Wilder Sand

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

L.A. writer Charlie Cox (Matt Frewer) and his restless daughter Joleen (Drew Barrymore) are driving home after a cross country trip of the national parks. She's turning 14 and can't wait to return home. They stop at the small desert town of Banco, Nevada. Gas station owner Ducket (Richard Masur) has no gas and Joleen encounters local Jimmy Reed. Sheriff Bill Childers (Dick Miller) is investigating a murder at the store and tells them to go to the nearby Palomino Guest Ranch and Trailer Park. It is owned by the hard Agnes Reed with her bad boy son Jimmy and bratty Sissy. There are Louise (Karen Austin) and Amy (Jennifer Tilly) at the park. Also there is nice boy Pinky Sears.

After her childhood success, a young Drew Barrymore is trying to continue with some jailbait roles culminating in 'Poison Ivy'. This could be a tense slasher thriller but the movie plays up the jailbait element at every turn. It's a bit awkward. It would be so much more appealing for her to be a little reserved and play up more of the innocence. She's a very compelling actress and it would make Jimmy Reed more threatening. The music cues for Jimmy get a bit annoying. The Reeds are so over the top that it borders on camp. The narration is mostly unnecessary, the title is too weak and the twist is too obvious. There are some good elements in this like Drew but it also fails in too many places.

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.

Drew Barrymore must have been about 13 when she made this during her career revival (after she had put her much-publicized substance abuse issues behind her), but she looks much more mature.This was the first movie I ever say Anthony Rapp in and he was excellent. He's got to be one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood today, if not THE most underrated, and his chemistry with Barrymore was pretty good. Matt Frewer turns in a good "Dad" role. The acting is pretty good on all counts, and it's creepy enough to watch once or twice, with a great "Whodunit" kind of twist between various characters. Cool scenes shot in a run-down camp trailer park, in an incomplete building, etc.

Admittedly, this film did not deserve a place in the Oscars, but for an average thriller it is watchable.

Pic centres on a young girl just entering adolescence and interested in what every teenage girl is interested in - boys! It is her naivety and inexperience which lands her in trouble. Barrymore is generally good as the confused and lonely angst-ridden teenager, and is sometimes quite realistic in her scenes with Matt Frewer. As a teenager when I saw this a few years ago, I certainly could relate to her and her ineptitude with boys, but now it's just another coming-of-age film with a weak murder plot. Jones was convincing as the ice-cold lust figure for Barrymore, but we never saw enough of him and his character was too rigid. Girls will like him - especially in a wet T-Shirt (Barrymore isn't the only one!)

Nevertheless, some good acting and not a bad film overall, particularly from the women like Susan Tyrrell and Karen Austin, who seem to hold it together better than the men!