Rish Outfield's reviews
This film was assigned to me, or I never would have seen it. When I asked what genre it was, I was told "it's a Thriller, not Horror." And though I usually despise that T-word, in this case, I think my boss was right. I can't in good conscience tell you fine folks that it belongs on this page, and I won't give away the neat surprise ending either.
The plot went something like this: a rich British family with a live-in Nanny (Bette Davis) has a run-in with EVIL in the guise of a ten year old boy, Joey. Two years before, Joey drowned his baby sister in the bathtub and tried to blame the long-suffering Nanny for the crime. So, now he's back from the mental home, and he's still accusing the Nanny of all sorts of foul misdeeds. When the mother is taken to the hospital with food poisoning, Joey is blamed (and why not, he's a little monster), and his at-death's-door-at-thirty aunt arrives to watch him. She finds out the truth behind it all. In the end, melodramatic good overcomes evil, though, and both the boy and his mother have a schlockly, Prozac-laced reunion.
When this movie works, it really misleads the audience and surprises them when they realize this. Bette Davis does a wonderful job. The character of the mother was a cowering, bleating, weak-willed hypochondriac who I wanted to see shaken by everyone who came in contact with her. Anyone would have to agree that, regardless of what came before, the ending sucks.
As it currently stands, it appears the forces of evil will win, but then it suddenly has a change of heart. For example, though he was a bad seed from the lower depths of Hell itself the entire film, the little boy, at the end, becomes a little angel. It left a bad taste in my mouth. And it will yours as well.
But it doesn't mean the film is bad. On the contrary, it was quite good.
Until the end.

The tyranist's thoughts
An interesting psychological horror in the same tradition as The Babysitter and perhaps The Stepfather. I haven't read the original novel (it's out of print) but I must say that this very British adaptation seems literary up until the terrible, terrible ending. The movie has a very stately pace as well as certain British-isms that might make it difficult to buy into for the modern American viewer. Still, Bette Davis does an outstanding job as the nanny and little William Dix makes an incredibly evil little boy. The movie is almost worthy of being called Hitchcockian and those of you that like Hitchcock's brand of horror will probably get into this one. Personally, if it weren't for the little neighbor girl, I probably would have found the movie pretty much intolerable. She is the one character that I found had any modicum of sense. Be prepared for a strange little sidetrip where people will definitely not think the same way that you do.