What started nicely, with a good premise, an used subject but still a scary and effective one yet today, managed to reach none of its potential and simply got confused and annoying.

I was intrigued indeed, perhaps I found something better and as the minutes were passing I felt more and more curious about the situation. Won't take long until you'll realize that there is no end point, no twist, no explanation, just the finishing line, leaving so many questions behind.

As for the characters, if at start you got to know them, to care for some, in the end they all become a big mess of a cliché. I was happy that the movie finally ended, because it was clear I wasn't going to get what I was hoping for. Not recommended from my point of view. Completely missed opportunity here.

Cheers!

After a long line of fired caretakers, Mallorie (Meegan Warner) ends up caring for her medicated slightly crazy Grandmother Birdie (Sondra Blake). Mallorie was raised by her grandmother, a carnival witch, and has her own issues. Mal sleeps walks in a trance-like state and calls out the name of her boyfriend August (Sean Martini). Birdie doesn't want August in the house. He violates rules. Eventually she tolerates him. Both women behave creepily. Birdie says to Mal when they first meet, "I'm going to have a guest. One of the dead kind. I am so glad you are here." The film has a fair creep factor which is end loaded.The drama builds slow establishing two complex characters. And when all else fails, add a clown. Really they did.

Guide: No swearing, sex, or nudity. Couple start to get it on but is interrupted. Chanel Celaya is gosh awfully purdy.

"The Caretaker" starts out well enough, but after a fairly interesting start, then the air seems to seep out of the creative balloon and the movie just declines downhill from there. It is as if the movie never really managed to fully manifest a firm foothold and it just slipped between the hands of director Jeff Prugh.

The story is about young Mallorie (played by Meegan Warner) whom returns to her childhood home with her boyfriend in order to take care of her elderly grandmother Birdie (played by Sondra Blake) as her health is on the decline. But there are dark secrets looming over the household.

For a horror / thriller movie, then "The Caretaker" was frightfully devoid of anything even remotely scary of even close to being just the least bit thrilling. For a movie in this genre, then "The Caretaker" failed to impress and will just quietly go unforgotten into the darkest recesses of the movie collection.

What did stand out in the movie was the performance by Sondra Blake. She really stood out in this generic and mundane horror movie with her impressive performance.

The effects in "The Caretaker" were sparse and far in between. But whatever was there was used well enough in advantage of the movie. But it was a shame that they didn't allocate a bigger budget for special effects and practical effects, because such is usually a big part of a horror movie for it to be convincing.

Sad to say, but your attention will be tested throughout the course of the movie, because it is very tempting to pick up the phone for example and just check the social medias or something, because there is so little going on in the movie, that your attention will eventually start to falter and wander.

As I mentioned earlier, then "The Caretaker" is not an impressive movie nor a memorable movie in the horror / thriller genre. And there are far, far better similar movies available.

The movie's cover does look quite interesting, although it oversells the movie. So don't judge a movie by its cover!

"The Caretaker" managed to score a mere three out of ten stars from me. And I can honestly say that the movie, should you manage to get through it to the end, does not support more than just a single viewing.