GL84 Following the birth of their son, a yuppie couple hires a mysterious nanny to care for him only for a series of strange incidents around them eventually causes them to believe that she's sacrificing babies to a spirit being and must race to stop her before she finishes.This was an overall decent effort without too much to really like here. One of the film's few positives here is the way this manages to really make the cult she's a part of seem like a creepy, mysterious entity. The first half here mainly comes off like a series of strange incidents around the house that don't really amount to much, yet all come together to build up a rather chilling concept here of the sacrificial cult. From the constant needling of the breastfeeding onto others, the way she always manages to wind up in the baby's care whenever something happens around them that could endanger them and the slow-burn way it leads into the revelation of her actual identity, so although there's not a whole lot of action here these scenes build up his feeling rather nicely. As well, there are some solid action scenes here featuring the group of thugs encountering her out in the woods and being drawn back to the killer trees which pick them off in rapid succession, the wolves stalking the one witness back to his house and forcing him back through all the different rooms before trapping him in a thrilling sequence and the finale in the woods is a lot of fun with the wolves ambushing them leading into the battle at the tree that gives this one a really frantic and exciting finish. Alongside the great and somewhat gorier kills than expected here, these here are what make this one enjoyable over the film's few flaws. It's two main problems are quite easy to spot and go hand-in-hand with each other, the cheesiness and its sheer ridiculousness. The ridiculousness of it might be its worst offense. There's no way that any of this could happened and the ability to keep it straight-faced and serious is a bit of a stretch to believe. Once it gets to the tree attack late in the film, then it gets too far out there to really become plausible. It just seems so out-of-place in a film about a psychotic nanny. The fact that the mystery surrounding her backstory is quite hard to get into all around and lacks just about any sense of cohesion also doesn't help since the entire concept of the cult is never given here and the only thing we get is their inherent creepiness to sustain us which doesn't last all that long. Though there are some that could be put off by the slow pace as well, as this doesn't move at the fastest point possible as well, these here are the whole of the film's problems.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Nudity, Language, a mild sex scene and children-in-jeopardy.

Leofwine_draca A slow first half gives way to an exciting second in this oddball horror flick from EXORCIST director William Friedkin. The theme of evil nannies is nothing new - Hammer did it in 1965 with Bette Davis in THE NANNY, while Rebecca De Mornay was memorably evil in 1992's THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE, and the plot is set up slowly before the second half kicks in - and it's a real kicker.Jenny Seagrove at first appears seductively innocent and beautiful (and is more than happy to strip off for her role and frequently does), but soon becomes the evil demon that she really is, while she is given able support by the actors playing the parents caught up in the horrific events. Miguel Ferrer, the scuzzy businessman in ROBOCOP, has a small role as a family friend while Xander Berkeley is on hand as a laconic policeman.The good parts of this film are those which concentrate on the killer tree itself, which is a pretty novel concept which was explored in FROM HELL IT CAME and THE EVIL DEAD, but has never been centre stage in this sense before. Whether it's eating children or whipping bad guys to death with a sharp branch, the tree really is the star of the show. The best part of this film is by far the amusing ending, where the father, dressed in a ripped, bloody blue shirt and carrying a red chainsaw, fights the tree in a scene which is somewhat similar to EVIL DEAD 2.Yes, this man becomes Bruce Campbell. The scenes where he chainsaws the tree and blood sprays out are startling and, it has to be said, hilarious, and it's just a shame that the rest of the film wasn't like this. That said, it's definitely a passable exercise in fear, and with Friedkin as director, THE GUARDIAN is enjoyable fun (with an admittedly ridiculous premise) which maintains the interest throughout.

SnoopyStyle Molly and Allan Sheridan leave their baby with their nanny Diana Julian. She's a druid who sacrifices the baby to worship the tree. She and the baby disappear. Phil (Dwier Brown) and Kate Sterling (Carey Lowell) move from Chicago to Santa Monica. Phil has a new advertising job and Kate has a new baby. They hire nanny Camilla Grandier (Jenny Seagrove) after the one they wanted has a deadly accident. Camilla and the baby get chased into the woods by three thugs. The rapists cut Camilla but the tree and wolves kill the thugs. The neighbor Ned Runcie takes a liking to Camilla.William Friedkin tries his hand on another horror. The problem is that it's never scary. The characters are rarely compelling. The tree effects seem second rate. There is little to no tension since the young couple has no rooting interest. They are very bland. The most memorable thing that Jenny Seagrove does is get naked and get into the tree makeup. There are unreasonable character traits. For example, Kate is much too compassionate to Camilla when Phil starts making accusations. Kate should be much more of a mamma bear. At the hospital, they don't call in security and instead they run home where inevitably Camilla will follow. There are plenty of wrong turns and uninspired roads in this Friedkin side trip.

Fella_shibby This movie was lacking in both suspense and b movie fun. I saw this on a rented VHS in early 90s. There's just nothing really scary about the tree. Even worse is that a great director like Friedkin (the exorcist, bug, killer Joe, rules of engagement, the French connection). can't bring any tension from anything but quite a bit of nudity and some extremely gory scenes. I hated this movie. Not only is it a chore to sit through with the tedious pace, its inexplicably stupid as well. We are given no proper explanation as to why all these events are transpiring, nor do they bother to tell us why a damn tree is wreaking all this havoc. We also get no proper character development. I think a nanny bathing with a baby naked would be questionable. This movie contained such annoying nonsense. The movie has Carey Lowell (licence to kill). Dwier Brown (the house 1 n 2, red dragon). Jenny Seagrove. Miguel Ferrer (iron man 3, Robocop, night flier).