Far from Home
Far from Home
R | 30 June 1989 (USA)
Far from Home Trailers

Charlie Cox should have stopped for gas in California. While he's on a cross-country trip with his teenage daughter, Joleen, his car hits empty in a creepy town in Nevada. With nary a drop of fuel to be found, Charlie and Joleen stop for the night at a dilapidated trailer park. There, Joleen catches the eye of two teenage boys, Jimmy and Pinky -- either of whom could be the serial killer currently terrorizing the town.

Reviews
Phonearl

Good start, but then it gets ruined

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Nessieldwi

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

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Janae Milner

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

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Fatma Suarez

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

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Scott LeBrun

"Far from Home" is mostly noteworthy for its casting of 13-going-on-14 years old Drew Barrymore in her first adolescent role. Drew plays Joleen Cox, a girl on vacation with her father Charlie (Matt Frewer), a journalist. Running out of gas in a remote part of Nevada, they're forced to take temporary lodgings in a trailer park. Here they meet the local residents, chief among them two boys who take an interest in Joleen. Andras Jones ("A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master") is the punkish Jimmy Reed, son of landlord Agnes Reed (the legendary Susan Tyrrell). Anthony Rapp ("Adventures in Babysitting") is the more sensitive, well meaning Pinky Sears. Unfortunately, one of them just might be psychotic enough to kill people.The script by Tommy Lee Wallace (longtime John Carpenter associate who directed "Halloween III: Season of the Witch") is much too routine, and very predictable. Viewers may also feel uncomfortable with the cameras' ogling of Drew at any and every opportunity. However, while the story may be too trite to work all that well, director Meiert Avis takes full advantage of the rural settings. He and his capable crew, including cinematographer Paul Elliott and production designer Victoria Paul, milk these settings for as much atmosphere as possible. So "Far from Home" is at least successful enough on a visual level. It might disappoint people expecting more of a slasher film and a higher body count, but it does get fairly gory on occasion.One good thing is that these filmmakers do make some nice casting choices. Drew does alright in the central role, possessing a natural likability and vulnerability, as well as the expected resentment towards her paternal figure, well played by Frewer. He's good as the kind of father that means well but can still be seen as annoying. Richard Masur is wonderful as Duckett, a latter-day hippie kind of character. Jennifer Tilly is decent and as sexy as ever as Amy, who for whatever reason shares a trailer with another local, Louise (lovely Karen Austin). Jones and Rapp are both good. Tyrrell is a real force of nature during her time on screen. The always welcome Dick Miller plays the Sheriff, and John Spencer can be glimpsed on a TV monitor.An adequate B movie at best, watchable but also forgettable.Five out of 10.

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JamieWJackson

Matt Frewer and Drew Barrymore, plus 1989 Jennifer Tilly -- and Susan Tyrrell too? Gotta see this!I liked the first half or so of this one pretty well. It jumps right into the quintessential creepy small town in the middle of nowhere right off the bat, but we quickly discover that the people here are tongue-in-cheek stereotypes and give us some surprising laughs. So we have a movie that's a cross between a dark comedy and a low-budget suspense/horror movie. Oh, plus jailbait Drew in a 2-piece and other skimpy clothes. She's an adult *now*, so... that makes it OK... right???!? Eek.Anyway, among others, Susan "acquired taste" Tyrrell is in fine form here; she made me laugh out loud several times. I think the director was having some fun in a few of her scenes. I know I was! The whole cast does fine. In most ways the movie is competently-enough made. There are some good moments here. However, in the end, the quirky mix of horror and dark comedy which starts us off with such promise loses out to a traditional horror third act, leaving the comedy out. I felt that the movie let me down at that stage.It's still a watchable movie, but it misses being a great movie (at least for a B movie) by changing formula horses in mid-stream. As a result I can only give it a 5.For the record, I hope Hollywood can let kids be kids and not sexualize 13-year-olds in the future. As much as I roll my eyes when a 23-year-old plays a high schooler, there is something worse, and that's putting a kid in front of a camera and inviting us to view her as a sex object. Drew played this role well, and she seems to have grown into a really attractive and healthy adult lately, so I guess there's no reason to go on a warpath over this now. Still, I was uncomfortable watching some of these scenes. Yes, she had a great body, but she was 13 (or maybe 14)! Come on.In spite of the flaws, if you like off-beat movies (or Drew Barrymore), you will probably find this worth watching, especially prior to the third act.

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Victor Field

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."

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Jory-2

Okay, most of the movies during Drew Barrymore's "bad girl" phase were pretty bad but this is a good movie. And for all you theater fans, you will recognize Anthony Rapp (as always) the nerd, Pinky. Rent this one and ignore Drew's voice overs and her bad lines like "Did you ever do it?"

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