| The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane | |
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promotional poster for US release |
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| Directed by | Nicolas Gessner |
| Produced by | Zev Braun |
| Written by | Laird Koenig |
| Starring | Jodie Foster Martin Sheen Alexis Smith Mort Shuman Scott Jacoby |
| Music by | Christian Gaubert |
| Cinematography | René Verzier |
| Editing by | Yves Langlois |
| Distributed by | 1977 AIP - USA, theatrical release 2005 MGM - USA, DVD release |
| Release date(s) | November 26, 1976 (USA) December 25, 1976 (Sweden) January 26, 1977 (France) |
| Running time | 100 min / 91 min (USA) |
| Language | English (mono) |
| Budget | CAD 1,100,000 (est.) |
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane is a 1976 Canadian-French[1] film directed by Nicolas Gessner and starring Jodie Foster and Martin Sheen. It was written by Laird Koenig, based on Koenig's 1974 novel of the same title; Koenig also wrote a stage play based on his book. The plot focuses on thirteen-year-old Rynn Jacobs (Foster), a mysterious child whose dark secrets concerning her absent poet father are prodded by various nosy villagers in a New England town. The film, though predominantly a dramatic thriller, also blends elements of horror, mystery, and romance.
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During a Halloween evening in a New England seaside town, Rynn Jacobs (Jodie Foster) is celebrating her thirteenth birthday alone in her father's house; her father is a poet, and they have recently moved from England. Frank Hallet (Martin Sheen), the landlady's adult son, drops by; he is a pedophile with an unwholesome interest in Rynn, and although he leaves quickly that night when his stepchildren come to the door trick-or-treating, the next day he is waiting in his car to offer her a ride. She studiously ignores him.
Later, Cora Hallet (Alexis Smith), the landlady, arrives at the house. She snoops about, attempting to find out where Rynn's father is, and asks Rynn whether Frank has been bothering her. Rynn claims her father is in New York, and taunts the landlady about her son. Rynn's snappy answers and self-confidence unsettle Mrs. Hallet. The situation gets tenser when Mrs. Hallet wants to get her jelly glasses from the cellar. Rynn steadfastly refuses to let her in the cellar, despite Mrs. Hallet's threatening her with truancy; finally, the frustrated Mrs. Hallet leaves.
In town, Rynn again runs into Frank, but he is deterred by the appearance of Officer Miglioriti (Mort Shuman) in a police cruiser. Officer Miglioriti drives Rynn home, and the two strike up a kind of friendship. Miglioriti asks where Rynn's father is, and she tells him that he is working and cannot be disturbed.
Mrs. Hallet soon after stops by to pick up her jelly glasses, and they argue about the absence of Rynn's father. Mrs. Hallet slaps Rynn, and takes the box of glasses which Rynn has priorly retrieved from the cellar; the only problem is, Rynn has forgotten the rubber seals. Ignoring Rynn's warnings, Mrs. Hallet opens the trap door to the cellar and steps down to get the seals herself. Suddenly terrified by something she sees there, Mrs. Hallet screams, and knocks the cellar door support, causing the door to slam down on her head. When Rynn opens the trap door, Mrs. Hallet is dead.
Rynn, after a few moments of shock, tries to hide the evidence; she stuffs Mrs. Hallet's umbrella between the sofa cushions, and goes outside to try to move Hallet's car. Her inability to start the car attracts the attention of Mario (Scott Jacoby), the teenaged nephew of Officer Miglioriti, who is passing by on his bicycle on the way to perform magic tricks at a party. (Mario is dressed in a magician's cape and top hat and carries a cane, but the cane is more than a prop; he walks with a limp due to a childhood bout with polio.) He sees that Rynn is trying to hide something from him, but he decides to come back and help her move the car after the party.
Later in the evening Rynn and Mario have dinner together at Rynn's house. Officer Miglioriti stops by to tell them that Frank Hallet has reported his mother missing; again, he asks to see her father, but Mario tells him that Rynn's father has gone to bed. This act of loyalty cements the bond between Rynn and Mario.
Frank Hallet makes a surprise visit that same night, suspicious and looking for answers about the whereabouts of his mother and Rynn's father. He tries to scare Rynn into talking by torturing and killing her pet hamster with a cigarette, but eventually Mario chases Frank away with the help of a sword hidden in his cane. Rynn now trusts Mario enough to show him the cellar. Down in the cellar are two corpses: Mrs. Hallet, and Rynn's own mother.
Rynn fixes tea and tells Mario everything. Rynn's father had a terminal illness. He and her abusive mother had divorced long ago, and he wanted to protect Rynn from winding up back in her mother's custody after his death. He moved them to an isolated area and made plans to allow Rynn to live alone; finally, he committed suicide in the ocean so his body would not be found. He left Rynn with a jar of powder, telling her that it was a sedative to give to her mother if she ever came for her — but really it was potassium cyanide. Rynn coolly describes how she put the powder in her mother's tea, how her mother remarked the tea tasted like almonds and she replied that it was only the almond cookies, and how her mother died.
Officer Miglioriti, suspicious of Rynn's excuses for her father's absence, returns to the house for a third time and asks once again to see her father. A much older-looking man comes down the stairs, introduces himself as Rynn's father, then signs a book for Officer Miglioriti before locking himself back up in his room. With all his suspicions finally put to rest, Officer Miglioriti apologizes for doubting Rynn and takes his leave. The man who claimed to be Rynn's father turns out to be Mario wearing a latex mask.
The romance between Rynn and Mario continues to blossom, and they develop a relationship. One day, the two move the bodies out of the cellar and bury them by the side of the house. It starts to rain heavily, and Mario catches a terrible cold. Mario's cold develops into pneumonia, and he is sent to the hospital. Rynn comes to see him, but he is unconscious; she feels lonelier than ever before.
As Rynn is going to bed that night she hears the noise of the trap door slam shut. She goes downstairs and is shocked to see Frank coming out of the cellar. He has put the pieces together and realized that Rynn's father is gone and that Rynn killed his mother. He blackmails her, offering to protect her secrets in exchange for her (strongly implied) sexual favors. Rynn, seemingly defeated and resigned to Frank's demands, agrees to his suggestion that they have a cup of tea. Into her own cup she places a dose of the cyanide her father gave her, perhaps intending to kill herself rather than be raped (when Frank calls her a survivor from the other room she says, "I thought I was," as she pours in the cyanide). She takes the tea into the living room. Frank, suspicious, switches cups with her and they drink. He remarks that the tea tastes like almonds, and Rynn replies that it is only the almond cookies. Frank drinks more and coughs a little. Rynn watches while Frank talks slowly about how nice her hair shines and continues to cough. The film ends with a continuous shot of Rynn, staring toward dying Frank as the credits roll.
The film received two Saturn Awards (by the American Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films) in 1977:[2]
As a novel by Laird Koenig:
As a drama by Laird Koenig:
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