Yeah.. right.

I might grant you a few of the points, but there's nothing "unbelievable" about frightened children caving into their parents' demands; children are very gullible and easy manipulated, especially by their parents who are their authority figures; it's just basic psychology.

"What happened to the American dream?"
"It came true! You're looking at it!"

Well one girl did tell someone at school,and the mother and the cowboy profit made it seem like she was crazy,and acting out because her father had left. The school didn't believe them, so they likely figure neither would the police. Now you must remember the area in which they lived in, it's kinda isolated,and you need to drive just to go anywhere. So without a car, they were pretty much stuck. Plus this is their mother. They love her,and they are likely filled with confusion, fear,and conflict. These was young teenager. You do know this was base on a true story,right.

This was loosely base on the story of "Theresa Knorr , who torment her children.Except that the mother and sons didn't die,they was convicted and went to jail,and the youngest daughter escape .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_Knorr










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You do realise that this movie was based on a true story, right? And that the movie actually considerably tones DOWN what these children suffered? When you are the victim of horrendous physical and mental abuse from before the age you can speak, you aren't exactly equipped to just walk away.

Lethe

@rushknight:

I had the exact same reaction. Even though it's based on a true story, I kept thinking to myself: Are these kids all RETARDED? They can't figure out how to go for help when the mother is gone? They can't figure out how to overpower her? And since the abuse, as depicted in the film, started when they were well into their teens, I'm not buying, as some other posters have stated, that they were too conditioned to do anything about it. All I can conclude is that since this, or some variation of this, did in fact happen, these kids were really messed up, along with the mother, even before the blatant abuse took place.

"Love isn't what you say or how you feel, it's what you DO". (The Last Kiss)

Well, it may seem that way, but it is 100% true. This story has been on many crime shows with interviews from the one remaining daughter. I believe that one of the shows that featured this story was Cold Case Files. But I've seen it on many other shows. The mother's real name is Theresa Knorr, and she's either still in prison, or she died there.

I just watched this movie, and I could have sworn the daughter narrating said the mother was gone for a whole WEEK while the one daughter was handcuffed in the shower. I'm sorry, but, if those kids were alone for a whole week, they would have had plenty of time to leave and go get help, call the police, contact that Pastor, or any other number of ways to end the situation. They all also had access to the gun. Instead of beating the one daughter with that paddle, they could have swung at the mother instead. Or all three of them could have ganged up on the mother early on, tied her up and left for help. There were any number of times where they could have escaped from or ended the abuse they were going through. They weren't helpless, small children, they were teenagers! I just don't buy how or why they put up with all that crap, allowed themselves to be put through that, and didn't do anything to help themselves? I wasn't disturbed by this movie at all, only pissed off at the helpless way these teens didn't fight back.

I watched a crime show on these and one of the girls did run away but was picked up for prostitution and she begged the cops not to take her back and told them everything that happend..that thought it was to crazy and the mom forced the youngest child to lie to the cops and tell them thier was no abuse so they sent her back..the mom ended up handcuffing the girl that ran way so she couldn't do it again..so the other kids might of thought if they ran away the same thing might happen...I do think it's odd that the oldest daughter how was over 18 didn't leave..but she might of stayed to protect her younger sister...you can never now what thier reasons for staying are

A victim of abuse doesn't think linear like that. Especially not when the abuser is a parent. Our parents teach us about life, expectations, reality, etc. Even in a normal home we are influenced greatly by our parents, but since most parents aren't abusive, we don't lose track of right and wrong or consequences or how to handle ourselves. An abused child, especially one like the ones in the movie, who suffered abuse all the way through their lives, don't know any better. A number of abused children have later stated that they thought that everyone lived like them. That violence was the norm in all households, and why would any child seek help from something they thought everyone did? And when it comes to the sons doing as their mother says, it's all down to self-preservation. The daughters were the biggest target, the sons weren't, if they helped their mother they wouldn't become the targets instead. These children most likely also always believed their mother was right, because this was their only reality.

Anyone who thinks that an abused kid can just easy as cake walk out the door and get help has no idea what abuse really is and how it can affect a person. The principle is the same as a woman in an abusive relationship - people keep asking "why didn't she leave him?" It's not that simple, and in a case like that we're talking about two adults, and not children molded by their mother's abuse.