Stanko's Stance

What a weird movie. What an odd freaking movie.

Emelie is a horror movie directed by Michael Thelin staring a relatively small cast of unknown talents. Sarah Bolger plays Emelie; a mentally deranged young women who tricks a pair of parents as a replacement babysitter. The eldest brother, Jacob, being played by Joshua Rush in his only acting credit, starts realizing that this imposter is not a typical babysitter. As Jacob attempts to survive the ordeal, Emelie lets her motivations and true personality begin to poke through the fake-smile facet, resulting in an unheedingly complex concluding sequence.

Emelie is not centered around scares, rather just creeps and “what the f***” moments.

For example, Sally showing the kids a pornographic film of their father cheating with another woman. Just very odd to see an 11-year-old walk down the stairs, notice what is on the TV and having to shut it off to save his siblings.

But that’s nothing on the scale of “huh?” How about Sally using her period as a way to entrance Jacob and his easily moldable and corruptible 11-year-old mush of a brain?

Bolger does a fine job acting out as Emelie when it’s a subtler scene. However, when the emotions need to be ramped up, her performance jumps off the rickety bridge. She has no one matching her level or crazy. The kids are so subdued, and come the end, two of them are comatose. The parents, who could be an emotional counterbalance to Emelie, are locked in a restaurant celebrating their anniversary. Other side characters are in the story, and to the credit of the screenplay, they are hinted at, but none leave a major impact or have profound effect on the story.

Emelie doesn’t leave an impact on the viewer. It is an option of Netflix for a Halloween party where a group of friends can just talk over the movie and then laugh when the absurd moments take place.

Stanko Rating: D

“Emelie” IMDB
“Emelie” Rotten Tomatoes