 Hello and welcome to another episode of Frightfully Forgotten Horror Movies and today we're going to be talking about 1976's The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane. This movie starts off on Halloween night. Rin is all by herself in this house and it's her birthday. She's lighting some birthday candles, has a little cake for herself wearing some weird robes and these things from Morocco or whatever. There's a knock at the door. Jack will land her like, trick-or-treat, the strange man, he's like, oh, you know, I'm trick-or-treating with my two boys or they're a little bit behind me and kind of come in, where's your father? And he kind of forces himself into the house, it must be her birthday, and he's kind of bugging her a bit, he's getting close and uncomfortable. How old are you? And she says, well, I'm 14. Oh, 14. He smacks her on the ass. What are you doing? And he's like, I'm allowed to spank you on your birthday. Yeah, yeah. His two little boys are behind him and kind of come to the door and he's like, oh, I gotta go now. Of course, she's put off by all this. The next day, Cora Hallett shows up at her house and she is the landlady and we find out that Rin and her father are renting the house from Cora. We also find out it was her son, Frank, who showed up at the house last night bugging her. Cora is here bugging her too, asking her for these jam jars she wants that are in the cellar to make this jam. She's very inquisitive, like, where's your father? Where's your father? And she's like, oh, my father, he's in New York, he's meeting up with his publisher. Mm-hmm. How come you're not in school? Yeah. Cora really wants to get into the cellar to get these jam jars and Rin won't let her, won't help her move the table, which is covering the cellar door. Yeah, come on, just grab the table and just, you know, no, this is my house and you can't go down there. Cora kind of gets fed up with the kid, you know, I'll come back later, just make sure they're ready for me when I come pick them up. Cora Hallett comes back again for these jam jars and wants to get down in the cellar and forces her away. This time she takes the rug and moves it, the table and all that. It's all easy, like, you could have just did that the last time. Opens up the cellar door, goes down, and you hear the scream, she comes back up in the cellar and accidentally knocks the bar, holding the door up, comes down on her head and yeah, killing her. Rin doesn't know what to do and knows that Hallett's car is in the driveway, knows she needs to move it, so she goes out there trying to start the car and to move it, she can't, she doesn't know how, and she sees this boy ride buying a bike and he's in this magician outfit. His name is Mario and she convinces Mario to move this car for her into town. So her and Mario start to get a little close and they have dinner that night. Mario the whole night is trying to get it out of Rin why she wanted him to move the car. Where's her dad and why are you being so secretive about everything? Mario's uncle is a cop and he ends up stopping by and he's asking about Mrs. Hallett. So Rin says she was never by, look here's all the jars, she was going to drop by to pick everything up and everything's still here. He kind of buys it and where's your father by the way, I'd like to talk to him, he's upstairs, he's sleeping and there's always an excuse, right? So he leaves and in bursts Frank irate and he starts getting on Mario's case too because I guess he's a little jealous and pissed off that he's there to begin with. He even takes out Rin's pet hamster. Smoking too and he all burns the hamster with like, aww poor hamster and they try stopping him and he pushes Mario out of the way. Frank just throws the hamster in the fire like, aww poor hamster. Ux it too, you fucking just ux that thing. Frank is trying to get Mario out of the house too because he obviously wants to do something to Rin. He gives him his cane and his cape and all that and Mario pulls a sword out from the cane and holds it to Frank's throat. Get the hell out of here, calling me all these racist names so Frank's like, oh hey, take it easy, you know I wasn't going to do anything right away, he sort of shrinks and he leaves. So Rin seeing all this starts to trust Mario, ends up showing Mario what exactly is in that cellar and that's where we're going to end the plot. So if you want to see what happens and what's in that damn cellar, keep watching the little girl who lives down the lane. But before we continue, what are we drinking today? Today we are drinking Snake Pliskins One-Eyed Pilsner. It's actually pretty good but it tastes like almonds. Well it must be the almond cookies we're eating. We're not eating cookies. So the little girl who lives down the lane is based off the novel of the same name written in 1974 by Laird Koenig. Stars a very young Jodie Foster, Martin Sheen, and Scotty Jackabee is in this too. The first thing to mention about this movie is the acting is top notch and it sucks you in right from the first second of the movie. Can't stop watching, the actors are so good at playing these characters. The first interaction between the characters grips you right in, you're like oh fuck. Even though Jodie Foster is kind of starting out, it's almost like she's at the top of her game here. Oh she's so good, you know. She's so good at playing this little snide smart ass but smart little girl that's hiding something. And you believe that she's a smart ass kid hiding something. She's so good at playing somebody who's lying so much you can't tell if she's lying or not. And Martin Sheen as the antagonist in this, as the weird pedophile creep, he's at the top of his game too. He doesn't even really need to actually act all that much, right? Or does he? He's such a good actor, he's so unsettling as Frank Hallad. And it's unsettling how effortlessly he does it too. Which is like