''The Afflicted'' (also known as ''Another American Crime'') is a 2011 American horror thriller film written and directed by Jason Stoddard. A
limited theatrical release
__FORCETOC__
Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
,
it is based on the crimes of
Theresa Knorr, an American woman who killed her husband in 1964, and torture-murdered two of her children during the 1980s. It stars
Leslie Easterbrook
Leslie Easterbrook is an American actress and producer. She played Sgt./Lt./Capt. Debbie Callahan in the ''Police Academy'' films and Rhonda Lee on the television series ''Laverne & Shirley''.
Early life
Easterbrook was adopted when she was nin ...
as Maggie, a mentally disturbed mother of four who begins abusing her children based on her own twisted interpretations of the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
.
Kane Hodder
Kane Warren Hodder (born April 8, 1955)According to the State of California. ''California Birth Index, 1905–1995''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At Ancestry.com is an Americ ...
co-stars as Maggie's husband, Hank.
Plot
Hours after his daughter Carla's sixteenth birthday, Hank attempts to run off in the middle of the night, but is caught by his mentally unstable wife, Maggie. The two argue and accuse each other of infidelity, and when Hank threatens to take their four children away from her, Maggie snaps and beats him to death with a baseball bat; after hiding his body, Maggie tells the rest of the family that Hank has absconded with his mistress. Maggie subsequently becomes a shut-in and descends into alcoholism and religious mania, spending most of her time obsessing over Pastor Jon Stackwell, an unscrupulous local
televangelist
Televangelism (wikt:tele-, tele- "distance" and "evangelism," meaning "Christian ministry, ministry," sometimes called teleministry) is the use of media, specifically radio and television, to communicate Christianity. Televangelists are minister ...
nicknamed the "Cowboy Prophet."
Maggie begins abusing her children, and pulls them out of school when one of them, Cathy, tries to get help from the incredulous Principal Walsh. When they run out of money, Maggie coerces her son Bill into becoming a
day labor
Day labor (or day labour in Commonwealth spelling) is work done where the worker is hired and paid one day at a time, with no promise that more work will be available in the future. It is a form of contingent work.
Types
Day laborers (also kn ...
er, and starts
pimping
Procuring or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term pimp has still ...
Carla out to a man named Randy. Seeing herself as overweight and hideous, Maggie takes her frustrations over this out on Cathy, and one night forces her to eat canned foods blended with
lard
Lard is a semi-solid white fat product obtained by rendering the fatty tissue of a pig.[Lard]
entry in the o ...
; when Cathy stands up to her, Maggie shoots her in the shoulder, and leaves her shackled in the bathtub after making an inept attempt at treating her wound.
When Cathy begs to be released, Maggie agrees to let her go, but only on the condition that she be allowed to remove the bullet from Cathy's shoulder. The "surgery" that Maggie performs on Cathy exacerbates the girl's injury, and she dies from the combination of it and the mixture of
vodka
Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuritie ...
and pills that Maggie had given her as an
anesthetic
An anesthetic (American English) or anaesthetic (British English; see spelling differences) is a drug used to induce anesthesia — in other words, to result in a temporary loss of sensation or awareness. They may be divided into two ...
. While Maggie is asleep and Bill is out disposing of Cathy's body, Carla tries to run away, and stumbles onto her father's remains. Maggie catches Carla, brings her home, and threatens her other children into bludgeoning their sister with a wooden paddle before locking her in a closet, where she is left to die.
After Carla's death, Maggie pimps her youngest daughter, Grace, out to Randy in her place, and orders Bill to dump and burn Carla's corpse. Carla's charred body is soon discovered by the police, and recognized by Pastor Jon, who races to Maggie's home. Grace, traumatized from being raped by Randy, shoots Maggie to death with her own gun, and then fatally stabs Bill, unaware that he had also been planning on killing Maggie. Pastor Jon arrives at the house, and tries to talk the suicidal Grace down, offering to take the blame for all of the murders, but Grace shoots herself anyway.
Cast
Release
''The Afflicted'' was given a
limited theatrical release
__FORCETOC__
Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
on October 21, 2011 by Nocturnal Features,
in association with Acort International and Midnight Releasing.
On its opening weekend, the film
grossed $90,272, and by November 11, 2011 had grossed $212,940. It was released on DVD on April 3, 2012 by Midnight Releasing.
Reception
Leslie Easterbrook
Leslie Easterbrook is an American actress and producer. She played Sgt./Lt./Capt. Debbie Callahan in the ''Police Academy'' films and Rhonda Lee on the television series ''Laverne & Shirley''.
Early life
Easterbrook was adopted when she was nin ...
's performance was praised by
Ain't It Cool News
Ain't It Cool News (AICN) is an entertainment news website founded by Harry Knowles and run by his sister Dannie Knowles since September 2017, dedicated to news, rumors, and reviews of upcoming and current films, television, and comic book proje ...
, which concluded its review of the film with, "''The Afflicted'' is not for everyone, but stands out for its bold performances and its ability to burrow into the viewer's brainpan." Easterbrook's acting was also commended by Corey Danna of Horror News, who gave the "incredibly depressing" film a final score of 4/5 while opining that it explored "very real horror" in a way that was "more heart wrenching than exploitative." A grade of 1/4 was awarded by
Arrow in the Head
The JoBlo Movie Network includes a website, JoBlo.com, which focuses on news, film reviews, and movie trailers; and YouTube channels that focus on trailers, movie clips, celebrity interviews, original content, and as film distribution.
Early da ...
, which called the film "unwatchable" and "a complete mess" before ending its review of ''The Afflicted'' with, "I hate to be heavy-handed, but this is just a bad film. I have nothing good to say about it. The acting is histrionic, the characters lacking any depth or nuance, and the pacing very poor."
See also
* ''
An American Crime
''An American Crime'' is a 2007 American crime horror drama film directed by Tommy O'Haver and starring Elliot Page and Catherine Keener. The film is based on the true story of the torture and murder of Sylvia Likens by Indianapolis single moth ...
''
* ''
The Girl Next Door''
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Afflicted, The
2011 directorial debut films
2011 films
2011 horror thriller films
2011 independent films
2011 psychological thriller films
2010s American films
2010s English-language films
2010s exploitation films
2010s psychological horror films
2010s serial killer films
American exploitation films
American films based on actual events
American horror thriller films
American independent films
American nonlinear narrative films
American psychological horror films
American psychological thriller films
American serial killer films
Cultural depictions of American women
Cultural depictions of female serial killers
Fiction about familicide
Filicide in fiction
Films about alcoholism
Films about birthdays
Films about child abuse
Films about child death
Films about child labour
Films about child prostitution
Films about child sexual abuse
Films about domestic violence
Films about dysfunctional families
Films about mental health
Films about prostitution in the United States
Films about rape in the United States
Films about religion
Films about self-harm
Films about siblings
Films about single parent families
Films about widowhood in the United States
Films set in 2011
Films set in South Carolina
Films shot in South Carolina
Horror films based on actual events
Mariticide in fiction
Murder–suicide in films
Religious horror films
Religious thriller films
Torture in films