User reviews

This film is exhausting. The plot is scant at best. The idea, I think, might be interesting but the execution, writing, dialogue really don't help to understand it. I appreciate the idea I really do.

The end result though is a bunch of really disturbed characters and there's no one root for, not even the little kid. They're trying to make a disturbing horror film which it's not. It's not horror at all, maybe towards the end. But it's more just a muddled dream sequence/perverted LSD trip.

I couldn't summarize this move because by the end I didn't care what happened. There are some cool shots, cinematography, and some somewhat disturbing scenes. So maybe it's worth a watch for that. But besides that I just left feeling empty and sad. The end.

One of Shudder's low-budget horror stories. It is a slow-burning film. It takes its time to develop the characters. It's not a horror-action movie.

At the forefront of the story is a young couple who's struggling to take care of their only young son who is severely autistic. Johnny (Danillo Crovetti) throws violent tantrums and is sometimes hard to contain. Dealing with Johnny's issues puts a great strain on the couple's relationship and they look numb on the outside as well as inside.

After losing the last nanny, they hire Millicent (Morgan Taylor) without doing a background check. Millicent is a cookie herself with a whole sort of psychological issues. She perfectly plays the role of someone who has been abused and has been in and out of foster homes throughout her life.

When Millicent meets Johnny, an immediate rapport is established between them. Millicent first time feels a sense of family, and, Johnny first time feels safe. Soon after, Millicent quits her prescription LSD drops for feeling much better and gets the bright idea of using her LSD drops on Johnny's foods and medicine. What could go wrong?

It is not an exciting movie but it is a good story, good direction, and good acting. The script is good. If you don't like slow-cooking stories, it might not be your cup of tea.

Oh man was this bad.... I usually can sit through ANY movie, especially horror flicks, but this one gave me a first... it was so bland and stupid. It looked like a 90 minute project for a 101 class. They tried to make it better with somewhat different "creepy" angle shots and minor camera tricks I learned on my PXL 2000. There was no scares. No suspense, regardless of how heavily someone breathed right into the boom mic. I couldn't wait for the end, but I guess there are some things worse than death.... I can imagine an entire purgatory where this is all that you can watch. And it's like they threw this LSD factor in to be edgy I guess? But all it did was give the camera guy more chances to the filter options on his camera. Terrible movie....and if you wonder why I gave it a 3 instead of 1, it's because there are SOOO many crappy reviews out there from people who didn't watch the movie or didn't research a movie well enough to know they wouldn't like it, regardless of how good it was. So yes, this gets a three just to spite it and know that I watched the whole thing and didn't want to get lost in a sea of 1s.

This is an interesting film with some great performances that ultimately doesn't quite work. It's as if there are a few too many ideas going on and something got left on the cutting room floor. It also doesn't help that characters aren't clearly drawn, should you be rooting for them or hating them ? The twist was a nice touch but in the end it doesn't save the film. Someone dropped the ball, either the writer, director or both, but the film doesn't quite gel into something I would watch again. For the performances though, the strangeness of it all and the fact that it uses a rare case of a male as an object of desire, makes this worth a one time watch.

Considering the rather low ratings it got on here I wasn't expecting too much from this horror movie but I'm glad I gave it a shot because it was pleasant to follow. Horror movies will never please everybody, and even though I wouldn't class this one as hardcore horror, it was an entertaining movie. It's mild horror with a couple of bloody scenes, creepy for sure and that was mostly due to the performance of Morgan Saylor. She has good facial expressions to make it creepy, and of course her acting talent that was more than decent. The story was certainly not bad, just simple but effective, and easy to follow.

As my title suggested, I only watched this film for one reason and it was the only reason it got me through its entire runtime. There was nothing about this movie that hasn't been done before, by more talented and capable people. This is another "crazy babysitter" film that ends up being something a bit more overreaching, but the ending could be seen from a mile away when you pay attention to how crazy everyone is.

It's incredible how the people who script these types of movies don't at least try to be somewhat original with the premise, if not with the execution. Anything but what was given would have been preferable, but it's like they go with the lowest common denominator to come to a script that is the least...what, exactly? Palatable? Inoffensive? Reaches the biggest audience? You can't make real art if you are trying to reach "the masses", and the people behind this movie would have done themselves a huge favor if they just pushed the envelope with this, even by a little.

Again, watch this for the eye Candy that is Olivier. The rest of it can be brushed under the carpet and forgotten.

