The Nightmare Nanny

This movie should be nominated for an Academy Award. This was a riveting portrayal between a mother's psychiatric battle due to the loss of her unborn child and giving her heart and soul to a family in desperate need of a nanny to their child with a heart defect. I cried, I was on the edge of my seat, and I even laughed a little along the way in this experience.

I gave this film two extra stars because of this one shot in the film with a sunrise which moved my spirit to new heights.

On their way to start a family in California, pregnant Mekenna Melvin (as Amber Miller) and her scruffy boyfriend Nathan Parsons (as Jake) have a car accident. She loses the baby. Three years later, Ms. Melvin gets a job as nanny for attractive Los Angeles couple Ashley Scott and Kip Pardue (as Anne and Ben Gerson). Melvin is hired to look after their disabled three-year-old daughter. This being a nightmarishly titled TV movie, you already know the young nanny is psycho and wants to play the mommy...

As of September 2013, the "Lifetime" channel was running this movie with an amusing error. Part of Melvin's cover is that she is pretending to be a legitimate nanny named "Julie Palmer". After about 35 minutes of running time, "Anne" calls home worried about her baby daughter's whereabouts. She says, "I've been trying to get Amber on the phone for the last two hours." But, at this point, she is not supposed to know "Julie" is "Amber". This is far from the liveliest "Lifetime" psycho drama in existence.

**** The Nightmare Nanny (7/13/13) Michael Feifer ~ Ashley Scott, Mekenna Melvin, Kip Pardue, Nathan Parsons

In the beginning of the movie, the couple are talking about how broke they are! So, the solution is to hire a nanny for their child???? Really helps with the finances; LUDICROUS!

Ashley Scott plays a mother with a terrible haircut and a newfound motivation to return to work after finding nanny Melvin, who appears to be an excellent fit for her toddler daughter. It's only after Scott's character goes against her hunches that she decides to take action… but by that time, the obvious psycho she hired to care for her daughter has gone missing… with… you guessed it… the daughter. Ugh! Unsympathetic characters and dull story. There really is nothing here but a waste of time. Even for people who embrace the shameless corniness of a Lifetime Movie will find this one stale; there's not even a whole lot to make fun of either. Just downright lame.

*½ (out of four)

THE NIGHTMARE NANNY (TV Movie 2013) Oh Brother...

BASIC PLOT: Annie (Ashley Scott) and Ben (Kip Pardue) have had a bad year financially. Annie decides, now that her child is 3, it's time to go back to work. She has a standing job offer from Elise (Stacy Haiduk), Ben's sister, and she's finally decided to take it. This will mean hiring a nanny, but they think they'll can make it work. After several failed interviews, Annie is pleased to discover Amber (Mekenna Melvin). She has lots to offer, great experience, and a background in child development. Everything seems to be working out, but something's not quite right about Amber. Can they discover what's driving her before it's too late?

WHAT WORKS: *The trailer is decent, EXCEPT for another voiceover failure. This guy sounds like he should be talking about "scary constipation" on a laxative commercial. He SHOULD NOT be doing trailers, for thrillers.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: *There is no family chemistry between Annie (Ashley Scott), Ben (Kip Pardue) and Jenny (Elizabeth Tovey). They appear to be total strangers, who don't even like each other. Everything is forced! I am an Ashley Scott fan. She's in some of my favorite made-for-tv movies, but in this, she comes off shrill, petty and selfish. These are not good qualities in your main character.

*No one would get that ugly over a nanny taking a kid to swim lessons. You might get a lesson on boundaries, or you might just get a thank you. It really depends on the family (I was an au pair, I know of which I speak). But Annie's reaction makes her the one who needs a lesson in boundaries, and how to speak to people in general. We're supposed to believe she's in marketing? Yeah right. Marketing is about how to read people, and exploit their needs. Annie is a self-absorbed, jealous person, who doesn't realize anyone else even has needs. She's jealous and shrill over her child's attachment to the nanny. If the nanny/au pair is decent, it's natural for the children to become attached. Good mothers might have some hurt feelings, but they also know it means their child is well looked after. Only a selfish shrew would make it about her, and throw a fit.

*This is a blatant "La main qui berce l'enfant (1992)," rip-off, and not a good one. Redoing the same movie over and over is fine, IF you can put your own unique spin on it. This movie doesn't even try. "La main qui berce l'enfant (1992)," succeeded because everything worked, the visual metaphors, the music, but mostly, because the character's motivations were clear. There are no real motivations here, and unlike Peyton Flanders, we don't know why Amber (Mekenna Melvin) is doing any of this, not really. There are two Ambers here, the first half Amber, who is a bit manipulative, but pretty normal. The second half Amber is a raging lunatic, who can't even have a cup of coffee with her mother, without losing it. It's hard to know, or understand why, any of these characters do anything, as they are so badly written.

*OMG! Annie throws a childish fit, because the nanny cooked dinner, and the husband ate it? This scene should have been eliminated. Most of the time, cooking is part of an au pair/nanny's job. All this scene does, is show Annie as a despicable human being, not someone I want to stand behind. Also, Annie loses her child TWICE! She always pays attention to herself and her job, but never her kid, maybe that's why her child prefers the nanny.

*Cops would listen to any scrap of information they got from the parents of a kidnapped child. They would never say, "not pertinent information," to anyone. That's asinine! I'm so sick of writers (I'm talking to you Roger Stigliano), using ineffectual police as a plot device. It doesn't work, it's lazy, and it's insulting to your audience.

*if Amber (Mekenna Melvin) had been in a mental institution for four years, she would never have been able to "fake normal" for almost a month. Also, her boyfriend would have moved on, it's rare to see a man stick around through trauma, especially since he caused it.

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: *I would NOT recommend this movie. There is nothing redeeming about it in any way. If your looking for a good made-for-tv melodrama starring, Ashley Scott, look no further than Une famille en sursis (2017), it's one of my favorites. If you're looking for a decent outing from writer Roger Stigliano, try Lethal Seduction (2015) or The Twin (2017). Or if you're looking for something decent from Michael Feifer, try Born and Missing (2017). All are decent made-for-tv movies (see my reviews for more info on all). But whatever you do, DON'T WATCH THIS!

CLOSING NOTES: *This is a made-for-tv movie, please keep that in mind before you watch\rate it. TV movies have a much lower budget, and so your expectations should be adjusted.

*I have no connection to the film, or production in ANY way. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews. Hope I helped you out.