Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

Emelie Blu-ray Movie Review

Misadventures in Babysitting

Reviewed by Michael Reuben April 25, 2016

Emelie, the debut feature from director Michael Thelin and screenwriter Richard Raymond Harry Herbeck, should be better than it is. It boasts an effective lead performance by Sarah Bolger, who has been acting since she was a child (In America) and played Mary Stuart on Showtime's The Tudors. It features three child actors who give natural performances as babysitting charges targeted by a predator. And it plays effectively on the parental fear of leaving one's offspring in the care of a stranger (which is the same anxiety that has sold thousands of nanny-cams). Unfortunately, Thelin and Herbeck cut too many corners in working out their plot mechanics. With the tension deflated by plot holes and improbabilities, Emelie squanders a promising notion.

On their thirteenth wedding anniversary, Joyce and Dan Thompson (Susan Pourfar and Chris Beetem) plan a night out, away from their three children: eleven-year-old Jacob (Joshua Rush), nine-year-old Sally (Carly Adams) and four-year-old Christopher (Thomas Bair). When the Thompsons' regular babysitter, Maggie (Elizabeth Jayne), is unavailable, she recommends her friend Anna as a substitute. Unbeknownst to the Thompsons, however, the young woman who presents herself as "Anna" is an identity thief who has replaced their intended sitter. Her real name is Emelie (Bolger), and she has her own plans for the children left in her care. The parents depart for their romantic dinner blissfully unaware that they have opened their door to an attacker with a sinister agenda.

As the impostor gradually reveals her true nature, she advances from minor naughtiness with cookies and wall-painting to more serious transgressions involving sexual behavior, the children's pets and the household firearm. Jacob, the oldest, is the first to spot that something is wrong, progressing from the surly reserve with which he greeted the unknown sitter through various stages of shock and fear as Emelie's behavior grows increasingly inappropriate. A boy on the cusp of puberty, Jacob is an easy target, and Emelie manipulates him with the casual assurance of an experienced abuser. Even before she turns overtly violent, she violates the children's innocence, and if Thelin and Herbeck had confined the attack on the Thompson family to their home, Emelie might serve as a chilling study in domestic terror.

Unfortunately, the filmmakers introduce a second perpetrator, whose presence is revealed in the film's opening scene: a man (Robert Bozek) who is neither clearly seen nor identified by name. This mysterious figure stalks the parents while Emelie preys on the children, thereby distracting the viewer's attention from the situation at home with questions to which the film does not provide satisfactory answers. Shortchanged in the backstory that is supposed to explain Emelie's actions, her male confederate behaves in a manner that is both impulsive and ultimately self-defeating. Worse still, the film never provides a credible explanation (or any at all) for how Emelie and her partner were able to identify the Thompson family and intervene in their lives with such pinpoint precision. Viewers can think up a credible scenario independently, but that should be the job of the screenwriter and director. Effective thrillers don't distract the viewer with nagging questions about how the villain managed to be in just the right place at the right time.

There are signs that Thelin may not have gotten all the shots he needed. A character is introduced in the opening sequence, a friend of Jacob's named Howie (Dante Hoagland), whose walkie-talkie exchanges with Jacob are intended to set up a possible avenue of escape or rescue for the Thompson children. Late in the film, however, at a point where Emelie should be rushing toward a tense conclusion, new developments about Howie occur, with an indication that something terrible has transpired offscreen. If you review the film carefully, you can see what must have been intended, but here again, Emelie distracts from its core drama with unanswered questions of causation. Just when you should be most afraid for the Thompson family, instead you're asking: "What happened to Howie?"

Emelie Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Emelie was shot digitally and finished on a digital intermediate; the cinematographer was Luca Del Puppo. MPI Media's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray features a sharply defined image with a realistic palette that effectively establishes the normalcy of the Thompson home, thereby magnifying the impact of Emelie's predations. Detail is abundant, whether in the kid-friendly chaos of the household or the formal decor of the restaurant where the parents spend their evening. Nighttime shots outdoors, and also indoors when the lights go out, feature solid blacks and good shadow detail. An occasional scene (e.g., the film's final shot) features distortion, but this appears to be a deliberate effect. In the absence of any major extras, MPI has mastered Emelie with a respectable average bitrate of 27.25 Mbps, and the image is free of compression artifacts.

Emelie Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Employing a familiar technique in low-budget horror films, Emelie's 5.1 soundtrack, encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA, relies on its score by Phil Mossman (We Are What We Are) to supply much of the surround activity. Mossman's atonal compositions are more sound effects than music, and he ramps up the tension by using electronic noise and deep bass tones sparingly but effectively. The remainder of the track remains solidly anchored in front, with clear dialogue and basic background noise appropriate to the film's various environments.

As always with MPI titles, an alternate PCM 2.0 track is included.

Emelie Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Making Of (1080p; 1.78:1; 13:05): This EPK features interviews with director Thelin, writer Herbeck (identified here as "Richard Raymond"), the principal adult cast and several of the film's producers. Bolger describes what attracted her to the role, and the producers describe logistical challenges.



• Trailer (1080p; 2.40:1; 2:15): "How do you stop the horror when you have invited it in?"



• Additional Trailers: At startup, the disc plays trailers for Scherzo Diabolico, Cherry Tree, Convergence and Traders, which can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not otherwise available once the disc loads.

Emelie Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Emelie has a creative premise, and the scenes involving Emelie and the children are genuinely disturbing, but the film's impact dissipates as gaps accumulate and credibility is stretched to the breaking point. Rent (or VOD) if you're curious.