The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane [DVD]

A question you tangle with often as a fan of unusual and controversial movies is “Why should anyone watch this?”This comes up especially with exploitation films – movies which by their nature are provocative and cross lines in an attempt to sell more tickets. To me, it’s the fact that these films often show stomach-turning realistic stories that other movies don’t dare put on screen and reveal some unique and interesting performances from their cast. A perfect example of this is seen in the little-known thriller that gave Jodie Foster one of her first lead roles, The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976). If you’ve heard of this Canadian/French thriller at all, it’s likely for the controversy surrounding it, and it’s only fair to include that alongside any recommendations. Foster has mostly disowned the film due to a short and gratuitous nude scene that she felt pushed the exploitation too far. Foster, in her early teens at the time, was very obviously doubled by her much older sister which makes the nudity even more jarring and inconsistent within the otherwise grounded story. The scene though, unusual nudity aside, is one of the many aspects of a film that manages to use its exploitation status to explore themes of teenage sexuality, children’s rights and small town corruption in ways many mainstream films would be afraid to tackle. All these come together to give Foster a role that stretches her acting chops even further than Taxi Driver did in the same year. In the film Jodie Foster plays Rynn Jacobs, a young teen in small town Maine who finds herself beset upon by nosy neighbors seeking to upend her bohemian lifestyle as they become curious about her absent poet father. The worst of these interlopers comes in the form of Frank Hallet, played by a wonderfully repellent Martin Sheen, a known pedophile with powerful parents in town who begins to use Rynn’s father’s absence to menace her. The film’s plot is based heavily on a mystery, so to reveal too much more would spoil things. I’ll just say that there’s terror, stage magic, and a reason why Rynn seems so mature beyond her years.Both Martin Sheen and Jodie Foster had yet to have their career-defining roles, but both get a chance to flex their acting abilities tremendously in the film. Rynn is almost a polar opposite to Iris, the ingenue role in Taxi Driver which earned Foster her first Oscar nomination. Rynn is cold, determined and absolutely capable of taking care of herself. It takes other characters, even those on her side, a while to even begin to break her walls down. In Rynn, we see a surprising amount of the techniques and pathos Jodie Foster would use in her adult roles - aspects that are mostly absent from her films until the 80s. Her grounding of the character allows the film to explore many dark sides of childhood, and real danger children of the 70s faced, all while keeping the plotlines feeling uncomfortably close to home. Scott Jacoby (of Bad Ronald) is also terrific.Martin Sheen, mostly known at the time for his work in Terrence Malick’s Badlands, gets one of his first cracks at a truly slimy and terrifying villain. Martin Sheen had seen some of Foster’s work and was eager to act alongside her, and the film’s tension works partially because Sheen holds nothing back, treating his teenage co-star as an equal and pushing their conflict to its limits. The game of cat-and-mouse amongst its main characters becomes all the more thrilling when you can’t tell who is the cat and who is the mouse. Unlike traditional horror movies, exploitation thrillers toe the line of acceptability in terms of themes to mine for terror. The content warning for The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane is a mile long, ranging from the controversial nudity to unexpected things like simulated animal abuse but, if you’re willing to get your hands a little dirty, it’s a rewarding experience. The tackling of controversial and unusual subjects sometimes leads to groundbreaking performances and a fascinating showcase for some of Hollywood’s biggest actors before they were famous. Though this Blu-ray (like MGM’s previous 2005 DVD) is the 92-minute version that AIP released here theatrically in 1977, a longer Canadian version is reported to exist. Though rated PG, it’s pretty shocking to see Foster’s older sister Connie standing in for her to do a brief nude scene for a character that supposed to be so young, and it’s surprising that this, along with Jacoby hollering the “F” word didn’t push the film to an R rating back then, even though the ratings system was far more liberal at the time.Kino Lorber now presents MGM’s HD master of the film on Blu-ray, and it’s a welcome upgrade of their 2005 DVD release. Presented in 1080p in the proper 1.85:1 aspect ratio, the original vault materials must have been in great condition because the transfer looks flawless, with rich detail. There's no damage or dirt to be seen here, and the colors are bold, with well-defined skin tones, fine grain structure and excellent contrast. The English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track is also in great shape, with clear dialogue and the irresistible, very 1970s score by Christian Gaubert also sounding off nicely. There are no subtitle options on the Blu-ray.Director Nicolas Gessner (the Sharon Tate vehicle, The 13 Chairs, and the Anthony Perkins/Charles Bronson thriller, Someone Behind The Door) givex an excellent, well-rounded audio commentary, which starts with him apologizing for his French accent (he’s actually perfectly understandable). Gessner mentions how he was so pleased to be able to option the project (which was also optioned by famed producer Sam Spiegel), and describes it as not a horror film but a “teenage love story”. He goes on to delve deeply into the characters, the story’s “hide and seek” games, his approach to directing and getting the best out of an actor’s talent, the casting, finding the locations, the difficulties of it being a French-Canadian production, and the mood he was trying to create with his cinematic vision. He details the on-screen death of “Gordon” the hamster (he wasn’t harmed and actually adopted by a crew member, as dead hospital hamsters were substituted for his demise) and he also tells some great stories about some of the other movies he’s directed (including a killer anecdote about his lunch with Rod Steiger before a film shoot).“Back Down the Lane: Martin Sheen on The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane” (27:27) has the actor sitting down and enthusiastically discussing his getting the role and how he thought it was an interesting part. He calls his director playful and encouraging and that he had a clear image of what he wanted to do, and that he made the project fun (he thought he did a “masterful” job with the film). Sheen recalls that the chance to work with Foster was the biggest attraction for him, and that he didn’t have reservations about his devious character since nothing was overt. In between his recollections of his character, he speaks fondly of his other co-stars (Smith, Jacoby and Shuman) and relates that shooting in Montreal was very cold (which was the only negative thing he has to say about the shoot). Sheen also describes the hamster-killing scene, assuring us that they used dead, possibly stuffed specimens for the scene. “Martin Sheen talks with Nicolas Gessner via Skype” (5:33) is exactly that and it’s very nice to witness the friendly reunion though modern technology. The original trailer is also included, and the cover sleeve is reversible (featuring the AIP ad art on the opposite side).

