Far from Home (1989)

A Disappointing Continuation

What begins as a feel-good-human-interest story turns into a mystery, then a tragedy, and ultimately an outrage.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

A fourteen year old girl travelling the U.S. National Parks with her estranged father finds herself trapped in a tiny, desolate town when dad's Rambler runs out of gas. Here she becomes involved with a rebellious teenager who appears to have some dark secrets.Director Meiert Avis ignores all the angles and possibilities of Ted Gershuny's slightly promising story and focuses on his sexy young star instead. Barrymore, just thirteen, parades around in crop tops and bikinis, but she isn't able to carry the weight that Avis requires of her. Tommy Lee Wallace's screenplay is poorly developed, which doesn't help, and his complete failure to evolve the movie's interesting characters is a disappointment. Richard Masur's "Duck" never gets a chance, and we don't even catch a glimpse of the killer's psyche. On top of all this is the see through plot. Most viewers that are half awake will manage to figure out the 'twist', long before it's even hinted at.Performances are only reasonable (Richard Masur is an enjoyable exception) in a movie that does benefit from some tense music by composer Jonathan Elias and great cinematography from D.P. Paul Elliot, who makes the most of the desert locale. And editor Marc Grossman does an above average job with "Far From Home", considering the far from satisfying material with which he had to work - though perhaps he could have snipped a little more for our sakes.Sunday, November 6, 1994 - T.V.

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERSThis movie is by no means an excellent film. It's about a young girl and her father (Drew Barrymore, Matt Frewer) traveling through the American desert. Like a lot of horror/thrillers have done before, their car runs out of gas in the middle of a trailer park. There, Barrymore and Frewer rent a ramshackle camper to stay in until they find some gas. Unforatnatly for them, a killer is on the loose, who seems to be obsessed with Barrymore.In the midst of these murders, Barrymore meets and falls a handsome and mysterious young man named Jimmy (Andreas Jones) and befriends a young geeky kid named Pinky (Anthony Rapp). Soon after she discovers than one of the boys may be the demented killer.I watched this movie awhile back on cable, mainly because there was nothing better to watch. Although it was interesting and fun, it just lacks something that would make it a classic. Drew Barrymore, as always, shines in this movie as the film's heroine and Andreas Jones is perfect as the charming yet creepy young man who catches the eye of young Barrymore. I recommend it for someone who is a Drew fan or a fan of cheap horror films. Other than that, don't expect much.

Made when Drew Barrymore was still in the sexy teen stage of her career (though some might say she still is), Miss B and her father stop off in a small town, and Drew's charms catch the eye of a warped teen who proceeds to bump off all the obstacles in the path to make her his own...Creepy stuff, which though not classic by any means does manage to keep you entertained, and the death of one character in an exploding car, though suffering from a major plot flaw (it's been established earlier that said car has a defective door handle, which traps her inside the car... apparently the concept of getting out through the OTHER door didn't occur to her), is truly frightening. Not the highpoint of Drew's career, but better than the likes of "Poison Ivy" and "The Amy Fisher Story."

Drew Barrymore stars with Matt Frewer, Jennifer Tilly, Susan Tyrell and Richard MASur in this murder mystery. Barrymore and her father Frewer are stranded at a trailer park owned by Tyrell. They make friends with Tilly and her mother while someone is stalking them one by one. You can probably guess who's doing it but that doesn't take out the suspense or the one liners. Recommended