I very much enjoyed this film. Creepy is the word of choice, and that's all due to Davis' superbly psycho character.
The film did get a wee bit slow in the middle. But, overall, the pacing was very good, and the story very strong. William Dix was really good as the boy Joey, both he and Davis needed to carry the film because the other characters were somewhat peripheral, and both met the challenge--a bit harder, one expects, for a ten year old than an accomplished and experienced actress. So kudos to Dix.
The main reason I wanted to add a comment was because of Davis' last scene, in which we see Nanny packing her pictures. It offers a humanizing perspective of the nanny. We got a hint of this in her conversation with Penelope as the other lays dying, but we are more focused on the flashback than to what she says about trust in the nanny-parent relationship.
But when we see the pictures, we see other children she had taken care of, kids we understand to have done well and thrived under her care, and we thus get a brief glimpse into the mind of someone so horrified at what has occurred to a child under her care, so much at odds with the entirety of her being, that she really does slip a loop. These few shots, in a way, redeem Nanny's character--she's not just a psycho-killer, she's a woman who had a life story that went horribly wrong. It struck me as a nice way to send her out.
I really enjoyed this film as light entertainment, and really have no hesitation recommending it.
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