Emerging shortly after the movie adaptation of Jack Ketchum’s punishing THE GIRL NEXT DOOR – a fictionalized version of the Sylvia Likens case – comes this absorbing alternate cinematic interpretation of the horrifying events, this time with some of the real names of those involved, including Sylvia herself. Set against a nicely evoked 60’s middle America backdrop that captures the look, attitudes and music (Petula Clark’s “Downtown”, “You Don’t Own Me”) of the period, it’s another descent into suburban horror.
AN AMERICAN CRIME is related in flashback, framed by scenes from the court case that followed the discovery of atrocities on an Indiana street in 1965. The film is bleakly narrated from beyond the grave by the key character (Ellen Page as Likens) who will not survive the story. Page and her Polio-afflicted younger sister befriend the daughters of a well-regarded mother of six (Catherine Keener) on their Baptist Church bus. While their parents are away for two months, Keener agrees to care for Page and her sister for $20 a week. When their dad’s promised check apparently fails to arrive, a long period of abuse begins, beginning with a flogging in Keener’s basement.
Cast boldly against type, Keener, her pallid face drained of all life and joy, is a powerful presence in a role that is simultaneously pitiful and terrifying. She’s not the intimidating monster “Ruth” is in THE GIRL NEXT DOOR in either of its incarnations : director Tommy O’Haver often cuts away to reinforce Keener’s humanity with voyeuristic scenes of her alone and weeping pathetically. There are shades of Mrs Robinson in Keener’s provocative, seductive manner toward much younger boys (James Franco portrays her sleazy former toy-boy). We are, however, never in any doubt that this embittered, asthmatic, middle-aged divorcee is an unreasonable and unstable person capable of unimaginable cruelty.
This cruelty is conveyed in a discreet but nonetheless upsetting fashion. One of the most horrifying aspects of the real case is conveyed here : kids torture Page because an adult lets them (“It’s OK, Momma said we can…”). Page’s Sylvia becomes an endlessly victimized plaything for the neighborhood children to torment for pleasure : the film doesn’t flinch from unveiling the callousness inherent in kids and the kind of behavior they could conceivably indulge in with an adult’s permission.
It’s a more suggestive, less overtly harrowing film than THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, which was itself toned down considerably from the Ketchum book and indeed some of the harder-to-take facts of the real case. It is, however, still frequently distressing : you won’t quickly forget the sight of Keener stubbing out cigarettes on Page’s arms or an off-camera violation with a coke bottle or a horrific branding with a hot needle designed to scar Sylvia with the prominent words “I’m a prostitute and I’m proud” etched into her body for eternity. Away from the physical horrors, the movie’s cruelest touch takes a trick from THE DESCENT and stages an optimistic escape sequence that turns out to be a dream in the mind of the doomed Sylvia.
Unexploitative and low key but hauntingly grim, this companion piece to one of last year’s most powerful genre films is authentically acted by all. Check it out but be prepared for a depressing evening.
– Steven West
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
