THIS MOVIE IS 10+/10+
ABSOLUTELY AWESOME AMAZING PHENOMENAL EXPERIENCE. I HAVE A MASSIVE MASSIVE HORROR COLLECTION OF SIMILAR MOVIES & STORIES
ONES THAT WILL TURN YOUR HAIR WHITE
BUT NONE AS HORRIFIC AND AS DISTURBING AND
UPSETTING AS THIS ONE.
I'M IN TEARS EVERY SINGLE TIME I VIEW THIS MASTERPIECE AND BELIEVE ME OUT OF
4500 BLU RAYS/4K THAT IS SAYING
SOMETHING. I COLLECT
UNCUT, UNRATED, EXTENDED, DIRECTORS
EXTREME RARE, BAND AND UNBADGE
MOVIES BUT THIS ONE IS TRULY
A VERY VERY SPECIAL MOVIE,
STANDS ABOVE THEM ALL FOR HOW IT MAKES
YOU FEEL-(DIRTY NAKED & AFRAID) AND TOTALLY
HELPLESS. NEVER IN A
MOVIE HAVE I WANTED TO HELP SOMEBODY SO SO
MUCH. WOW WOW WOW
IS ALL I CAN SAY AT THIS MOMENT AFTER THE 2ND
VIEW AND NOW I HAVE
JUST COME TO THE DECISION THAT I CAN ONLY BRING MYSELF TO WATCHING THIS
ONCE A YEAR EVEN THOUGH I LOVE THE
MOVIE 3000, IT JUST TAKES
SO MUCH OUT OF ME.
I AM A HORROR FANATIC
AND THIS IS RIGHT AT THE TOP OF MY ARCHIVES
HORROR SECTION, NOTHING WILL TOP THIS FOR THE STORY AND THE CHAIN OF EVENTS IT'S TELLING YOU. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND
TO ANYONE LOVING HORROR & TRUE STORIES
WOW FRICKIN WOW BAD-ASS
AND SUPER SUPER AWESOME.

NO OTHER STORY/MOVIE WILL GET YOU IN THE FEELS AS MUCH AS THIS TRAGIC TRAGIC
TAIL WILL.
CHANGE MY MIND

One night David, the protagonist of this story, pulls out an old drawing given to him by his childhood friend Meg. Meg and her disabled sister Susan are adopted by their aunt, Ruth, after their parents die in a car crash. Unfortunately for them, it's the '50s, a horrible, sexist and old-fashioned decade where women are the lesser race. Ruth starts slowly to abuse Meg, using Susan for leverage and getting her sons and neighbourhood kids in on it. David can't stand watching his friend be abused but what can he do?

I was horrified by the torture in this film, but that really seems to be all that was on offer. David is reflecting on his life, and how little he could do back then. He tried to reach out to a few people but never really said anything because that was "none of his business"; he's a child also manipulated by the adult in the situation and overwhelmed by the "bystander effect" and intimidated by Ruth's sons. It's hard to say I really liked anything in this film - none of the shots were particularly amazing. I think the effects were quite good and the whole thing was very twisted.

Unfortunately there were no redeeming factors - I felt like there were no lessons to be learned. David never really developed as a character. We don't learn about what happens to Susan after she is rescued. We don't see the perpetrators get punished and it is presumed that Meg dies of her injuries. Sort of a waste of time overall. 4/10.

according to my trakt history, i've seen this before. i don't know that i have, because i didn't recognize any of it, aside from the relatively similar events as the real life likens case. that said, i have a hard time watching this without comparing it directly to the movie an american crime. both are upsetting, but an american crime's acting is more intensely so (and that honestly may just be due to elliot page's acting skills?) and the changes made from the original book's plot (jack ketchum's) lessened the movie's impact. the decision to have the police officer come in prior to meg's passing was a directorial disaster; i don't care if it was the 50s, i do not see how his decision to take susan upstairs and out of the house and leave david behind with a dying girl was at all realistic.

i will say that this movie benefits from having a relatively decent protagonist. as in, there is a character that clearly does not condone what's happening and is young enough that his silence makes sense; his attempts to speak to his parents seem minor, but given what he's witnessed and the fact that there's an adult involved in what's happening, it does make sense. the sad thing is that there were entirely too many people who weren't too young to do something and intervene, both in this fictionalized version of the story and the actual likens case. so it's a very, very tiny bandaid on a very depressing look into humanity.

neither are enjoyable movies, obviously. the likens case is deeply disturbing, and one i heard about entirely too early on in my life thanks to having a mother obsessed with true crime and incapable of parenting. i have always had an uncomfortable fascination-and-revulsion over it and i don't feel any less unsettled having watched this adaptation than i did prior to watching it. i would suggest to anyone interested in the likens case that you go read the court documents. the real testimony about what sylvia went through is truly difficult to stomach, but it's ultimately what made me stop being preoccupied by the case.