Ben Probert, carrying most of the film without a single line of dialogue, at times, his performance drifts to the one-note variety. The actor could have shown more in terms of pantomime skills, as Eddie is not a person born this way, but one who acquired it, so has some semblance of normalcy, perhaps in line with Boris Karloff’s work in James Whale’s Frankenstein. He communicates through notebooks and expressions, be they limited to head down when sad.
Elizabeth May’s work as Eddie’s disease ridden Mother reminded me physically of a man. This brought to mind the role of Father Fem in James Whale’s The Old Dark House, which was actually portrayed by a female given a male name in the cast. A moment-stealing performance all around that really added a quirky look and feel.
“The last reel is where the picture loses its premise slightly.”
The last reel is where the picture loses its premise slightly. The film shifts moods to an almost All That Jazz style finale, minus the music, in a theatre that seems out of place. Scott Humes Charles is gleefully blasting theatre seats as the terrified Eddie hides from him. The existential twist at the end was a letdown as it seemed to come out of nowhere, looking like the script was cobbled together from two ideas. You have these dastardly people all with something dysfunctional going on in a lonely setting like a rural school running unchecked for years, then the odd ending pops up.
The Caretaker has a single vision till the end with ghosts, secrets, death, a foreboding building at night, a ghost seen on the road and in the halls, and loads of silence, which gets played wonderfully, especially the night hall moments with only a single light source. Pacing is solid, even without a single line of dialogue throughout the film. David Lynch can have a Cowboy character dispense odd words or a creature that lives near a heating apparatus in a surreal world. In this film, in reality, it just seems out of place, making it strange for the sake of being strange. Enjoy the execution of the premise with lovely character work to a point.
"…that gives one enough genuine dread and pitch-black wit to make it worth your time."
