Search form

THE GUARDIAN (1990) (**)

Check Out the Trailer

From watching this film one would not expect that it was made by the same director who made THE FRENCH CONNECTION and THE EXORCIST. William Friedkin's name in the credits lured me into watching the film on a lazy vacation day afternoon. Mr. Friedkin must have made the film on a lazy vacation day afternoon.

Phil (Dwier Brown, FIELD OF DREAMS) is an ad man from Chicago who gets a job in L.A. He and his wife Kate (Carey Lowell, LICENSE TO KILL) find a house in the hills to rent, where the famous architect Ned Runcie (Brad Hall, TROLL) who designed the house even drops by to make repairs. Kate drops the news on their first night in the house that she is pregnant. When the baby is born, Kate needs to go back to work, so they decide to hire a nanny. Camilla (Jenny Seagrove, MOONLIGHTING) came with great references, but Kate is worried that this English woman is too good looking to be a governess. Turns out she's really a druid priestess who travels the country stealing babies and offering them up as sacrifices to an ancient tree in the forest. When I think of the Santa Monica mountains, I always think of ancient druid trees that imbed babies into their trunks like ghastly sculptures.

The material is standard horror movie fare mixed with a dash of a "from hell" thriller. This nanny from hell is not violent but creepily attached to Phil and Kate's baby. And what nanny doesn't feel comfortable standing naked in front of the man of the house? Before this film, I never suspected druids of kidnapping babies. Pagans for sure, but never the druids. Apparently, Camilla has been stealing babies under other names in the Los Angeles area for years. But when her last victim Molly Sheridan (Natalia Nogulich, TV's DAYS OF OUR LIVES) discovers where she is, she doesn't call the cops, but takes calls Phil to set up a time to confront Camillia… and even though the film did not show it I'm sure she fit in a moment for a cup of tea as well. If the parent of a kidnapped kid isn't taking this situation all that seriously, why should we?

Friedkin takes his time to build out moments where Camillia stalks victims, but the time taken doesn't build tension, because we never care about any of the characters in jeopardy. Thus the sequences feel long and drawn out like the film is trying to stretch the material to feature length. When Camillia is stalked herself by punks, the "bad guys" are so cartoonish that there is no suspense to what the conclusion of this sequence will be. Don't mess with a druid princess who has a monster tree on her side, because you might get more than a splinter in your eye.

In production value and tone, the film reminded me of a bad episode of TALES FROM THE DARK SIDE, only stretched out over three weeks. From the acting to the direction, everything about this production is mediocre.

Rick DeMott's picture

Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks