why the main character Davey is aware from the start that something is seriously wrong, yet fails to do anything at all to help the girl as the level of abuse rapidly moves from overly-intimate tickling to violent, bloody, perverted, shocking rape, until the last few minutes of the film. If Davey had said something earlier the abuse would not have reached the level it did and it is wholly inexplicable and unreasonable for the movie to expect viewers to swallow the concept that Davey would not have said anything to anyone. This movie strikes as another in a long line of torture-porn movies made solely for twisted individuals who enjoy watching a very attractive and intelligent teenage girl gradually beaten down and controlled with increasingly sickening and frightening abuse during which she is raped by young teenage boys who are watched by their mother who also seems to gain sexual pleasure from spanking the much younger sister. This movie is wrong and sick and will do nothing more than encourage the sick perversions of those very real and very dangerous people in our society who fantasise about this sort of thing. I strongly advise you do not watch this movie, at the very least out of protest that the kind of violent porn that is illegal has somehow made it into our mainstream media.


This movie is great in sense of a sad story, but believe me I spent my 1 hour in hell while watching it really in hell and I just want to say that some stories should remain untold, My body was shaking and sometimes I cried like a girl but I will not forgive my self that why I have seen it. There was a guy who stopped me but why I don't listened to him, so guys listened to me please don't watch it. This movie is great in sense of a sad story, but believe me I spent my 1 hour in hell while watching it really in hell and I just want to say that some stories should remain untold, My body was shaking and sometimes I cried like a girl but I will not forgive my self that why I have seen it. There was a guy who stopped me but why I don't listened to him, so guys listened to me please don't watch it


I don't usually write comments about movies but Well this movie broke me down in my heart. i've seen "the girl next door" in the title and i thought it's the comedy "the girl next door (2004)" one with Elisha Cutbert.

As i started watching i've seen this is not the comedy one but the horror one from Ketchum's book. When i was watching, the story grew worse every minute. I've thought i was going to watch a kiddie story movie but that torture and everything gave me a headache. knowing it's a real story feels much worse. I just wanted to be in the story just to kill those boys all with their mother.

This movie is not for anyone under 18 or anyone who is sensitive or anyone who doesn't want to see a young innocent girl die....

there are such perverts in the world, they are not just a few i feel!


One of the best dramas I ever watched, very chocking and strong. It made me feel bad, as a really good drama is supposed to.

I put myself in the place of the main character, who is just a child watching terrible things he can't believe are possible or acceptable. He wants to help the girl that is being tortured, but feels helpless facing an adult. The lack of credibility a child has before the police, when an adult woman contradicts the information given by a child, and the oppression that the same woman uses over the child are some examples of why the main character feels like he can't do anything. His agony rises even more with the feeling of guilt, because in his childish understanding he sees himself as responsible for the start of the worst tortures. The best he can think of doing is pretending to be in her game, while trying to find a way to help the tortured girls.

The movie has a great environment and a great story, that it is very well told. It unrolls naturally. The acting is very good overall, making the story very believable. The only actor that (seldom) didn't seem completely natural is the main actor (the boy), but it's perfectly understandable, as it is a very demanding role and he is a young actor. When I read the other reviews, the only negative/low grade ones I could find are either of those people comparing the movie to the book (which I didn't read - and anyway, a movie is always a different work, so it should be assessed independently) or from the people who consider this movie too disturbing and didn't like it, failing to understand the fact that a DRAMA is supposed to be that way.

Oh, I saw someone saying it was child pornography... whoever can get near to excited with this movie must be really really really sick.


I don't really know where to start. I am still deeply disturbed and have been for days after seeing this film. I don't think a film has ever affected me so much.

"The Girl Next Door" is based on the true (yes TRUE events) story of a young girl named Meg and her sister Susan who move in with a foster mom after their parents are killed in an accident. The foster mom begins to abuse the girls and then singles out Meg and gets her kids and numerous kids in the neighborhood to abuse her. She is starved, raped, beaten, burnt, and many other horrible things. She is abused like this for 3 months until ultimately, she dies.

Meg is played by the sweet and innocent Blythe Auffarth. She is so charismatic and looks beautiful on screen. She plays Meg hauntingly well. Whether she's screaming, crying in despair, or just laying looking down right pathetic, she never loses the audience. You really want this girl to survive. You really want to kill the evil people doing this to her.

Which brings me to our main villain. Ruth Chandler. She is played by Blanche Baker who I HATED in this film. No, I didn't hate her acting. Her acting was amazing, which is why I hated her. She is vile, disgusting, evil, alcoholic, and she is the ring leader of the torment. You will absolutely HATE her and want to kill her yourself. I know I did.

The last person I want to point out is young David Morgan. He plays David Mache, who befriends Meg and even develops a crush on her. He starts to notice odd things about Ruth and the way she treats Meg. He begins to become uncomfortable with the situation, but he wasn't even ready for what was to come. When he first sees Meg tied up in the basement, he is horrified. Throughout the rest of the movie, he struggles with his own self, trying to distinguish wrong from right. He knows what is happening is so wrong but yet he can't seem to do anything about it. Well he tries to help Meg numerous times, but all are to no avail. You really want to grab him and shake him and say "JUST TELL SOMEONE!!" but of course you can't. And in the finale, he lays with Meg in one of the most heart-wrenching scenes I have ever seen. He lays with her and cries as she slowly dies after some words to hi. David Morgan really did a good job. I hope to see him in the future.

The main thing that disturbs me about this movie is the kids. It's so disturbing to me that kids so young and even older could commit such horrible acts. It really is a disturbing film and if you are easily disturbed please do not bother with this film. And it is based on a true story once again, which to think about only will lower your faith in humanity. Trust me, this is a super powerful film.

10 out of 10 stars


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.


One of the few films that doesn't shy away from showing what human cruelty is, and shows that it is nothing short of disturbing and tough to endure, I've watched the entire film and I'll say that I am a fan of the horror genre, but when it comes to films based on actual events and you find out that they are disturbing and tough to watch, then you tend to view them under a different light than your regular horror films.

THE GIRL NEXT DOOR is based on the bestseller by Jack Ketchum, which is based on the torture and murder of Sylvia Likens, a case which I did extensive research on to understand what this film was about, and compared to my research the actual events were certainly more brutal than what is shown in the film, but the film still packs a powerful punch, think of it as a semi truck packed full of mixed emotions, because thats what you'll feel like after you've watched this film, like you got hit by a truck and you're left with a bag of mixed emotions.

The acting is brilliant, each of the cast members did more than a great job, but it was rather the character story of the developing relationship between Meg and David that gave this film its actual strength, and the very last moment between these two characters is something that would even make a grown man cry, which takes place after the grueling last fifteen minutes.

Overall, I think its a good film if one understands the intentions behind it, which is telling a story based on actual events that are indescribably cruel and sick, exactly as it should be told, truthfully.


1958. A quiet small town. Sensitive fifteen year old Meg Loughlin (a disarmingly sweet performance by Blythe Auffarth) and her crippled younger sister Susan (the excellent Madeline Taylor) are two orphaned girls who are taken care of by their stern and unhinged Aunt Ruth Chandler (superbly played with formidable steely grit by Blanche Baker) following the death of both their parents in a car accident. When Meg stands up to Ruth's harsh treatment of both herself and Susan, Ruth has her tied up in the basement and encourages a handful of local kids who include her own three sons and nice guy David Moran (a likable performance by Daniel Manche) to inflect all sorts of vicious abuse and torture on poor Meg. Director Gregory M. Wilson, working from an unsparingly grim and hard-hitting script by Daniel Farrands and Philip Nutman, offers a powerfully unsettling and provocative meditation on the destruction of innocence, the depraved wickedness lurking just underneath suburbia's well-manicured surface, the casual sadism of adolescence, and the horrors of strict discipline and rigid morality gone dangerously around the bend. Moreover, Wilson shows admirable restraint and suggests more than shows the various atrocities committed in the picture. It's this latter element of commendable tact and taste which gives this movie its extra unnerving edge. The uniformly terrific acting rates as another major asset: Baker delivers a positively chilling portrayal of serene evil as Ruth, Auffarth is both brave and heart-breaking as the unfortunate Meg, Moran likewise impresses as David, plus there are sound supporting contributions from Graham Patrick Martin as the mean Willie Chandler Jr., Catherine Mary Stewart as David's cheery mom, Grant Shaw as David's easygoing dad, and William Atherton as the regretful grown-up David. William M. Miller's fluid, sparkling cinematography, Ryan Shore's delicately melodic score, the nonexploitative and matter-of-fact handling of the unpleasant subject matter, and the frightening plausibility of the whole story further enhance the considerable jolting impact and potency of this profoundly disturbing and gut-wrenching descent into the cinematic abyss.


Films are made for a variety of different reasons but the best that cinema has to offer will invariably provoke an emotional response; and Gregory Wilson's film version of Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door is one of the best examples of a film to do that; and the emotional response that the film provoked in me was anger. The director forces his audience to watch a series of vile atrocities committed towards an innocent and undeserving party. The film made me want to reach into the screen and do something about it, and the fact that I couldn't makes this film one of the most gut-wrenching and unbearable movie watching experiences of my long movie watching 'career'. Mainstream Hollywood tends to specialise in searing emotional dramas designed to make its audience shed tears - but the fact that everything here is presented completely raw means that the audience is left to make their own minds up; which has apparently left some viewers unaffected - but it was what ultimately made the film so powerful for me.

The film takes place in the fifties and we focus on David Moran; a young boy who meets a young girl named Meg Loughlin when she moves in next door with her sister after the death of their parents. Her presence incites the matriarch of the household; who takes it upon herself to use her sons (along with some other neighbourhood children) to torture and abuse Meg, while the case goes unreported. The first third of the movie is not too far removed from being a drama about a group of children in the summertime; but as the film moves on, things start to get dark pretty quickly and by then the film grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go until the credits role. The violence shown in the movie is not particularly explicit; and that's possibly why the film didn't get a rousing reception from some circles who were hoping for an exploitation flick. What we do see is more than enough, however, and it's the situation that really makes the film what it is. The acting is brilliant also; with the monstrous Blanche Baker heading up a cast of youngsters. Every film is looked at in different ways by different people; but I honestly am surprised that some people who saw this film were not affected by it. The Girl Next Door is surely one of the most unforgettable and painful films I've ever seen and for that reason I would give it a cautionary recommendation. It's well worth seeing...but you've been warned.


It starta as an interesting movie, but then it turns into torture porn.

You can stop watching after the first scene in the basement, I'm going to give you a quick summary: The main character doesn't say anything until it is too late. They and rape the girl. The old woman burns "F--k me" on the girl's skin, and burns her lady parts with a blow torch. The police arrives and the girl dies. The end.

It is a well made movie, and the not-torture-porn parts are even enjoyable, but it could have been a lot better if it focused more on the psychological part of the torture rather than the cheap Hostel style crap it ends up with.

And the whole "witness that doesn't report the crime" has been made over and over, so it is not even original.


In my opinion the Dutch movie scene has been enormously enriched by Moonlight. Even without many words, director Paula van der Oest puts together a clear, interesting and compelling story. The acting of especially the very young Laurien van den Broeck was fantastic. Feelings and emotions come across the screen very convincingly.

But the editing, cinematography and art direction in this film really put it next to its American huge-budget brothers. In contrary to most previous Dutch productions, these aspects are incredibly professional, even comparable to i.e. 'The Sixth Sense' as to creating tension and atmosphere, and to 'Requiem for a Dream' as to editing.

I've seen the movie in Nijmegen, as part of a weekend-long review of the Dutch Movie Festival, and had the chance to attend a 'talkshow' with director Paula van der Oest as one of the guests. A great experience.

Foreign readers, please don't let yourself be scared off by the Dutch crew: not a Dutch word is spoken during the movie, set in Luxembourg. Main language is English. Dutch readers: absolutely go see this movie! It will show you the enormous progress of our very own filming scene.


Numerous American reviewers on this site reveal their limitations in their comments. A lot of what they criticize or complain about in this movie are things that take us deeper into the moment of the story that takes place in a different world than they're familiar with. I was also thrown off a bit, until I realized that this wasn't from the European world of film that I'm used to (France, Spain, Germany, Italy).

Larien (playing the main character) is brilliant. What the film does lack is over-played dumbed-down dialogue and over explanation. The settings nicely reinforce the various moods. The girl's coming of age theme is brilliantly played out with subtle and not so subtle devices.