The girl next door in an american crime

Few weeks ago I was talking to a friend of mine who said he just saw probably the most horrific movie he had ever seen called The Girl Next Door. Then a week or so later another friend of mine said pretty much the same things about An American Crime. So I had to find out what it was all about as they were made in the same year and the story was strikingly similar. That reminded me of a similar case for example with Armageddon and Deep Impact having pretty much the same story and made in the same year. So I thought it would be a great idea to watch them at the same time to see which is better, something I later on figured out wasn't such a bright idea...



The Girl Next Door (2007)

Whoa, this certainly stopped me. One of the most painful, gripping and horrific movies that I've seen in a long time. It's extremely hard to watch, but that doesn't mean it's a bad movie by any means. It's brutal, it's nasty, it's just plain wrong and the most shocking part is that it's based on a true story. But it's not just exploitation of brutality to shock the viewers, there's a touching story in it too. Also Blanche Baker makes a shocking performance and genuinely portrays a scary character, really a performance you won't forget. Not to mention Blythe Auffarth as the girl who has to go thru the whole thing. It's definately not a movie for the squeamish and at parts the images are so strong that even I had a hard time watching. And I don't mean it's a gore fest, it's just so hard subject that even the smallest parts they show makes you feel sick. I don't think I want to see this movie ever again, but it left a memory in my head that won't go away any time soon either. If you're planning on seeing this, don't mistake it for The Girl Next Door from 2004 or you'll be in for a surprise... Thou I bet the surprise (or shock actually) would be bigger the other way around.
88%



An American Crime (2007)

Don't know if I was just numb for just seeing The Girl Next Door, but this wasn't as striking as it was. The story is pretty much the same but this was a much milder version of it, with court house drama fitted into it. The first images with the photos of the victim got me thinking "damn, I can't take another one of these in a row" and was about to stop it there. Well, I suppose luckily, the movie turned out to be a bit more "Hollywooded" version of the story. The cast did a great job, but even thou Catherine Keener does a great performance and Ellen Page is as good as always, they are nothing compared to those of The Girl Next Door. Don't get me wrong the story is as disturbing and ugly as in The Girl Next Door, but in a bit more easily approachable package. And there are some scenes that are horribly disturbing like the little girl saying with a happy voice "It's ok, mom said we can" while the kids are burning Sylvia (Ellen Page) with a cigarette, that's just twisted. And again the most disturbing thing is that the story is gathered from the actual court documents.
62%

So the "victory" goes to The Girl Next Door, mostly because it's so much more raw and realistic, you really feel for the characters. But if you're easily disturbed by strong movies An American Crime might be a better choise as The Girl Next Door isn't really an easy movie to watch. And I definitely can't recommend watching them both back to back for anyone. I think I'm going to stick to comedies for a while to get these movies out of my head.