It's sad. The whole thing is like a mix between The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and Troll 2. The movie begins with *sigh* opening text exposition (I hate exposition, don't you?) Something about Druids making sacrifices to trees. Is this true? The movie is based on a novel titled "The Nanny" by Dan Greenburg. The screenplay was written by three people, including Friedkin...
It's the first Friedkin movie I've seen that has opening credits... and it's the
exact same credits from The Exorcist and Exorcist II: The Heretic! The same font. The music sounds like The Exorcist too (Fantasia for Strings.) There are two dream sequences in the film, and one of them is rip-off of the dream sequence in The Exorcist (you know, someone is running.) Oh, and in one dream sequence an animatronic wolf head pops out. Looks so phony. It's something you would see on a carnival ride.
In the beginning, a character packs his clothes with Stephen King's IT. We get a "in your face" shot of it. Why Friedkin? You like that book and you didn't get to adapt it?
So, a couple wants to hire a babysitter to look after their baby boy. Of all the potential babysitters, the one who is
black dies. Damn it Friedkin. The evil babysitter wants to sacrifice the child to a tree. At some point, the evil babysitter is attacked by muggers who intend to kill her, and the baby too. Geez. The evil tree comes alive and kills the muggers. A head is crushed, limbs are torn off, and one of them is eaten by the tree. Yup, the tree has a mouth... and teeth. I wonder if its the tree from those Harry Potter movies. Later, the evil babysitter gets naked, is fondled by the tree, and is turned into a tree, or something. Those nasty druids.
There are two false BIRD scares in the movie. I guess Friedkin thought cat scares had gotten old. At the end, the main character attacks the evil tree with a chainsaw, and blood comes out!
The movie begins with the shot of an owl, and it ends with the shot of an owl. I don't get it.
So, Friedkin turned down Blatty's Exorcist spin-off and said yes to
THIS instead? Well, Friedkin, congratulations... you made a movie that's
worse than Exorcist II. I mean, at least that movie is something special. This is just B-Movie schlock, and it's not even fun. It's just dull. Oh yeah, and the performances are so
wooden.
Wow, The Guardian is on dvd... with an audio commentary!?
http://www.discshop.se/filmer/dvd/the_guardian_import/P83089 I must buy this, and hear Friedkin talk about this crap, haha.