oh man, are you really a creep in my life? Are you just that good of an actor? I'd like to think he's just that fucking good of an actor. He plays the part so perfectly like it's one of those pedophiles who's done it before. He's got the routine down, he knows what he's doing. And that brings us to the characters in this movie, right? The characters are so dynamic, there's so much dimension to these characters. And it's all drawn out purely by the dialogue that they say, right? And by the actions, the way they interact physically. You don't even need to say anything just the way that Jody Foster looks at Martin Sheen in Vice Versa. It's like oh, that's all you need. There's a game that they play throughout the whole movie that things shift back and forth. Where is this going? And who's gonna come out on top? The power struggle. Martin Sheen's character has the physical power over Rin. And Rin has the mental power over Martin Sheen, right? Over Frank. Right from that first scene, that first interaction, you know at some point something really fucking bad is gonna happen. Yeah, yeah, and who's gonna get it? The cool thing is, is you don't know when. So as soon as that opening scene is over, the suspense is on throughout the whole movie. Poor Mario has a bit of a disability, so physically he can't even do anything. He can't take Frank and force him out. But he does. Yeah, he does, but that's just by a bit of trickery. But because he's the magician, he's the trickery, he's an illusionist. The character of Mario is very neat too, how he is an illusionist. Maybe he puts on his disability a little bit more than it really is. So he can appear that way, and maybe when he has to, man up. The person to draw out the character actually in Rin. Even some of the side characters like Frank's mom, Korra, she's a great character, that nosy, busy body. And Mario's uncle, the cop, another great character. He's always with these women all the time after his shift. He's always got a different woman in the car when he comes to check up on them. He's using his badge as some pickup line and everything. The story and the plot of this movie is the hallmark of it. It's such an enigma. What is in that cellar? Why is Rin acting the way she is? Why is she so protective of the cellar? Yeah. Why is she always lying about her dad? You don't know. No. You know, and you're always wondering. And the movie tackles so many themes. There's so much sexual tension in this movie. Right from the opening scene, right to the end. It's nothing but sexual tension. It starts off between a little girl, an underage girl and a grown man. And then it becomes like between the underage girl and another boy. Sexual encounters in this movie are not what you would consider to be right. Which is interesting. Yeah, it tackles that. Tackles that. You know, what's right when it comes to two individuals having relations? Of course it's not right when it comes to Rin and Frank. Cause she, number one, she's underage. Number two, she doesn't want them. Yeah. But then when it comes to Rin and Mario starting to get a relationship together and they're kind of cuddling. She's more forward with him. Naked and it's consensual. Well, they're both underage, but is that right? What point is this considered to be the right thing? A coming of age theme to this too, right? And Rin drives that whole thing. She even says, how old do you need to be before you're considered a person? Already capable of making your own decisions. She's independent. When do you come of age? You know, it's not just a number. Oh, I'm 18. I'm an adult now. Yeah. No, it's not just a number that you reach. It's when you're mentally and physically prepared to be independent. Yeah. And to deal with the consequences of it. I don't think she's prepared to deal with consequences. That's what the seller represents is the repercussions to what she's doing. Yeah. And I don't think she knows how to handle that. You just can't sweep all your shit under the rug and expect it not to bite you in the ass. Exactly. Yeah. And the setting is great too. The whole small town and it deals with a lot of those small town themes. The rich bitch running the town almost. Even though she's not the mayor or anything, but she's the rich one and her boy kind of like... Yeah, nobody talks about what he's been doing. Yeah, they know about it and they'll maybe make little side comments about it, but nothing's done about it. It's always raining and dreary. It just gives you more of a sense of isolation in this movie, right? And Rin being alone too adds to that. In that big house. Yeah, because you can sort of almost sympathize with her that she's by herself and you can feel how isolated she is. Every time she comes home and locks that door behind her, you're kind of scared for her because you're like, when is he going to come back? Exactly. You know, there's the saying, oh well, nobody in the country ever locks their doors. Nobody in small towns locks her, but she does. And it's like, that speaks volumes. And the interesting thing is you feel more scared for her. Than she is for herself. But she comes home and she locks that door, goes up to bed, and she's kind of sleeping sound asleep. But you're worried for her. The music in this movie is kind of actually hit or miss. There is that 70s music that kind of doesn't suit the suspense so well in this. She's like walking around town, there's all this funk music playing. Like, oh, it doesn't really suit that. But then it gets into that piano style music, right? And the movie, the whole movie changes gears, like it gets haunting. So if you want a really smart, really suspenseful, well-acted movie that's not so much horror, it's more suspense thriller, definitely check out The Little Girl That Lives Down the Lane. It is fantastic. It's a coming of age movie for everyone. And until next time, keep drinking. As long as it doesn't taste like almonds.