It only gets worse from here.
- Ruth in general is a disturbing woman. With little effort, she is able to manipulate her own children into abusing a young girl, for no explainable reason other than for sadistic pleasure. And her severe hatred for children proved her to be an even greater threat towards her sons.
- Her treatment of Meg aside, Ruth was creepy even before Meg came along. Prior to this, the film makes it clear that Ruth had taken it upon herself to provide the neighborhood boys with sexual education. While it doesn't seem to have involved outright molesting them, it would definitely qualify as grooming, and it's shown in shockingly explicit detail.
- Ruth's boys think nothing of torturing Meg or Susan. What makes it particularly disturbing is how they devolve into this because their mother allows it.
- Several of Meg's scenes of getting tortured are this, but the most disturbing moment is definitely the scene where Ruth burns off Meg's clitoris with a blowtorch to insure that she will never feel sexual desire again. The bloodcurdling scream Meg makes sets the scene well.
- While she deserved it, David lures Ruth into the basement with a fire he set and then bashes her in the head repeatedly with Susan's crutches. David could've ended up murdering himself by a vengeful Willie had it not been for Officer Jennings coming in at the last moment.
- The most terrifying part? This is all loosely based on an event that actually happened.
