I thought this film was rather weak. While the performance rendered by Jena Malone (Bone) was heartbreaking and painful, the rest of the film fell short of being anywhere near an "8" (as reflected by the IMDb vote). I felt the characters were stereotypical and unconvincing. Furthermore, the subject matter was approached with a very narrow viewpoint, and I found the violence to be rather gratuitous. Overall, the film left me unsatisfied; not because of the uncomfortable theme, but because the acting was inadequate, the characters were flat, and the film appealed to it's audience on a purely emotional level through excessive and disturbing images.
Review of Bastard Out of Carolina
