Between Pin, Cathy's Curse and this film, what is it about Canadian families in horror films? Beneath a surface of politeness, is everyone this psychotic north of the border?Julie (Isabelle Mejias, Scanners II: The New Order) just wants to play with her pet snake, hunt with her dad and, well, lie in bed with him. But when her mom takes away her snake, she just watches a delivery boy (Paul Hubbard, who played Flash Gordon in the deleted scenes in A Christmas Story) violate her and does nothing to save her life, even though she's holding a gun. It's a horrifying scene, as the man is shocked that he's knocked the woman's head so hard into the ground. He's more upset than Julie when he sees the blood seeping out of the back of her brains. Julie just watches, fascinated yet removed.Julie thinks she has her father (Anthony Franciosa, Tenebre) all to herself, but he soon finds a new wife, the alluring Susan (Sybil Danning!). She brings sex appeal and a stepson. And because she may have been dating daddy before mommy died, maybe Julie's dad is taking advantage of the death she caused.One thing he's definitely taking advantage of is the opportunity to make sweet, sweet love to Susan. He doesn't know that his daughter is watching the entire time and enjoying things way too much, imagining herself in bed with her father! Ugh!And it gets worse and worse, as Julie does things like lock her stepbrother in a refrigerator, nearly killing him, and then brings the rapist who killed her mother back to the house to take out her new mom in a blackmail plot. Yep, she even tells him, "You can rape her all you want!" It all adds up to an ending that totally shocked me that I don't want to cheat you out of.Yep. This is one rough little film, which makes sense when you realize it's by the writer and director of Chained Heat, Paul Nicolas (that movie also has Danning in it, plus Linda Blair, Henry Silva, Tamara Dobson, John Vernon and Stella Stevens for a movie that transcends the WIP genre).It's not for everyone. But Mejias is great in it. And it's the kind of movie that you are amazed that exists and even more astounded as it plays in your DVD player (or streams over YouTube).

Crackerjack thriller here, a deeply twisted film about a budding 12 year old psychopath's obsession with her own father and willingness to kill off anyone who comes between them. Tony Franciosa is good as the befuddled, utterly clueless father, Sybil Danning even better as the sex maven MILF single parent whom he is in love with, and the show is completely stolen by Isabelle Mejias as young Julie.One thing I kept wondering about through the film: Does Julie know that her feelings for her father are twisted, and that her actions are wrong if not outright evil? The film scores points by not letting the viewer find out whether she actually knows right from wrong. Hitchcock would have been impressed by the plotting, especially the killing of a young child by a sex murderer who is rewarded for playing a part in young Julie's scheme by being set up for his own execution. The ending is also inevitable, or rather the only ending that was possible given the material. Anything else would have been a cop-out, and there is a knowing glint in someone's eye when it's all over to suggest that they didn't have a problem with how everything worked out.One aspect of the film that's very interesting is the early 1980s polyester culture in which the film is set, which upon further research proves to be both Toronto, Canada and then West Berlin, Germany, seamlessly edited together into a strange, unwelcoming urban hell. Everything looks cold (the film is set in the winter), unhealthy (at one point a character stops by a Burger King to scarf down a Whopper on the run), impersonal (a key scene is set in a crowded shopping mall) and hopelessly tacky (the stairwell in Franciosa's mansion is festooned with a mass of framed pictures arranged in a way that makes them impossible to be seen individually) in a way that feels unique to the time period.You also couldn't make this movie today. It's too sick, twisted, amoral and politically incorrect. Another commenter nails it perfectly when referring to the film as "Bratsploitation", and modern viewers will be hard pressed to equate the film with anything later than THE GOOD SON, which lacks the psycho-sexual tension that raises JULIE DARLING's quease level beyond mere camp. Recommended as a double bill with William Grefe's IMPULSE with William Shatner. Creepy.8/10

Isabelle Mejias, an under-recognized talent who deserved better material than she received in her brief acting tenure, performs strongly as Julie, a socially disunited young lady with a ravenous Electra complex. Julie harbors malicious and dangerous resentments toward anyone she feels is competing for her father's affections, or who might create a rift within her delusional fantasy world. Hapless potential-victims-to-be are her new step-brother and step-mom(Sybil Danning, who shows her boobs...of course, that's become about as uncommon a sight as the North Star).A minor gem, this underrated horror/thriller deserves reinvestigation. Briskly paced, and with better acting than you'll usually find in most B-minus pictures, JULIE DARLING is one to keep your eyes peeled for. 6/10

This extremely obscure thriller (unavailable almost everywhere) is unpleasant and highly unsettling, but at the same time undeniably effective. The premise of an evil child is taken to extremes: teenager Isabelle Mejias (who delivers her lines like a pro and is frighteningly convincing) lies, blackmails, arranges for people to be killed and kills herself with cold, calm ease. The film also has some perverse scenes (let's just say it goes beyond merely suggesting incest) that will turn most people off, but you have to admit that what it does, it does well (and that includes a shock ending that, for once, DOES come as a shock - forget about "Friday The 13TH"). (**1/2)