(William Friedkin, US, 1990)
When a trendy, but pleasant young couple employ an attractive English nanny their problems really start. Little did they expect that she would be a baby-sacrificing, tree-worshipping, nymph-druid!
It is blood in the woods time in this well-shot piece of horror hokum from The Exorcist director William Friedkin. Based upon Dan Greenberg's book 'The Nanny', it does have a handful of spooky moments and some explicit on-screen gore, but these are spoilt by some sub-Evil Dead, rubbery 'grabbing tree' effects. The acting is good enough and helps in a few key moments of tension, especially in a 'house surrounded by wolves' scene. The whole thing looks great and for the most part the characters behave sensibly. But it's all very obviously b-grade stuff and something of a come down from The Exorcist - can't imagine anyone having nightmares over anything here. Having said that, inexplicably The Guardian was banned in Germany. Still, any film which stars Carey (Licence to Kill) Lowell and has Jenny Seagrove going 'native' in the woods can't be far off target.
Rob Dyer
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