Nanny, a London family's live-in maid, brings morbid 10-year-old Joey back from the psychiatric ward he's been in for two years, since the death of his younger sister. Joey refuses to eat any food Nanny's prepared or take a bath with her in the room. He also demands to sleep in a room with a lock. Joey's parents -- workaholic Bill and neurotic Virgie -- are sure Joey is disturbed, but he may have good reason to be terrified of Nanny.
Acting
Bette Davis weaponizes sweetness—terrifying because she never blinks.
Direction
Seth Holt squeezes dread from locked doors and untouched soup.
Cinematography
Claustrophobic London townhouse becomes its own suffocating character.
Director
Seth Holt
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of 'hagsploitation'—1960s horror exploiting aging actresses as grotesque villains. Davis hated the genre but needed the work.
Director Seth Holt died of a heart attack on set of his next film; Bette Davis supposedly said 'That poor man, he was so young.' She was 57. He was 47.
GB
