FAR FROM HOME

The teenager Joleen is traveling with her father Charlie through Nevada. Having run out of gas, the two are forced to spend the night in a small town in the middle of the desert, waiting for the only gas station in the area to be refueled. Joleen's arrival immediately attracts the attention of two boys, the rebellious Jimmy and the peaceful Pinky, while Charlie meets Louise, also stranded here and waiting for fuel. Meanwhile, a mysterious killer is taking victims among the few inhabitants of the country and seems to want to prevent Charlie and his daughter from leaving. Known in Italy also with the titles "Return Home" and "On the Road", "Far From Home" (nicknamed "Far From Home" in the original) is a useless thriller produced in 1989, at a time when Drew Barrymore's career was declining due to alcohol and drugs. The child prodigy of "E.T." plays in this film an unpleasant teenager who unexpectedly finds herself the protagonist of a nightmare, in an unwelcoming place and among hostile people. The theme of the hostile place in the middle of the desert, or rural area, inhabited by hicks and inhospitable "primitives" has been exploited several times by thriller/horror cinema and is still often revisited today. With "Far From Home" an attempt is made to establish a rather cold approach with this theme, failing to fully exploit the suggestive locations and the climate of oppression and disorientation that could have been created. The film in question stages a series of unpleasant and shallow characters, none of whom anyone cares about; moreover, despite having the sunny desert landscapes of Nevada at their disposal, the film takes place too often indoors or near the shanty town where the protagonists stay. Despite the "mystery" construction, in which the killer is never shown face-to-face, it is very easy to guess the identity of the killer, and this happens especially because the characters in action are few and the screenplay, written by Tommy Lee Wallance (director of "Halloween III" and "It"), does not attempt in any way to mislead the viewer. What could have been, therefore, a reason for interest for the viewer turns into narrative flatness that then translates into a schematic and rather weak development. The characters are all just sketched, as are the motivations that drive them to act. The Joleen played by Barrymore is a girl who keeps repeating to her father that she is no longer a child and spends her time bathing in a dirty pool and writing in her diary how much she likes the rough and rebellious boy who hangs around the village. Her father Charlie is a journalist with no psychological delineation played by Matt Frewer ("Dawn of the Dead", "Masters of Horror: Chocolate"); while in minor roles we can find a young Jennifer Tilly ("Bride of Chucky"; "Seed of Chucky") and the character actor Dick Miller ("Gremlins"; "The Evil Dead"). Anonymous and television-like the direction of the music video expert Meiert Avis. Recently edited on DVD by Eagle Pictures.