At the beginning of the movie it hooks you and the whole idea of the movie is interesting, but within less than 30 minutes into the movie it was obvious that the writer is a woman who has no idea about men, the male characters are written poorly and and empty like men are brainless and one sided. There are a few logic problems in the movie, the lighting was beautiful but had many logical problems. Color grading was great. Ending was good and satisfying. Plot twists were great, especially the one in the end. So in conclusion only logline of the movie and color grading was good, the cinematography was good too if you don't include the logic problems and the whole character writing and storytelling, and directing and acting was awful. So I think 3 stars out of 10 is ok.

... and I enjoyed it a lot.

First of all, I just like to mention that I wouldn't categorize this as a horror movie, I'd say it is a psychological thriller instead.

A psychological thriller about obsession, cruelty and insanity. Perfect job done by both lead actresses to showcase that, praises to them. Good acting was a vital part to allow this movie to bloom.

Relationships between characters felt so complex and brutal, yet realistic.

I really loved how there were multiple layers of what is going on and how they unraveled painfully and beautifully.

Overall good execution.

Even though I thought I knew exactly where this was all going, the ending got me pleasantly surprised.

"Spoonful of Sugar" succeeds to bring up some questions and thoughts on relationships between parents and their children. Some things to ponder on even after movie ends.

A Spoonful of Sugar is an interesting film that takes a look at the effects of psychedelics without making those using them a villain by default. While the plot spends a lot of time focusing you on a narrative that becomes completely irrelevant during the credits, it remains engaging and full of easter eggs.

Pay close attention to the dialogue during your first watch of the film. Morgan Saylor (Millicent), Kat Foster (Rebecca), and Keith Powell (Dr. Welsh) carry the film in regards to acting, with Saylor proving that she can handle a range of emotions as an actor.

There are parts of the plot that seem a bit over the top and unbelievable, but those issues don't get in the way of the viewer's enjoyment.

Real Score: 6.4.

Rebecca (Kat Foster) hires Millicent (Morgan Saylor) to care for her troubled son Johnny who is apparently allergic to everything. Almost immediately, Millicent is sexually obsessed with Rebecca's husband Jacob (Myko Olivier). It turns out that she's having sexually disturbed hallucinations brought about from LSD micro-dosing prescripted by Dr. Welsh (Keith Powell). Welsh is reducing her dosage, but Millicent has other ideas.

This is made by Shudder. Blumhouse has made a business out of movies like this except they would get a bigger star for the lead. That's the largest missing ingredient. Morgan is fine for the role, but I don't know where she's been. There is no excitement of seeing a Disney star trying to grow or a big movie star slumming it. It's an unknown actress doing fine work. I would also like it a more straight horror. With the hallucinations, this is more psychological surreal and sexually disturbing. It's messier. Some may like it. I like something cleaner.

Whatched it as part of a Halloween maraton, i belive it could have been better. I also belive there was some sexual stuff that could have been omitted. What i like about this movie is acting, especially the nanny and the boy. I also liked the idea of the plot. But everything was so poorly executed and there was a lot of scenes that made me cringe. I didnt like the images that much. I belive there was more to tell, maybe this film should have been more psychological and less sexual. I wanted to know more about Johnny and his past and maybe like more contex generally. This isn't a movie i would recommend, there are better ones, for sure.

The movie tries too hard to build an innovative story, but forgets to work on its characters and their motivations. The build-up feels empty, fake and uninspired. There's just a forced exercise of setting up a plot twist that doesn't add in any way to the narrative nor even fits with most of the characters actions or lines.

The acting is subpar, only adding to the insipidness of the characters, of which you end up caring about none. The scenes and actions are a mere sequence of loose happenings that neither grab your attention nor convey any substance.

The cinematography is not all bad, though.

Spoonful of Sugar (2022) is a film that was recently added to Shudder. The storyline follows a young lady who takes medication to manage a condition that causes her to see things and lose her mind. Her parents abandoned her and she has been in and out of foster homes and currently lives with a creep who can't wait until she turns 18. Meanwhile, she studies at a college and is writing a thesis on allergies and that they are as much in your mind as reality. To make ends meet she picks up a job babysitting an eccentric young man who has extreme allergies, doesn't talk and is abusive towards his parents. As she babysits the young man he makes tremendous progress, the mom gets jealous and the young lady starts falling in love with the dad. This causes a tidal wave of events at the house that is bound to cause an explosive conclusion.