A french canadian film with a melancholy tone, what makes the story particularly enjoyable is to consider the ways that the writer has structured the circumstances that the main character is exposed to, which form the situations she finds herself in. Pay attention also to the economy of the directing-- long camera shots msake the audioence appreciate the mood the actors create. There are two aspects i noticed that make this film especially interesting:she is not malicious. she is not deranged and shouldn't be feared, which in some ways the cover art portrays her to make that impression. But rather the deaths that occur weren't intentional but that they just fell together naturally, yet it becommes unfortunate for the girl. These circumstances create a mysterious air about her, and the fact that she is friendless exacerbates the unusualness, although it is truly brought out when she makes her first friend, the magician. Through him, with regard to her needs for friendship & parenthood, she realizes the true realitiy she deals with which her suppressed feelings had dulled, perhaps as a psychological survival mechanism. Most importantly to recognize is that her precociousness seems to attract adult situations which give the plot flavor in the first place. It is unheard of to the other town folk that a girl spends so much time alone. What makes it interesting is the circumstances this lonesome girl is thrown into through no choice of her own, and her interesting responses to them, which also come across as unusual for one so young.Second aspect: there is an underlying sense of the sexism that a female must brook in society, which the main character experiences at so young an age---that very reality shapes her personality as the next level of maturity she is faced with after the adjustments she had to work through from the recent suicide of her father, where the story opens at. The audience is never told what happened to her father, but we're left to figure out through presuming that was the case. So, the story might be used as a little study in socialization, not just with the psychological insecurities of labeling people & hostile judging those who come from different cultures as "others" based on their nationality (British in this case); to a good look of the treatment of people in a community based on their gender, and how people place expectations on each other with regard to age as well. Status might be considered too, as her father had a respectable one strictly based on what type pf work he did.Overall, aside from taking the story for what it is, and with good music, producers did a commendable job & credit should be given to it as it does offer an insightful look (subtly presented) at these interesting sociological aspects... and how these things affect our behavior.

I contemplated watching this movie but Jodie Foster convinced me in the trailer. Loved it!

"Incredible suspense!" promised the ad, when this movie first appeared on TV back in 1979. I tuned in, not knowing what to expect. It certainly boasted a stellar cast: 13 year old Jodie Foster, Martin Sheen, Scott Jacoby, and Alexis Smith.It's the only movie that ever made me scream.For almost an hour it kept me guessing. I thought it might turn out to be a monster-in-the-basement flick. It proved to be something totally different.Young Rynn is living in an isolated house on Long Island with her father, famous poet Lester Jacobs. Only nobody's seen her father for months. And something--or someone--is in the basement. Something Rynn desperately wants to conceal.But her secret does come out--with fatal consequences.This is the story of a loner who, facing cataclysmic events, finally learns to reach out to the one who befriends her: Mario, a young amateur magician."I'm not going to play their game," she insists."Well, you've got to trust somebody," Mario replies.But in trusting him, Rynn places his life in danger. She has to confront the final threat alone--as the trap door to the cellar creaks open. It's that scene that made me scream--begging her to run to the kitchen and grab a knife!She doesn't ... facing the final menace armed only with her wits.This is great drama--a harrowing story of individualism, courage, and trust. (And it's better than the novel by screenwriter Laird Koenig it's based on.) Beautifully acted. Beautifully filmed. With a haunting score by Christian Gaubert. Don't miss it!