Beware the Night Nurse – Film Review

After struggling to have a child, married lawyers Claire and Zach enlist the help of their friend, Liz to be a surrogate, and she successfully gives birth to baby Owen. But when their surrogate-turned-nanny disappears under mysterious circumstances, the couple struggles to take care of their newborn without any help. Soon thereafter, though, a woman claiming to be the surrogate’s childhood nanny offers to be the couple’s new nanny. Desperate for help, the couple agrees to hire her, not realizing that their new nanny plans to take their baby for her own family.

Beware the Night Nurse is an agonizing journey into the realm of abysmal filmmaking that tests the limits of patience, common sense, and cinematic standards. With a flimsy plot that might have been salvaged had it been executed with even a modicum of competence, this film crashes and burns in every conceivable aspect. The promise of a gripping psychological thriller quickly devolves into a farcical exercise in amateurish storytelling, leaving viewers with a bitter taste and a deep-seated regret for having invested their time in this cinematic catastrophe.

The premise, which initially seemed intriguing, revolves around a couple struggling with infertility, portrayed by Vitoria Setta and Bryce Jones, who make the ill-fated decision to recruit a friend as a surrogate. This decision should have been the starting point for the film’s tension and drama. Instead, it serves as a prelude to a succession of bafflingly absurd events that beggar belief. Maeve Quinlan‘s portrayal of Vera, the supposed childhood nanny of the surrogate, is an exercise in caricature rather than character development. Quinlan’s performance is as wooden as a plank, lacking any genuine emotional depth and reducing her role to a laughable caricature of a deranged antagonist.

Malena Cunningham Anderson‘s interpretation of Judy, the nanny with sinister motives, further solidifies the film’s descent into mediocrity. Her performance lacks subtlety, nuance, and any semblance of authenticity. The moment her character appears on screen, any hope of salvaging the film’s credibility is ruthlessly shattered. Anderson’s portrayal of Judy is so over-the-top and ludicrous that it’s impossible to take her seriously as a credible threat to the couple’s child.

The film’s dire attempt at generating suspense and tension is characterized by contrived plot twists that are not only foreseeable from miles away but are executed with such lackluster finesse that they induce unintended laughter. From the instant the “surrogate’s childhood nanny” enters the scene, it becomes glaringly evident that she is not what she seems, rendering the protagonists’ complete obliviousness to her nefarious intentions implausible and infuriating. The screenplay’s feeble attempts at misdirection only serve to accentuate its incompetence, turning what should have been a thrilling ride into a ludicrous train wreck.

Olivia Larsen‘s portrayal of Liz, the original surrogate, is equally unimpressive. Her character’s vanishing act is clumsily handled, failing to evoke any emotional investment in her fate. The film fails to capitalize on the potential tension that could have arisen from her disappearance, reducing her role to a mere plot device to facilitate the utterly absurd turn of events.

Lindsay Hartley‘s direction contributes to the film’s overwhelming sense of ineptitude. Scenes that should have been charged with suspense are executed with such blandness and monotony that they become unbearable to watch. Hartley’s inability to extract believable performances from the cast further exacerbates the film’s shortcomings. The pacing is sluggish and disjointed, and the overall visual composition lacks any distinctive style or artistry. At times, the camera work feels like a desperate attempt to salvage an incoherent script, resulting in a visual mishmash that only adds to the film’s overall shoddiness.

The climax, if it can be called that, descends into an unintentional comedy of errors. The feeble attempts at tying up loose ends and delivering a satisfying resolution are executed with such incompetence that they induce groans of disbelief rather than a sense of catharsis. The resolution not only fails to provide closure but further undermines any remaining credibility the film might have had.

Beware the Night Nurse is an unmitigated disaster of cinematic storytelling. From its laughable character portrayals to its abysmal attempts at generating suspense, the film fails spectacularly on every conceivable level. It squanders its intriguing premise with a screenplay so riddled with inconsistencies, contrivances, and absurdities that it becomes a chore to endure. The cast’s lackluster performances, coupled with the director’s ineptitude, further cement the film’s status as a cinematic train wreck. Beware the Night Nurse is an exercise in frustration and disappointment that leaves viewers questioning why they subjected themselves to such an excruciating ordeal. Save yourself the agony and steer clear of this cinematic catastrophe.