Horror movie with long title is also long on suspense

This afternoon, I scratched another movie off my list of Saturn Award winners for Best Horror Film to watch. This time around, it was the 1977 winner, “The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane.”
This movie, based on the 1974 novel by Laird Koenig, tells the story of a 13-year-old girl who tries to hide the fact that she’s living in a great, big old house all by herself. Her rich, poet father died from a debilitating illness, but set her up with enough money to live in the house alone until she’s old enough to start her own life. Unfortunately for her, a handful of people suspect that something’s not quite right with the girl and her living arraignments and get a little too nosy. And that’s when the dying starts.
This was a very good movie, but by today’s standards, I would not call it a horror movie. It’s rated PG and contains no monsters or supernatural elements. In today’s terms, it fits better into the categories of suspense, thriller or crime drama.
That’s not to say that this movie wasn’t very good and very suspenseful. It stars a young Jodie Foster as the 13-year-old and a very young Martin Sheen, who plays what may be his creepiest role of all time – a pervert who has a lurid interest in Foster’s character.
It should be noted that this movie actually received two Saturn Awards, one for best horror film and another for best actress (Jodie Foster).
I must admit that I’d never heard of this movie before setting out to watch all of the award winners, which comes as a surprise given the quality of this move. In the end, I would recommend it to anyone old enough to vote because it’s very good and worth the time it took to watch.
With that said, it’s on to the next Saturn Award winner, 1978’s “The Wicker Man.” I’ve seen the more recent version of this movie (staring Nicholas Cage), but never the original. If it’s half as good as “The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane,” then I’m in for a good movie.