Girl Next – Movie Review (2/5)

GIRL NEXT is a horror movie about human trafficking. Or really, it’s a “sexy slasher” movie with torture elements. And it’s definitely not for me! It’s low-budget and could have worked better if it just worked up the campiness. Read our full Girl Next movie review here!

GIRL NEXT is a horror movie that uses slasher, torture, erotic thriller to tell its “story”. Really, the story feels more like an excuse to show lots of half-naked women. Always engaging in either a sexual act (by force) or being tortured into obedience.

Also, since this movie is low-budget, there are a few production quality issues. Overall, they get away with most, but the more serious moments do seem to fall flat. The whole mad professor Lovecraftian schtick doesn’t work for me. And it completely misses the mark when suddenly we see a sex scene (which is essentially rape) from various angles with a porn-like gaze.

Continue reading our full Girl Next movie review below or click here and get straight to the trailer.

Don’t show rape to create revenge

Sure, the story in Girl Next does (sort of) evolve from being about a strange human trafficking “thing” to a revenge story. And some people might call that a show of feminist power. I’m not one of them. Showing rape and torture scenes, in order to create any sort of revenge moment, is old and tired.

This whole “sexy slasher” element where the women are either whores or virgins (in appearance anyway) meant I knew the filmmakers had to be men. And yes, they all are. If only kitsch or campiness could have been incorporated instead or this “dark and sinister” sexiness, the Lovecraft-vibe could actually have worked.

As this movie stands, I can’t say much nice about it. However, I also recognize that it just is not my thing, so I won’t completely trash it. I will just say that what looked on paper as something that could have been cool turned out to fall flat for me. I’d rather watch the amazing new The Girl and the Gun on Netflix or the deliciously sick and sexy The Perfection also on Netflix.

You can watch Girl Next on VOD

Larry Wade Carrell is the director of Girl Next and he also plays the role of the Sheriff in this movie. As an actor, you might recognize him from the 2017 thriller 200 Degrees. And as a director, he is currently working on a new horror movie titled The Quantum Devil which is a title I definitely find intriguing.

Then again, I’m a bit concerned that the screenplay for that upcoming movie is also written by Zeph E. Daniel. These are the only two movie credits on Zeph E. Daniel’s IMDb page (as both writer and producer) so I have no idea what to expect from this writer. I just really hope it isn’t more along the lines of Girl Next. Unless it has a more campy approach.

Also attached as a writer under the credit “story collaborator” is Michael Muscal. He actually worked as a production manager on Re-Animator (1985) which is, of course, one of the best-known H.P. Lovecraft adaptions. This new movie is just a pale copy in my opinion and completely misses most of those quirky elements that made it work.

CHECK OUT THIS INSTEAD

If you want to watch an awesome survival movie, then check out Revenge on Netflix >

Obviously, Girl Next was not my cup of tea. The fact that most of the cast wasn’t American despite the story taking place in the US was another weird thing for me. It’s almost like it wasn’t easy to cast women in this movie, which I can definitely understand. As I said in the opening, just check out the trailer to see if it “speaks to you”. If it doesn’t, then just skip it.

Girl Next is out on VOD from June 18, 2021.

Details

Director: Larry Wade Carrell
Writers: Larry Wade Carrell
Stars: Lacey Cofran, Rachel Alig, Marcus Jean Pirae, Paula Marcenaro Solinger, Larry Wade Carrell