The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane/Review

A year after catching notices in TAXI DRIVER, Jodie Foster appeared in this - probably the most lyric (and disturbing) film of her early career. Fourteen year-old (though she looks younger than she did in Scorsese's film) Foster stars as Rynn, the "little girl" of the title. Rynn lives all alone in a big, beautiful old house on the beach in the East Coast. During the day, she goes about her business, buying groceries, running errands and the like. The local cop Miglioriti (Mort Shuman) gives her a ride home one day when it's raining, and asks where her father, the widow, is. Rynn replies that he is out of town, working on his next novel, but feels comfortable in letting her stay by herself. Seeing how self-sufficient Rynn is, Miglioriti happily goes on his way, but lets Rynn know he's there if she needs anything. Everything is going great until her landlord Mrs. Hallet (Alexis Smith) shows up looking for Rynn's father. Seems even though the rent on the house is well past current, Mrs. Hallet wants them out (she's just a bitch, I guess). Rynn protests and promises that her father will contact her to straighten everything out.

Of course, Rynn's dad never calls so Hallet's son Frank (a creepy-ass Martin Sheen) shows up to harass Rynn. Like Rynn and the rest of us figure out, Frank has pee-pee touching tendencies and thinks Rynn would make a perfect victim. Rynn gets rid of Frank, but he vows to return. In town one day, she runs in to Mario (Scott Jacoby) a dorky teen magician who she becomes friends with and forms a very mature, emotional bond. As Mrs. Hallet and Frank close in on Rynn, how long can she keep her secret...and her life?

THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE isn't a horror movie in the slightest (even if the poster art and taglines would lead you to believe that). It's a sad drama/mystery with nasty undertones that fit right in the grindhouse genre. Frank's pedophiliac tendencies aren't explicitly stated or shown, but you'd have to be blind not to see what he's really after. In a way, the movie acts as every kid's fantasy where they have a place all to themselves with no adults around and a friend/lover who would do anything for them. It kind of reminds me in tone of DON'T LOOK NOW where you can just feel that something is terribly wrong, you just don't know what. There's an impending sense of doom in the film, and you know it surrounds Rynn (and Mario, to some extent), you just don't know how. With that said, Rynn's secret itself is not much of a shock - but it still hits hard. It's an incredibly well written, well acted film that certainly feels European (some of the producers as well as the director are French) in tone and style. The central characters are few, as are the sets. The story could act just as well as a play. But for a PG-rated thriller (it would certainly be an R nowadays), it's pretty grim, heady stuff.

While not as exploitive as most AIP stuff, this is hardly mainstream material. It deals with topics that you have to have a more open mind and maturity to deal with. It's characters are very realistic and the situation itself is very possible. I guess the best label for the film would be a "Gothic mystery/romance". But don't let that stop you. It's still a trip worth taking and well worth seeking out. Some films just never leave you and float around your mind for a long time afterwards. This is one of those movies. If that's not what you're looking for, watch ZOMBI 2 instead. But if you want something that brings you in to it's world and makes you uncomfortably sympathetic - you found it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Reviewed by ECWaenigma