EMELIE. (2015) DIRECTED BY MICHAEL THELIN. ORIGINAL MUSIC BY PHILIP MOSSMAN. STARRING SARAH BOLGER AND JOSHUA RUSH. REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
This is an impressive little horror film, coming to you on Digital HD on March 14th 2016 and out on DVD on April 4th 2016 courtesy of the nice peeps at FrightFest Presents. It works because it taps into one of humankind's deepest, darkest fears. Namely, are our children safe when we're not with them? Are they safe with... cue menacing drum roll... The Babysitter...?
This movie, which could also have been called THE BABYSITTER FROM HELL except that that would have been waaaaay too clichéd, takes that fear apart, examines it minutely and puts it back together again just for you in eighty-five minutes of suspense and mounting fear. It's not terrifying like THE EXORCIST is terrifying, but it's damned scary in the sense that if you leave your kids with someone you've never met before, you have no real way of telling if they'll be safe with that person.
In America, at least according to the films I've seen, it seems like you can phone an agency if you need a babysitter for your little darlings and they'll send someone over to your house. Here in Ireland, we don't have that kind of system. Kids are minded by people they know or their parents know and there aren't any agencies that I know of.
Even if the agency babysitters have been vetted by the police, which I assume they would be before they're put on an agency's books, you still wouldn't really know them as such. I'm not criticising the American way of doing things. I'm just saying that it wouldn't be for me. How would you know that you weren't inviting a potential Lucille Botts, the Bandit Babysitter from THE SIMPSONS, into your home to watch over your little treasures? I'm really on my soapbox now, haha.
Anyway, long story short, Dan and Joyce Thompson don't use an agency babysitter to mind their kids on the night they go out to celebrate their thirteenth wedding anniversary, but neither do they know the girl at all. They've never seen her before in their lives. She's allegedly a friend of their regular sitter. She could be Ronald McDonald's evil twin sister for all they know about her.
Nonetheless, off they toddle to their fancy restaurant to pretend to each other for a couple of hours that they're happy, leaving Jacob, Sally and little Christopher in the care of 'Anna,' a young woman who's got some really strange and inappropriate ideas about minding kids. I have three scenes to cite as examples. Three words/phrases for you to keep an eye out for that sum up 'Anna's' babysitting style. Periods. Python. Parent Porn. Intrigued, gore fans? You'd better watch the film...!
'Anna,' of course, is not 'Anna' at all but someone else entirely. She's got more fake I.D.s than Muddy Mae Suggins. (Another reference from the ever-useful THE SIMPSONS!) She's every parent's worse nightmare, in fact. As a Mommy myself, I'd always be horrified and distraught by any film in which the babysitter turned out to be evil, and this film certainly freaked me out big-time.
'Anna' naturally has an ulterior motive for babysitting the Thompson kiddies. The only person standing between her and her goal is the Thompson's pre-teen son Jacob. Can he step up to the plate? He's certainly going to give it a bash, anyway. Joshua Rush does a great job as the proactive pre-pubescent hero of the hour. Try saying that with a few pints on you!
Little 'Cubby' Christopher is a precious little pet. Ginger-haired Sally is terribly annoying. Well, not every kid can be a sweetie-pie...! They're all three of 'em good little actors, though.
There's not a whole lot else to say about the film, really. The plot is straightforward and uncomplicated and you won't be scratching your heads over the complexity of it all. The end credits use an interesting cover version of Debbie Harry's brilliant song ONE WAY OR ANOTHER by a band called UNTIL THE RIBBON BREAKS. There's a good original score as well.
The film was one of the big hits of the Irish Film Institute's 2015 Horrorthon, though I didn't see it there myself. Afterwards, I did hear that people on Facebook were making jokes about one of the scenes which I've told you guys to watch out for. In their opinion: 'Babysitters are weird. Period...!'
That'll make sense when you see the film, so make sure you do.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO
You can contact Sandra at:
http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com
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