| Overall Grade: |
B- |
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| Story: |
B+ |
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| Acting: |
B- |
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| Direction: |
C |
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| Visuals: |
C |
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TOO AWFUL FOR FILM
by PO'D (movies profile)
Jan 24, 2009
1
of
1 people found this review helpful
Here's the thing about this movie. It is the film version of an excellent novel by Jack Ketchum (his writing is MUCH scarier than Stephen King's ever has been) which is based on a true story that happened in Indiana in the mid-sixties. This psychotic woman (this time around played by Blanche Baker...eh...not too bad...but Katherine Keener did a much better job in another film about the same subject matter, called "An American Crime", also made in 2007) IS YOUR HEAD SPINNING YET??? Anyway...this psychotic BEYOTCH has decided to punish her niece by keeping her tied up in the basement and torturing her, having her kids torture her, AND having many of the neighborhood kids either torture her or watch the torture. Why this story primarily cannot be made into an effective film is because of the nature of what is actually happening. Jack Ketchum's novel is so horrific that I actually didn't think I was going to be able to finish it, and this comes from a horror/serial killer/holocaust fanatic who has a library of these books large enough to start my own business. So you can imagine when I say that the things they did to this 16 year old girl (in fiction and in real life) are so terrible that there is no way to convey what was actually happening on the screen. But these people tried, and for the most part, this movie was okay. It is truly shocking and you WILL be repelled. However, if you like this movie and haven't read Ketchum's novel by the same name, then I suggest you do so. That is, IF you are able to turn the pages after the torturing begins....... |
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