The Girl Next Door

The Suburbs.

A contented time in a quiet place for most.

But not for all.

For on a tranquil, tree-lined street, in a dark basement, fourteen-year-old Meg and her little sister Susan are about to learn everything there is to know about the savagery in the human heart.

And an entire neighborhood, young and old alike, will either turn away from the madness, or succumb to it, joining in the slow, sadistic torture of a victim too beautiful and too innocent for her own good. Here, only one young boy will dare to reach out to make an agonizing choice between love and compassion – and violence and evil.

The Girl Next Door: Collector’s Edition Screenplay

The Girl Next Door Collector’s Edition Screenplay is screenplay adaptation of the novel The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum. The book is loosely based on true events surrounding the torture and murder of Sylvia Likens by Gertrude Baniszewski during the summer of 1965. Set in 1958, the screenplay follows the story of two adolescent girls, Meg and Susan who, upon losing their parents in an accident, are sent to live with their Aunt Ruth Chandler, a sadistic psychopath, and their three cousins. The screenplay was written by Daniel Farrands and Philip Nutman.

The Girl Next Door (film)

In a quiet suburban town in the summer of 1958, two recently orphaned sisters are placed in the care of their mentally unstable Aunt Ruth (Emmy® winner Blanche Baker of Holocaust). But Ruth s depraved sense of discipline will soon lead to unspeakable acts of abuse and torture that involve her young sons, the neighborhood children, and one 12-year-old boy whose life will be changed forever. William Atherton (Die Hard), Catherine Mary Stewart (Night of the Comet) and Grant Show (Melrose Place) co-star in this devastating drama adapted from the controversial best seller by Jack Ketchum that Rue Morgue Magazine called one of the most disturbing reads in the history of horror literature.

The Girl Next Door

Somebody’s Knocking’…

Suburbia in the 1950s. A nice quiet simpler time to grow up – unless you count the McCarthy trials and red-scares and the shadow of the Bomb, and the Cold War, unless you could see the dark side emerging. And on a quiet tree-lined dead-end street, in the dark damp basement of the Chandler house, it’s emerging big-time for teenage Meg and her crippled sister Susan – whose parents are dead now, who are left captive to the savage whims and rages of a distant Aunt who is rapidly descending into madness. It is a madness that infects all three of her sons – and finally an entire neighborhood. Only one troubled boy stands hesitantly between Meg and Susan and their cruel, tortuous deaths. A boy with a very adult decision to make. Between love and compassion, and lust and evil.

Features an introduction by Stephen King.

Limited Editions also feature afterwords by Christopher Golden, Lucy Taylor, Edward Lee, Philip Nutman, and Stanley Wiater, and are signed by all contributors, including Neal McPheeters, who provided the cover art.

隣の家の少女 (The Girl Next Door) (Japan)

Japanese edition of The Girl Next Door, translated by Hiroshi Kaneko.

Το κορίτσι της διπλανής πόρτας (The Girl Next Door) (Greece)

Greek edition of The Girl Next Door, translated by Nick Roussos.

(Nick Roussos later did a revised translation in 2011).

The Girl Next Door

Suburbia. Shady, tree-lined streets, well-tended lawns and cozy homes. A nice, quiet place to grow up. Unless you are teenage Meg or her crippled sister, Susan. On a dead-end street, in the dark, damp basement of the Chandler house, Meg and Susan are left captive to the savage whims and rages or a distant aunt who is rapidly descending into madness. It is a madness that infects all three of her sons – and finally the entire neighborhood. Only one troubled boy stands hesitantly between Meg and Susan and their cruel, torturous deaths. A boy with a very adult decision to make.

This edition also features the stories Do You Love Your Wife? and Returns.

Contents:

The Girl Next Door
Do You Love Your Wife?
Returns

Evil (The Girl Next Door) (Germany)

German edition of The Girl Next Door, translated by Friedrich Mader.

Une Fille Comme Les Autres (The Girl Next Door) (France)

French edition of The Girl Next Door, translated by Benoît Domis.

La Chica de al Lado (The Girl Next Door) (Spain)

Spanish edition of The Girl Next Door, translated by Paz Fernández.

The Girl Next Door

Movie tie-in edition.

Suburbia. Shady, tree-lined streets, well-tended lawns and cozy homes. A nice, quiet place to grow up. Unless you are teenage Meg or her crippled sister, Susan. On a dead-end street, in the dark, damp basement of the Chandler house, Meg and Susan are left captive to the savage whims and rages or a distant aunt who is rapidly descending into madness. It is a madness that infects all three of her sons – and finally the entire neighborhood. Only one troubled boy stands hesitantly between Meg and Susan and their cruel, torturous deaths. A boy with a very adult decision to make.

This edition also features the stories Do You Love Your Wife? and Returns. The Movie Tie-In Edition also contains a bonus interview.

Contents:

The Girl Next Door
Do You Love Your Wife?
Returns
We Have Permission (interview with Jack Ketchum by Quentin Dunne) – Movie Tie-In Edition only.