Over the G.W.

While their parents hoped rehab would get their son and daughter back on track, the center turns out to be a hellish prison where the patients are treated more like subjects in a horrible experiment than troubled teenagers needing help. Based on the director's personal experience, this shocking--and sometimes brutal--depiction is a stunner.

Critically acclaimed for performances and frankness, Over The GW tells writer/director Nick Taglia's own harrowing tale of drug rehabilitation in the late 90's. The story follows troubled siblings (George Gallagher, Kether Donohue) as they are removed from their Bronx home and committed to a New Jersey treatment center by their well-meaning parents. As an expected 30 day stay stretches to two years, the siblings are systematically brainwashed into a state of abject fear by cult-like staff members. Resembling jail-time more than rehabilitation, the film strikingly captures, remarkable in its restraint, the gradual erosion of free will exposing physically and mentally abusive reprogramming masquerading as rehabilitation.

Drug Addiction | Suspense | Teenagers | Thriller