Directed by:William Friedkin
You can't totally hate a movie where leather clad biker rapists are decapitated by a possessed tree, but this confused movie is equal parts dreary and absurd, yet seems to completely lack a sense of humor. Jenny Seagrove is fine in the role of Camilla, a Druid priestess who signs on to be the nanny for a yuppie couple's newborn baby. Little do they know, she plans on sacrificing the tike to that aforementioned bloodthirsty tree! Some gore (by Steve Johnson, et al), rabid wolves, high production values and the good central performance help things along, but it's nearly impossible to take this as seriously as was intended.
★★
was impervious to most of the nonsense in this until processing it later. long before the end i was thoroughly sick of gurgling infants and the new-age nutcase nanny.
ReplyDeletethe sequence where the architect catches up to camilla in the forest and is pursued by the coyotes felt very much like an argento set-piece.
promoting the film (FANGO, again...) friedkin said he hated the original screenplay, which was close to the source novel, and so, he and the screenwriter gave it another pass. that scene with the rapist punks was inspired by an episode from the director's own life -- he came home from a trip and found the naive british nanny he'd employed, in bed with a member of the hell's angels. a couple of years later, friedkin said he was happy with the film, but blamed the studio for insisting on a supernatural element.
Ha @ that nanny story. This is yet another one I need to re-watch and write a proper review for. Haven't seen it in many many years.
ReplyDeleteLADY KILLER (1995, s.a. chandra mohan). indian remake with 4 or 5 musical sequences.
ReplyDeleteDoes it have a song about being decapitated by a tree?
ReplyDelete