The story is about a new seventh grader who is making the transition from Barbies to sex, drugs and stealing, thanks to the miracles of peer pressure. Evan Rachel Wood, seen recently and impressively as an innocent 12-year-old girl in LITTLE SECRETS, plays a 13-year-old would-be woman named Tracy, who is throwing her life away as fast as she can.

Wanting nothing more than to be popular, Tracy sets her sights on hanging out with the slightly older Evie, her school's top hottie. Evie, a bisexual devil, is played by Nikki Reed, who co-wrote the script with the director. In real-life, Reed was Tracy. Both young actresses deliver sterling performances, as does Holly Hunter, who plays Tracy's mother, Melanie. Mel, who has problems of her own, would like to be a good mother but suffers from a bad case of blindness and naivet‚ when it comes to observing what is happening to her daughter. Tracy cuts herself nightly in the family's one bathroom, does all kinds of drugs in her room from snorting cocaine to huffing inhalants, has sex with boys whom she has just met and steals things just to impress her friends. Her mother remains basically oblivious of all of this for months until she is forced to see it.

If you've got teenagers, especially girls, the movie will probably prove far scarier that this week's other release, JEEPERS CREEPERS 2. When I was able to ignore the oppressively pseudo-artistic approach of the video camera operator, I was quite moved by the story. But the movie could -- and should -- have been much better.

THIRTEEN runs 1:40. It is rated R for "drug use, self destructive violence, language and sexuality - all involving young teens" and would be acceptable for older teenagers.