Study time.  Where did it start?  Two years before I was born, that’s when.  From a period perspective it feels strange, almost like watching a modern period film.  I guess in some ways this was one of the films that began both the final-girl and slut-slaughter tropes that have lasted so long?  And holy-moly, why anyone paid babysitters here is beyond me… they apparently only exist to cause chaos in your home.

I do like a character who is just undeniably evil… no explanations needed, no motivations clearly conveyed… just we looked in his eyes and we knew.  It’s something that’s not done as much in a less religious world I guess, because we like there to be a coherent backstory, not just a tick-a-box “evil.”  But it’s kinda cool.  We may never know, and he’s evil.  And well evil he is.

There’s a lot of sex.  A lot of stabbing and strangulation.  Interesting offscreen tension…. There are a  surprising number of bad things that happen that are not actually shown in any detail.

I guess for its time it is a solid horror… and I’m sure it did a lot of begetting.

J* gives it 3 stars.

<review written in 2018>