The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1977)

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

The first time I saw this movie, I was a kid of maybe 7 or 8. (I was about 2 or 3 when the movie came out). My parents were both educators, and in the summer, they ran the local summer recreation center at the school. On Fridays, they would sometimes show movies that were rented on reel-to-reel from the library and shown on film projectors. (Ah, memories! I do believe VHS was just becoming a "thing", but my dad like the old-timey sound and feel of the movie projector. But I digress!) I have NEVER forgotten this movie, and so began my lifetime love affair with Jodie Foster. OF course I own this film on DVD and it is one of my regular watchable's during the month of October when I am watching ALL things suspense, horror, and macabre. As I am currently watching this movie on a very typical, cold and rainy fall day in the Pacific NorthWest, I am once again reminded of the small details that make this movie so enjoyable. The acting is FANTASTIC. Both Jodie Foster and Charlie Sheen nailed their roles with the perfect amount of tension, suspicion, and confidence. The director knew that subtleties made that much more of an impact than over-the-top actions (Pay attention to ANY of the scenes with the Foster and Sheen.) And truly, all of the actors were very believable in their roles. I especially liked the way Foster carried herself while at the bank. Her actions were very precise and direct. (I wasn't even aware that identity fraud was a THING back in the late 70's.) The pace of the film is appropriate, and I while I always "know what's gonna' happen next", I still get caught up in the suspense and drama of it all. Good times!!!

Watched this film from 1976 and true it was a decade and period that was good for horror films, still this entry called "The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane" to me falls more into the suspense mold. The build up is slow and the plot is a little hard to follow with interest and much of the characters life and happenings appear to be in secret. In one of Jodie Foster's early roles (in fact this was the same year of her stardom role of "Taxi Driver")she is Rynn a young girl who lives in a seaside old resort house with her very reclusive father. It appears she's all alone or is she? Is something down in the basement? Her neighbors(note: Martin Sheen plays one of them) suspect that Rynn is dangerous and hiding secrets and they make appearances trying to set her free from this isolated world. However word of warning don't go down in the basement cellar. Overall this film is off beat considered a cult like film of suspense and drama it's twists and turns will keep you the viewer guessing.

A forgotten masterpiece, "The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane" is a 1976 film by Hungarian director Nicolas Gessner. It stars Jodie Foster as Rynn Jacobs, a thirteen year old girl who lives in a secluded seaside home. Rynn's mother and father have died - to say any more would be to further spoil several key revelations - leaving the poor girl to fend for herself."Lane" drips with atmosphere. Set during Halloween, when ghouls and wizards roam the streets, Gessner creates a macabre world in which drizzle kisses shadows and menace lurks in every corner. Police, paedophiles, peeping-toms and pesky prowlers all knock on Rynn's door, each of whom threaten to stumble upon the girl's little secret: Rynn lives alone, and has been living so for quite some time.Today Jodie Foster typically plays fragile, uncertain, asexual women with the personality or demeanour of a child. Early in her career, though, Foster typically played the opposite: intelligent, resourceful, sexualised kids who were wiser than surrounding adults. Rynn is another such character. She's an adult trapped in a kid's body, forever sceptical of the stupid, lecherous grown-ups around her. More importantly, Rynn is preoccupied with protecting her autonomy. With protecting her right to live alone, on her own terms, in her own world.Whilst "Lane" celebrates Rynn's independence, and the strengths necessary to resist conformity, it also does the opposite. Rynn's unable to survive without the assistance of a kind local boy (Scott Jacoby), whose limping legs ironically counterpoint the vital support he provides the young girl. It is through this character that the film - based on a novel by Jewish author Laird Koenig - smuggles its politics. Here Rynn - an intellectual type who reads Hebrew - becomes emblematic of Jewish isolation and persecution. People knock on Rynn's doors like stormtroopers, search her basements and under her rugs, demand identification and entry, whilst Rynn clings to her identity and resists assimilation. This ethnocentrism, this strength in the face of quasi-anti-Semitic persecution, is both cherished by Koenig and critiqued, seen to be bound to feelings of smug and so unwarranted superiority. Yes Rynn knows it all, is wise and sees through lies, but even the strongest needs an outsider's helping hands. Or as historian Simon Schama once wrote: "Jewish history turns out not to be an either/or story - as in, either pure Judaism detached from its surroundings or else assimilation - but rather, for the vast majority, the adventure of living in between." Ryn learns to live in the in-between."Lane" works well as horror, drama, mystery and romance. Unfolding like a stage-play, it also has very strong melancholic qualities, thanks largely to an affective soundtrack by Christian Gaubert, and director Nicolas Gessner's simple but atmospheric visuals, which stress lonely homes, dank Maine surfaces and water-laden skies. A young Martin Sheen co-stars as Frank Hallet, a character who may or may not be a local child molester.8.9/10 – To assimilate or not to assimilate? Such was a question of inordinate importance to post-war novelists and film-makers. See "They Might be Giants", "Some Came Running", "The Gypsy Moths", "The Sandpiper", "Cool Hand Luke", "The Swimmer", "Goodbye, Columbus", "King Rat" and "A Thousand Clowns".

It's Halloween in Wells Harbor, Maine. The creepy landlady's son Frank Hallet (Martin Sheen) comes to check on and creep on the 13 year old Rynn Jacobs (Jodie Foster). It's her birthday and she's suppose to be with her British poet father in the rented secluded seaside home. Except her father is nowhere to be seen. The next day, nosy landlady Cora Hallet (Alexis Smith) comes to invite her father to a party but Rynn is aggressively evasive. Officer Miglioriti gives her a ride home but he doesn't get to meet her father either. Cora returns to challenge Rynn but accidentally kills herself in the cellar. Rynn tries to get rid of Cora and convinces young infatuated passerby Mario to help her.I love all the actors in this. Sheen is surprisingly good creeping on young Foster. She's always great as a child actor. However it's too aggressive in hinting at the father's death. The reveal does make a twist on it but the twist is not nearly big enough. It just doesn't have enough change in the tone of the movie. The final tea is also problematic. It doesn't make sense that she doesn't put it in both tea cups. I can see this being a compelling thriller. This doesn't have enough surprises.