Leslie Lyles

Maryann (an impressive Natasha Calis) moves in with her grandparents after she's orphaned. Desperately lonely, the preteen sets out to befriend a neighboring deathly ill, bed-ridden boy (Charlie Tahan), despite the outright disapproval of his mother (Samantha Morton). Maryann's persistence pays off, however, and during a series of secret visits she gradually uncovers some seriously sinister goings-on in the house... Morton as the boy's overprotective surgeon mom is the stuff of great screen villainy-at once utterly monstrous and tragically desperate-so much so that she makes even frequent heavy Michael Shannon, as the more subdued dad, pale in comparison.