The Guardian (1990)

A young couple with a newborn baby don't realize that the nanny they hired is a magical nymph who sacrifices infants to an evil tree.

Director:

William Friedkin

Writers:

Dan Greenburg (novel), Stephen Volk (screenplay)

Stars:

Jenny Seagrove, Dwier Brown, Carey Lowell

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jenny Seagrove	...	Camilla
Dwier Brown	...	Phil Sterling
Carey Lowell	...	Kate Sterling
Brad Hall	...	Ned Runcie
Miguel Ferrer	...	Ralph Hess
Natalija Nogulich	...	Molly Sheridan (as Natalia Nogulich)
Pamela Brull	...	Gail Krasno
Gary Swanson	...	Allan Sheridan
Jack David Walker	...	Punk
Willy Parsons	...	Punk
Frank Noon	...	Punk
Theresa Randle	...	Arlene Russell
Xander Berkeley	...	Detective
Ray Reinhardt	...	Dr. Klein
Jacob Gelman	...	Scotty

Storyline

Phil and Kate have a baby boy named Jake. They hire a baby-sitter, Camilla, to look after Jake and she becomes part of the family. The Sterling's friend and neighbor, Ned, takes a liking to Camilla and asks her out. She refuses, but Ned follows her and discovers that she is not quite human. Camilla discovers that she has been followed and Ned is pursued. He leaves a desperate message for Phil and Kate which reveals that Camilla has special plans for baby Jake.

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Plot Keywords:

baby | nanny | friend | neighbor | druid | 

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Taglines:

Tonight, while the world is asleep... an ancient evil is about to awaken.

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 April 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

A vérszomjas dada

Filming Locations:

USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$17,037,887

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Nanny Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Actor Paul Rawson was originally cast as, Scotty. Rawson fell ill weeks into production. Despite being eight years old, devastated and ill, begged William Friedkin to shoot his scenes near the end of production. Friedkin couldn't afford to change most of the shooting schedule and therefor hired someone else. After seeing the finished film upon its release, Rawson has gone on to say that he was very grateful for having the flu when he did and still has his original script.

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Goofs

Sometimes the wall mural in the baby's room is the trees the mother was painting at the beginning of the movie, but in other scenes it's a bunch of flowers.

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Quotes

Detective: There's no evidence that the woman you describe ever existed.

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Alternate Versions

There are two versions of "The Guardian": the theatrical cut, credited to William Friedkin, and a modified cut, credited to "Alan Smithee". The Alan Smithee cut has never been released on video but has been shown on cable. It includes new scenes including another scene in the hospital; different dream sequences; a scene of the nanny waking the wife up and alternate angles for other scenes. Also, the ending of the cable cut is different and omits much of the gore.

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Connections

Featured in A Happy Coincidence: An Interview with Actor Dwier Brown (2016)

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Soundtracks

While The City Sleeps
Written by Roger Eno
Performed by Roger Eno
Courtesy of Opal Records

User Reviews

plenty of gore and violence

A solid enough horror from Friedkin but he is let down by some rather mundane performances and general lack of charisma. Jenny Seagrove is the exception here, not someone who I know much of, apart from her relationship with the late Michael Winner, but she is very strong here. Indeed, the only actor who is consistently believable throughout. She does well as the sweet girl who may not be so sweet, deals well with the nudity and lets it all hang out in the tumultuous finale. Overall though the film lapses occasionally into silliness now and again and this detracts from the fact that it is an original film that tries to do something different and if it is not quite as disturbing as it wants to be, it certainly contains plenty of gore and violence.