The Paperboy (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #78

As I point out every time I watch this film, Joe Bob Briggs calls it the most underrated horror film ever. At least, that's what he said when he presented it on Monstervision 20 years ago. Is that still his opinion today? I'd have to ask him.

Maybe I'm underrating the film as well. Isn't 78th place far too low down the list? There's a problem when I compare films that I'm sure you can relate to. If I put a big budget action film and a low budget horror film side by side, how can I compare them? They're worlds apart. I don't know the exact budget, but "The Paperboy" must be the film with the lowest budget in my top 100.

What I like about this film is that I can relate to it. It sends shivers down my spine, because I see myself in the 12-year-old paperboy Johnny McFarley. No, I wasn't a serial killer when I was 12, but in retrospect I consider myself to have been mentally unbalanced at that age, and only the fortunate circumstances of my environment saved me. Johnny's biggest disadvantage was having parents who didn't love him. I had a loving mother, but my father was very unemotional. Looking back, I'm sure he loved me, but he was unable to show it. I only remember him saying the words "I love you" to me once. It was on the day my mother left in 1976. I greatly appreciated his words.

I had a weird childhood. It was a blessing in many ways, but I can see how it served to unbalance me. I grew up in the grounds of Little Aston Hall. There were no other children, so I had no friends. I was blessed with extremely high intelligence. Or was it a curse? When I went to school at the age of five I was moved into the second class within a week, because I was too advanced for the class. Two weeks later I was moved into the third class, because I was still too advanced. That meant I was a five-year-old in a class full of seven and eight year olds. I didn't make any friends. I remained an outsider until my family moved to Walsall when I was eight.

My new school, Butts School, didn't care about how I'd been treated in Little Aston. They put me in the class that matched my age, essentially demoting me two classes. It was good to be surrounded by children my own age, and I made a few friends. On the other hand, I already knew everything I was being taught, so it was boring for me. I played up and made a nuisance of myself in class. My teachers had problems dealing with me. Only the headmaster, Mr. Wilson, was experienced enough to understand me. Years later (shortly after I left university) he visited me and told me that it broke his heart to see the way I was suffering in primary school.

Even in grammar school I was an outsider because of my intelligence. I was top of my class in almost every subject. My Latin teacher, Mr. Dixon, used to give me extra homework, because he knew that the regular homework was too easy for me. Most of the other children despised me, because I thought I was the teacher's pet.

That brings me to the age of 12, Johnny McFarley's age. I felt lonely and isolated from the world. I had very few friends, and I was bullied in school. I was desperate to be loved. I wanted friends. I wanted female companionship. Even when I was 12 I had sexual desires and lusted after girls who were too old for me. That's just like Johnny. In the film he lusts after 16-year-old Brenda, played by Karyn Dwyer. She thinks he's a stupid little boy. Yes, he is. So was I as a 12-year-old. My sexual urges were too strong for me to ignore, so they became sexual obsessions.

As I said above, my mother loved me. She was the only one who helped me remain sane. Or at least, she helped me act sanely. I don't think anyone could have stopped my insane thoughts. At that time my parents were going through a crisis. My mother poured out her soul to me. She spoke to me as if I were an adult. I don't know whether that was a good or a bad thing. I appreciated that she could confide in me, but maybe a 12-year-old shouldn't have had to carry his mother's emotional burden. I don't know. It's possible that my mother unknowingly contributed to my insanity.

This is Karin Dwyer, who was 18 at the time she appeared in the film, playing 16-year-old Brenda. She was a beautiful woman who contributed to the film as a talented actress. I'm sorry to say that she suffered from depression and committed suicide on 25th September 2018. She will always be remembered.

Karyn Dwyer
22 March 1975 – 25 September 2018

The film has never been released on disc in America or England. I managed to buy a Greek import DVD, which is now out of print. Fortunately, the film is being streamed on Amazon Prime in the USA.