The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1977)

"This tea taste like almonds.""Must be the almond cookies." Sometimes bad people really do get their just desserts, but you will have to wait until the very end to find out just who, and how.

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.

13-year old Rynn (Jodie Foster) supposedly shares a rented property with her poet father, but when curious locals request to meet the man of the household, they are quickly rebuffed, causing them to suspect that the girl is actually living alone. The idea of a pretty teenage girl on her lonesome proves way too tempting for local pervert Frank Hallet (Martin Sheen), who seizes the opportunity to make a move, but resourceful Rynn isn't quite as defenceless as she might seem.Jodie Foster's confident central performance in The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane is absolutely mesmerising, the young star displaying all the signs of a future Oscar winner; Foster is ably supported by Martin Sheen as cold-hearted child-molester (and hamster killer) Frank, and Alexis Smith as Frank's nosey mother, whose curiosity leads to a sticky end in the cellar. A chilling character study, a tender romance, a macabre drama, a subtle horror: The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane is all these and more.Only an unbelievably silly scene in which Rynn's friend Mario (Scott Jacoby) dons a rubber mask and pretends to be her father in order to fool his suspicious uncle (Mort Shuman) mars what is otherwise a very effective and surprisingly provocative little thriller.

Foster was just about the same age as the girl she plays in this film; that is why they used a body double for the nude scene. Supposedly, it was promoted as a horror film, but I see it more as a girl growing up and having to deal with thins on her own.It's not Psycho, even though the story is similar, as director Nicolas Gessner is no Hitchcock. It's still worthwhile, mainly because of Foster. You really see a foretelling of her abilities as she grows into one of the greatest actresses of all times. Maybe Foster doesn't like this particular film, but she is definitely an actress on the rise here.Martin Sheen plays a really creepy, sadistic pedophile, but he'll get hid just desserts, now, won't he. If it weren't for the pedophilia, maybe this film would have gotten more recognition. After all, it did star the girl who had just been nominated for an Oscar for Taxi Driver.Mort Shuman and Scott Jacoby provided excellent support.