Jamie is a 12 year old boy that cannot seem to get attention from his parents or avoid getting picked on. Left home alone with the babysitter, he begins to fixate on her. And when he discovers a pit full of Trogs (man-eating creatures), he seeks his revenge on his bullies.
Jamie is exceptionally creepy and well-acted by Sammy Snyders. Director Lehman effectively shows the child's abuse at the hands of his peers and how he is outcast. He is punched for wanting to join a club, called a weirdo for admiring a young girl's bike, and called a hippie by an old lady for just standing on a sidewalk. But there are the more disturbing scenes like when he talks to his Teddy and Teddy talks back! When his parents abandon him amidst his weird personality changes, he begins to fall in love with his nubile babysitter Sandy. Sandy is cherub faced and acts just as angelic with her endless patience with the weird kid. There are a variety of scenes with Jamie hitting on Sandy. He sneaks in when she showers, watches her sleep with her breast exposed (because women never notice drafts!), and makes her bath him in a tub because he is "dirty".
When he discovers the Trogs, he notices that they like fresh meat. He begins buying meat wherever he can get it and then turns to people when the money runs out. Soon he is luring random "mean" people into the woods and then into the pit. He even hijacks an old lady in a wheelchair and pushes her through the city, through the woods, into the pit, and then the cruises around in her wheelchair after.
There is a cute scene where he has exhausted his resources meat-wise and must feed the Trogs. He attempts to kidnap a cow, but it won't budge. He talks to it and tries to convince it that it will die anyway, so might as well be for his friends. It doesn't work by the way.
Jamie begins to run into trouble when a pesky librarian notices his penchant for art (nudes) and animal husbandry (carnivores). One scene of interest would be when he sneaks to her house, phones in as a man that kidnapped her daughter, and makes her strip in front of the window for him to take pictures! Produced by Amulet Pictures, it clocks in at a solid 96 minutes with an Aspect Ratio of 1.85:1.
Weird Fact: The director's wife refused to let him shoot the nude scenes, so the screenwriter shot them instead. The only shot involving nudity that the director was allowed to film was the "skinny dipping" scene and only because the actress was his daughter. Umm, this sounds incredibly gross and creepy to me. Also, this is the only film Lehman ever directed.
Favorite Quote: An 8 year old girl asks her mom, "What is wrong with boys? Is that boy Jamie crazy? They are all the same. Always stressing." DVD Extras: Just the poster and some stills.
Bottom Line: The movie is a weird combo of a serial killer flick and a troll movie. Good acting plus the strange premise helps it to hold up well over time.
Rating: 7/10 by Molly Celaschi www.HorrorYearbook.com
