A 13 year old girl (Jodie Foster) seems to be living by herself in the house she and her father leased several months before. We get the sense that something has happened to her father but don't find out the specifics about it until later. The evil landlady comes along and harasses Foster, asking where her father is, why she isn't in school with the other children, et cetera. When she insists on going down into the cellar to get her canning jars she sees something that makes her scream-and in her rush to get back up the stairs has the cellar door slam on her head, killing her. It turns out that the other body down there is the girl's mother.She befriends a sixteen-year-old boy, who has a severe limp because of polio, and they soon become best friends. He hears her story and helps her bury the bodies out in the backyard of the house. But the girl's biggest problem is the landlady's son (Martin Sheen), who is the evil town pervert. He clearly wants to get her alone so he can have her way with her. Although not quite a horror movie it is an excellent film and boasts one of Foster's strongest performances. The movie is based on the novel by Laird Koenig, who also wrote the screenplay.
A 13 year old girl (Jodie Foster) seems to be living by herself in the house she and her father leased several months before. We get the sense that something has happened to her father but don't find out the specifics about it until later. The evil landlady comes along and harasses Foster, asking where her father is, why she isn't in school with the other children, et cetera. When she insists on going down into the cellar to get her canning jars she sees something that makes her scream-and in her rush to get back up the stairs has the cellar door slam on her head, killing her. It turns out that the other body down there is the girl's mother.She befriends a sixteen-year-old boy, who has a severe limp because of polio, and they soon become best friends. He hears her story and helps her bury the bodies out in the backyard of the house. But the girl's biggest problem is the landlady's son (Martin Sheen), who is the evil town pervert. He clearly wants to get her alone so he can have her way with her. Although not quite a horror movie it is an excellent film and boasts one of Foster's strongest performances. The movie is based on the novel by Laird Koenig, who also wrote the screenplay.
