The Caretaker

The Caretaker is an exciting new horror thriller that all horror film fans will enjoy. From first-time feature film director Jeff Prugh comes a well- crafted independent film that gives the feel of a Hollywood box-office hit. The Caretaker follows a young woman named Mallorie (Meegan Warner) and her boyfriend August (Sean Martini) as they temporarily move into Mallorie's sickly grandmother's home to care for her. What was intended to be a nice gesture from this young couple soon turns into a bad decision as they learn the truth about Mallorie's grandmother Birdie (Sondra Blake) and her shady intentions. Although the whole cast was superb, Sondra Blake steals the show as she gives a spooky and captivating performance that takes the scary plot to the next level and keeps audiences wanting more. Unlike most films in its genre, The Caretaker does a great job of developing each major character which allows the audience to gain more from the film than just a good scare. If you enjoy films of this genre, I definitely recommend giving this movie a watch.

I did like the actors and their acting. It was quite believable in context of what was going on. I also liked their communication - which was not forcibly poor to further the plot. (poor communication being one of the main tools in most horror movies i know to actually create tension...) Sadly though - i did not care a bit for the story the movie told. It committed the sin of being "simply boring". No real twists and turns, no build up of tension, and the climax felt rather "mehh". I caught myself checking the time several times during that movie.

The idea of the movie is not really new .. the execution is ... in my opinion ... textbook... sadly textbook as in "been there, done that - a hundred times..." Whats left is what can only be called mediocre.

The Caretaker starts out pretty well, I think.. It looks good, doesn't look especially low budget, the acting is OK, it had an overall creepiness to it, I gave it a chance. (I have seen my fair share of small horror flicks, I usually get a feeling pretty fast) Yeah, well it starts out good, you're led to believe there is something really creepy going on, and then.. well, then almost nothing more happens.

I mean, stuff does happen, the movie isn't directly boring, it's just way to tame. It's more like a drama than horror. A movie can work without the big horror scenes and jump-scares and stuff, but then it has to have everything else really locked down. And while the actors do a decent job and all, it's not enough. There are a couple of scenes that are pretty creepy, I'll give it that, but it just seems like the movie is stuck in the beginning part for the whole thing. You know, the beginning part of a horror movie where just small stuff happens.

I do want to talk a little bit about Sean Martini, tho. He is the boyfriend of the main character, and he is sort of a main character himself, and I thought he was pretty good. He kind of looks like a cross between G-eazy and Jared Leto, he looks good. Skinny, but good. His acting, although not mind blowing, is pretty natural and not too acty. The girl, Meegan Warner is alright too, but I liked the guy the best. The old woman, eh, she overplays a tad, but OK.

So, for pretty much the whole first half+, I was pretty entertained, but then it didn't pick up pace at all, and then when the mystery is revealed, it's just not that cool, and the ending is pretty cliché.

So yeah. At first I was like: yeah, this is pretty cool, kind of creepy. But then I was like: Aaaw, come on, can something big happens soon? And just to be clear, one of the stars in this rating is for Sean Martini.

This movie has a good plot, all the way up until about 10-15 minutes before the ending. Of all the ways they could have taken this at the end, it just fell extremely flat on its face for me. If you decide to watch it, at some point you're really going to be looking for a deranged clown to show up, but that is not what happens at all, and it makes me wonder if the clown-teasing aspect wasn't there it would probably attract a completely different audience, that might actually appreciate it more.

There's nothing wrong with this movie beyond the flat ending. The acting is very good, the story is very good, but the end just makes you sort of regret watching it.

No chills. No thrills. Bad dialogue. No plot. Mediocre acting. Characters that made no sense. No resolution.

You're better off with most anything else.

And no don't think it'll so bad it's good.