1958. a quiet small town . sensitive fifteen year old meg loughlin ( a disarmingly sweet performance by blythe auffarth ) and her crippled young sister susan ( the excellent madeline taylor ) be two orphaned girl who be take care of by their stern and unhinged aunt ruth chandler ( superbly play with formidable steely grit by blanche baker ) follow the death of both their parent in a car accident . when meg stand up to ruth harsh treatment of both herself and susan and ruth have her tie up in the basement and encourage a handful of local kid who include her own three son and nice guy david moran ( a likable performance by daniel manche ) to inflect all sort of vicious abuse and torture on poor meg . director gregory m. wilson and work from an unsparingly grim and hard hit script by daniel farrands and philip nutman and offer a powerfully unsettling and provocative meditation on the destruction of innocence and the depraved wickedness lurking just underneath suburbia well manicured surface and the casual sadism of adolescence and and the horror of strict discipline and rigid morality go dangerously around the bend . moreover and wilson show admirable restraint and suggest more than show the various atrocity commit in the picture . it this latter element of commendable tact and taste which give this movie it extra unnerving edge . the uniformly terrific act rate a another major asset represent baker deliver a positively chill portrayal of serene evil a ruth and auffarth be both brave and heart breaking a the unfortunate meg and moran likewise impress a david and plus there be sound support contribution from graham patrick martin a the mean willie chandler jr. and catherine mary stewart a david cheery mom and grant shaw a david easygoing dad and and william atherton a the regretful grow up david . william m. miller fluid and sparkle cinematography and ryan shore delicately melodic score and the nonexploitative and matter of fact handling of the unpleasant subject matter and and the frightening plausibility of the whole story far enhance the considerable jolting impact and potency of this profoundly disturbing and gut wrench descent into the cinematic abyss .