By Melissa Antoinette Garza
While searching for a comedy I had loved as a child entitled Madhouse (1990), I came across the trailer for a horror film by the same name. It looked quite frightening and unfamiliar, so of course it was a must find. I was not disappointed.
Julia (Trish Everly) is a young teacher who is fast approaching her birthday. As the days go on, she is plagued by nightmares of her childhood. She is actually a twin, and her sister Mary (Allison Biggers) suffers from a skin disease. Feeling as though Julia is beautiful and perfect, Mary becomes jealous and insane. She descends into madness and is verbally abusive so much so that the memories plague Julia to this day.
Mary is placed into a mental institution and cared for by her uncle Father James (Dennis Robertson). At his prompting, Julia goes to visit Mary with hopes of putting the past behind her and forming some sort of bond with her sister. As one would expect, Mary is not receptive and threatens Julia promising to make her feel what it is like to be her. Julia runs out but not before Mary laughs in a way that is both haunting and sinister.
Soon, nearly all those close to Mary begin to die horrible deaths. A large Rottweiler who was certainly trained to kill, does just that and attacks leaving his victims in a gruesome mess. While they die, Mary’s laughter can be heard and her shadow can be seen emerging and then disappearing.
The climax of the film is Julia’s birthday party. She arrives with her uncle to find her friends butchered and Mary there to terrorize. There is a twist which though revealed midway through the movie, I won’t spoil here.
Though one may watch and question the motive of the murders, after viewing it, I’ve come to the conclusion that a genetic mental disorder plagued members of the family. In latent terms, I think the reasoning for the deaths was simple insanity by all involved.
This movie has some of the creepiest scenes ever put to screen. The atmosphere and tone deliberately and gradually changes from quiet and relaxed to terrifying and tense. Some have said that the film is too slow, but I find those are mostly from gore fanatics. This movie has plenty of gore, but one does have to wait for it, which I prefer when it’s done right. Here it is. The beginning is the build-up. The plot, though leaving many questions unanswered, does give the audience enough information and background on the family to be interested in the outcome. The payoff is amazingly done.
Back in the day of censorship gone wild, this was one of the movies known as a Video Nasty in the UK. At first, I really couldn’t understand what was so gruesome about this movie. The only thing that I can think of is there is a scene where the Rottweiler’s head is drilled. It is quite obvious that the Rottweiler isn’t real. The special effects and make-up is fine, but one can easily see the difference, so I don’t think it’s a big deal. I am completely anti animal violence in films. I’m still uneasy about scenes in the maniac monkey movie Shakma (1990) despite testimony from the American Humane Society that was on set every day stating that the baboon (Typhoon) was not hurt. It has been said that his trainer was watching the entire time. Though the movie was good, it was difficult to enjoy when I was thinking, “What the hell did they do to that monkey to make him pull that door so aggressively?” Later, I read they had his trainer on the opposite side and the baboon was just trying to get to him. I really hope that’s the case.
Don’t even get me started on Cannibal Holocaust (1985) which I refuse to watch. It’s actually a film that the American Humane Society urges people to protest as several animals were tortured in it. It’s absolutely disgusting that one would kill or hurt animals for entertainment and profit or to be “controversial.”
Another movie that pisses me off is the “documentary” White Wilderness (1958) where the filmmakers murdered a bunch of lemmings by forcing them off a cliff to fake a myth that they were suicidal. I am horrified that the cinematographer, James R. Simon would approve such a horrific deed. What a douche!
So here we have such disturbing cases of real animal abuse, yet There Was a Little Girl (1981) gets banned for drilling a fake dog’s head. Not only that, but there are actual releases of the movie that cut that scene out in its entirety. I understand that the ban has been lifted and the film can be seen now, but it irritates the hell out of me that movies like Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) gets a bad name and has idiots protesting in the streets, but films that actually do horrific things and really murder animals like Milo and Otis (1986) gets zero press. Being a horror fan, I get so angry when I hear people complaining about the violent nature of the films despite the fact that its fake whereas they never bring up movies they show to their children that have a horrible backstory if not horrible connotations within the film.
As for the quality of There Was a Little Girl, it’s a definite must see for fans of the 70s and early 80s horror. Though there are plenty of murders, it isn’t like the Friday the 13th series or the Nightmare on Elm Street films. Instead, it’s low key but very haunting. It’s a mixture of Black Christmas (1974), the original Halloween (1978) and Dead of Winter (1987).
The acting all around was excellent. By far the standout of the bunch was Dennis Robertson who brought a certain flair and intellect into his character. He reminded me of a young Roddy McDowell who happens to be one of my favorite actors of all time.
I highly recommend this film. It’s scary, tense and fun.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8/10
