Strangelings

The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane is an excellent, peculiar thriller-ish film about a young girl new in town besieged by a predatory pederast who's curious about her living arrangements. Jodie Foster, fresh from Taxi Driver, puts in an exceptional performance as the young lady who unwittingly attracts the attention of her sleazy neighbour Martin Sheen. It's a measured if disquieting film which relies on atmosphere and the skills of the actors involved to drive the narrative. My one problem with the film is the unwarranted nude scene, though performed by Foster's older sister Connie it seemed a little exploitative and given the subject of the film rather inappropriate.



Freaked, written and directed by Alex Winter, is an amusing if childish comedy about a shallow celebrity unwittingly turned into a hideous freak by a crazed circus owner played by Randy Quaid. It's quite the twisted little tale with a surprising amount of satirical bite but it's also stuffed with plenty of low brow laughs and some good turns from Brooke Shields, Mr T, Keanu and Quaid. A unpretentious B-movie that deserves it's cult status.