Emelie (2015)

Running Time: 1hr 20min

Release Date: March 4, 2016

Review by: Stacey

 

I think at some point or another we've all seen the ultimate evil babysitter movie, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle.  Rebecca De Mornay perfectly portrayed the crazed killer with a vendetta against the Bartel family for ruining her life.  While not even on a scale that grand or complex, Michael Thelin's feature film debut, Emelie, attempts to channel from the same psychological well.

When their usual babysitter bails, their replacement girl, whose real name is actually Emelie (Sarah Bolger) shows up claiming to be Anna (Randi Langdon).  Anna was shown in the opening scene being abducted and dragged into a car by a man and unseen woman.  Emelie quickly charms the parents and younger children, Christopher (Thomas Bair) and Sally (Carly Adams), while oldest brother Jacob (Joshua Rush) is hesitant at first.  With the parents gone on an anniversary date and the unknown man (Robert Bozek) keeping a close but hidden eye on them, Emelie begins to slowly reveal her true intentions while subjecting the kids to disturbing activities.

 It's a story we have seen a few times before, sure, but what it lacks in originality it sure makes up for in other departments.  The acting throughout the cast is great- with Sarah Bolger and the young Joshua Rush being the main hitters.  Outwardly, there's nothing sinister looking about Emelie, but the second she starts switching to her dark side, it's chilling.  And from the beginning of meeting her, you won't get any real sense of kindness or warmth, and it shows when she starts fucking with the kids.

  

Emelie had some super unsettling scenes that progressed from letting the kids play around and make a mess to forcing them to watch a homemade sex tape.  I think I caught myself "what the fuck??"ing a few times throughout.  I give props to the writers, Rich and Harry Herbick, for not going super overboard with the sick games she'd play with the kids.  Some films tend to do that and it usually results in taking away from the feel of the movie and the viewing experience when you know things are just there for shock.

 

Eventually we learn of Emelie's backstory which wasn't delved into quite enough and I think it both hurt and helped because while we now know her motivations, we still don't feel any sympathy towards her at any time.  And I'm not sure if we were ever supposed to.  The fact that we really never know much about her accomplice either widened some of the holes in the story.  Once we hit the 50 min mark, the movie starts to falter and go towards a more familiar route even though Joshua Rush manages to keep the scenes afloat with his uprising to protective, little badass.

The ending felt a little phoned in and I think the simplest cap on the story would have been the best instead of leaving it the way they did.  With the pacing and the 80 min runtime, I feel like they could have patched up the few flaws had they added at least 15 more minutes.  Ultimately, Emelie isn't a bad movie; despite it's flaws, it's a worthy psychological thriller that deserves a watch.

 3/5

Emelie is out now on VOD!

 Check out the trailer below: