Girl in the Box (2016) Reviews

• Good telling of a compelling, tragic tale

  mgconlan-12016-09-11

  The latest Lifetime "world premiere" movie, "Girl in the Box," was based on the horrific true story of Colleen Stan (Addison Timlin), which I'd read about previously in a true-crime paperback, who in 1977 was hitchhiking her way from Eugene, Oregon (where she lived in a difficult relationship with her mom and stepfather) to Westwood, California. She got as far as Red Bluff, where after turning down a couple of would-be pickups (one from a group of guys who were all too excited at seeing a young woman alone, and one from a couple who weren't going far enough for her to want to bother with), she got in a car with Cameron Hooker (Zane Holtz) and his wife Janice (Zelda Williams). Lifetime showed this and then a documentary about the same case in which Colleen Stan agreed to participate and revisit the scenes of her humiliation and seven-year ordeal: the home in which the Hookers lived and in which she was imprisoned in their basement and routinely suspended from a ceiling beam by her wrists and beaten by Cameron; later the trailer they moved into when Cameron's landlord started to get suspicious and told them that for insurance purposes he was going to have to enter their basement and inspect their furnace; and the truly horrific contraption Cameron built for her after that, since the mobile home didn't have a basement. Instead he built her a box, barely big enough to accommodate her, with an air pump to let in more-or-less fresh air and a bedpan for when she needed to use the bathroom, but not only was there no room to move in the box, it was kept bolted shut. Judging from the documentary (and my memories of the book) Stephen Kemp told the story relatively factually, though with some odd changes; he has a set of marvelously kinky scenes in which Janice gives birth to a daughter (one of her justifications for going along with Cameron's kidnapping of Colleen was his promise that if she did so, he'd have normal sex with her and thereby give her the child she'd long wanted) while Colleen hears the sounds of her labor from the box under the Hookers' waterbed, but in real life that was the Hookers' second child and their first had already been born and was eight months old and in the car when Colleen was kidnapped. The film also builds up tension over Colleen's demands to be allowed to go home and see her family, which in the movie happens shortly before she's released but in reality happened about four years into her captivity — and the fact that she returned to Cameron after the visit became a key point in Cameron's defense when the police finally arrested him. "Girl in the Box" is one of those stories that's so incredibly compelling even glitches in the telling can't sap it of its interest. The biggest area in which I give Stephen Kemp points is that he's able to make all three principals genuinely interesting characters rather than cardboard heroines or villains; Janice comes off as part-perpetrator, part-victim; Cameron shows off a real personal charm even though we hate him for his actions (one could see why a woman would fall in love with him and go along willingly with at least some of his demands, and the fact that he's a nice person on the surface and a villain only underneath makes him scarier than if he'd been played as a typical looney-tunes movie psycho); and Colleen comes off as a sympathetic victim but also an almost terminally naïve one. One of the cops who worked on the case called Cameron a "pure psychopath," which for once is technically accurate — the general definition of a psychopath is someone who regards other people as simply objects he or she can use however he or she likes, without any account for their needs or feelings at all — to the point where they can kill people and not feel a shred of guilt or remorse; they were just in the way and s/he got rid of them. The film's casting directors, Stephanie Gorin and Laura Durant, also deserve kudos for finding three people to play the principals who look strikingly like the real ones. "Girl in the Box" is a quite good film, occasionally oppressive in the fantasy sequences Kemp put in to emphasize Colleen's spirituality and its role in getting her through her ordeal (she never seems to have encountered what theologians call the "theodicy" problem — i.e., why an all-knowing and all-loving God would have let that horrible thing happen to her in the first place) but mostly well directed, well written and beautifully acted.

• One of the most intense Lifetime true crime movies

  phd_travel2016-11-18

  This Lifetime movie is big screen feature film quality. I found it better than Room because the true story is so much more bizarre and horrible than any fictional account could be. It's better than the Lifetime Ariel Castro movie. The story of Colleen Stan kidnapped raped and brainwashed for 7 years is truly horrific. Her confinement in the box is terrible but quite shocking is how brainwashed she was that she didn't escape given many opportunities. Her visit to her family is so unbelievable it has to be true. The cast is excellent. Addison Timlin as Colleen is convincing and acts well. Her suffering is shown enough. Zane Holtz is good too as the crazy kidnapper. Zelda Williams daughter of Robin is equally convincing as the wife who has some warped religious rationale. This movie is better than many big budget fictional thrillers.

• This Ain't No 50 Shades of Gray

  gbkmmaurstad2018-05-10

  True story of Colleen Stan, age 20 who convinces her parents she'll be okay hitchhiking from Eugene, Oregon to northern California to surprise a friend on their 21st birthday. She hitches a ride with Cameron and Janice Hooker, only to be kidnapped by them and spends the next seven years of her life as their sex slave. As Janice tells her, "You're only here to take the pain." This is a film reminds all of us, people are rarely what they seem and how the human mind, body, and spirit can survive in horrific conditions. The film contains violence (bondage) and very adult situations, but a must see if you or anyone you know still think hitching a ride is just as safe as any other type of transportation.

• Very uosetting

  orangemen15032018-09-30

  I had heard of this case and when the movie was on today I decided to watch it. Biggest complaint is it was too short. Once Colleen escapes it would have been good if we saw the police take her abductor into custody. Instead we see her get on a bus and then some text about the resolution. It's hard to believe a woman of 20 years old believed what he told her about the "company" but after being beaten and tortured I guess your mind starts to do crazy things to you. This is a movie you should watch but it isn't a popcorn flick. The things that happen to Colleen are sickening and you will want to take a shower after seeing it.

• Surprisingly creepy film, beautifully filmed

  OJT2018-06-03

  This is a little hidden gem of a of a psycho killer movie, about a kidnapping that found place in 1977, of a young hitch hiking woman, picked up by an odd couple in rural California. The 20 year old woman is soon gagged and put in a wooden box and kept there for a long time, before being kept as a slave. The film immediately gets your attention for being very beautifully filmed, and kept in sunny warm colors, asa contrast to the chilly story. The film is also well acted, by the estranged couple, played by Zelda Williams and Zane Holtz, both doing a great job. The victim is played by Addison Timlin. Well worth a watch!