Emelie

By reading the premise for this film I'm sure you know that this isn't going to be some edge of your seat sophisticated thriller, it is a straightforward (mostly predictable horror/thriller that entertains enough but fails to accomplish much).

The flick started interesting enough, had me intrigued right off the bat, however from there it just kind of slows down and starts following the exact same path that many other similar movies have. As the babysitter's intentions become clear the movie got kind of bland, I just didn't really care about most of the stuff that was going on. The film managed to hold my interest enough to stop from turning the movie off but it failed to create any real tension/suspense.

It wasn't all bad, I thought the cast did a really good job, especially the child actors who all gave very realistic performances and succeeded at not really being annoying or obnoxious at all. There were a few memorable scenes as well, one that was really unintentionally funny in my opinion.

Overall this wasn't a bad movie, it did it's job of killing 1 hour & 20 minutes. It's just the whole thing has a very bland and familiar atmosphere that prevents it from being anything more than just another lower budget horror movie.

5/10

Despite packing in an interesting premise & opening on a promising note, Emelie throws everything away in its final minutes to finish as a forgettable horror thriller. The setting is smartly built up, the suspense is effectively sustained for the majority of its runtime but what it lacks & what brings the whole film down eventually is the absence of a proper closure.

The story of Emelie follows the Thompson family that finds the couple going out to celebrate their wedding anniversary, leaving behind their three children in the care of a new babysitter. The kids are instantly enamoured by her as she allows them to do things their parents won't but as night progresses, they soon find out that their caretaker isn't what she claims to be.

Directed by Michael Thelin in what is his directional debut, Emelie takes its time to set up its plot & is often regular with its delivery of brief, unnerving moments from start to finish. It plays on every parent's worst nightmare i.e. leaving one's child in the care of a stranger, and is gripping on more occasions than one. But it could've been so much more if Thelin had figured out a better third act.

Its ominous ambiance is a definite plus as it keeps the tension alive, and the slow relaxed pacing is fitting too as it allows the plot & characters to breathe freely. Another highlight is Sarah Bolger who carries the entire film on her own and delivers a deranged performance. The kids are annoying as expected but a couple of them are nevertheless convincing in their interaction with the babysitter.

On an overall scale, Emelie had all the ingredients to finish as a nail-biting chiller but it tries to get ahead of itself in the final act and pays the price, for that move didn't just work against it but also squandered everything that had transpired before. It really is a shame because there was potential in this material but its decision to cop-out in the end ruins its chances of being counted amongst the better examples of its genre(s).

'Emelie' is one of those films that is a lot more fun if you just turn your brain off and don't think about it too much. Unfortunately for me I don't like to do that. It you stop and think about the whole story for a second you'll quickly realise none of it makes a whole lot of sense. Without spoiling any character's motives, I'll just say that there isn't a lot of common sense or reasoning going on, most of which is lacking in order to stretch this movie out to an already short 80 minute run time. The writing in thrillers is rarely perfect, but there has to be a limit to the amount of absurdity and foolishness you can accept.

It's not all bad though. Sarah Bolger in the lead role did a fantastic job. She had an eerie creepiness about her character, while always keeping some charisma in the mix. The children also did a very good job, giving performances that were above average. Often in these types of movies the kids become annoying very quickly and ruin the experience, but that was never the case here. There was some potential behind all this that I think has been squandered with some sloppy writing in parts. Director Michael Thelin in his first film did a fine job with what he had to work with and can keep his head up. Tweak the script here and there and you'd have yourself a very fine thriller.

The movie started out promising enough but once the (dodgy) motive was revealed half-way through, the logical loopholes in the plot and weaknesses overall of the script started to show and it just became rather... meh.

And there was very little pay off in the end, it was supposed to be a thrilling ending but it just didn't work at all.

I don't know what more to say really, it's not a whole lot you can say about it as it is such a simple movie and it's impossible to talk about the plot without spoiling it.

But the acting was alright (Sarah Bolger will probably go on to do bigger and better things) and the cinematography was stellar, but yeah overall it just wasn't a great movie.

I didn't think there was anything more that could be done with the evil babysitter genre and, on reflection, I was probably right. On the other hand there were two or three clever scenes I've not seen before but nothing that had me gripping the edge of my seat. The saddest part of the movie was the sequel-begging ending. I'm sorry, but even though cast and crew gave of their best there is nothing here I want to see again. If, like me, you downloaded this for nothing, you might be entertained late-night after a few drinks but I wouldn't pay to see it and I will certainly not be awaiting the next instalment. Plus points are that the menacing moments were exactly that - menacing rather than explicit - but the whole thing has TV movie/direct-to-DVD written all over it.