This movie is directed by Mercedes Bryce Morgan (Fixation) and stars Morgan Saylor (White Girl), Kat Foster (Jean-Claude Van Johnson), Myko Olivier (Glee), Danilo Crovetti (Hunters) and Laura Coover (Agent Carter).

This movie is fantastic. The storyline is very clever with entertaining twists and turns. The main character is perfectly delivered, awkward, unpredictable and fascinating all at the same time. Her hallucinations are very well presented. The cinematography in this movie is very good and helped create intensity that is felt throughout the movie. The adopted dad is crazy creepy and made me feel icky every scene he is in. Honestly, the acting and dialogue of every character feels authentic and this had a 'May' feel to it in a lot of ways. There's a rabbit 🐇 scene that's wild and very well done. The storyline for this keeps you glued to the screen until the very end; and when the conclusion arrives, you're hit by a truck...then backed over. I adored how this film concludes.

Overall, this is a magnificent addition to the horror genre that's absolutely worth your time. I would score this an 8-8.5/10 and strongly recommend it.

There's a definite lack of thematic consistency. The film isn't sure what it wants to be - Is it a take on acid trips and its effects? Is it about bad parenting? Is it about cheating in relationships? Is it about childhood trauma? The writing tries to dip its paintbrush in all of these buckets, but it doesn't come together in a very satisfying way. But, to the film's credit, the performances (especially Morgan Saylor, who effortlessly swings between sweet, menacing, and sexy) largely cover up for the holes in the plot. The visual effects looked pretty bad in the first act, though when the LSD elements kicked in, I felt the director executed the hallucinatory bits nicely. At least a couple of scenes made me aghast, and that includes a wild raw-dogging bit as well as the gory climax. A twist is revealed almost right before the end credits, and though it made sense from a storytelling standpoint, the ramifications seemed low.

This is impressive.

It's The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, but way more weird and creepy.

I wasn't ready for this. This is going to sit with me for a while.

The Chapstick at the end was an interesting detail.

I watched this on AMC+/Shudder. It has a listed release date of March 2, 2023, but it dropped early. On the 21st or before. Probably after the Winter Film Awards International Film Festival in New York on Sunday the 19th.

I have dug Kat Foster in a bunch of TV shows, 'Til Death (2006-2008), Your Family Or Mine (2015) and more.

This is one of at least 9 Mommy Horror movie's we're getting this year. Also Baby Ruby, Birth/Rebirth, Blood, House/Wife, Huesera: The Bone Woman, M3GAN, There's Something Wrong With the Children and They Wait in the Dark. There's probably more I've forgotten. I think the moral of the stories is, don't have kids.

This is a movie that I got turned on to thanks to members of the horror community. It hit Shudder and I heard buzz. It went on a list to check out. I decided during a week when there wasn't a horror release at my theater, I would give this a watch for a featured review on Journey with a Cinephile: A Horror Movie Podcast. I read the synopsis to get an idea for the pairing as well. Also decided to give it a rewatch to see where I fell with a second time around.

Synopsis: Millicent (Morgan Saylor) is taking a semester from her studies to take care of Johnny (Danilo Crovetti), a sickly, nonspeaking child with severe allergies. His mother, Rebecca (Kat Foster), is an author and his father, Jacob (Myko Olivier), is a carpenter.

That is a good synopsis of what we are getting here. This starts with a nursery rhyme, but the words are darker than normal. We then see Millicent on the bus. She is headed to the job interview with Rebecca. Johnny is also sitting in on it. He doesn't talk. She relays that this boy takes extra care as he is allergy to different things. Millicent is good with him and she is hired on the spot. This young woman also meets Jacob, as he comes in from doing yardwork and is shirtless.

I think it is here that I should delve into the character of Millicent a bit more. She has her own social issues. Her psychiatrist is Dr. Welsh (Keith Powell). They're using LSD to help her. She is supposed to be using micro-doses, but she has upped them on her own. Dr. Welsh is pleased with the things that she's told him. Millicent has issues from the past as well. She grew up in foster care and wants to help children now. It can be a bit misguided though and she goes too far.

With that set up, let me give you a bit more about the family she is hired to help. Johnny seems to be allergic to most everything. Rebecca is protective over him. Jacob is too. There is only so much more he can do though. He wants them to consider putting Johnny in a home where he can be helped better. There also might be a dark secret with him. Rebecca and Jacob's marriage is affected by this. Rebecca still wants to be as adventurous sexually as they were, but having Johnny makes Jacob a bit more reserved, at least with his wife.

Things get better with Johnny thanks to Millicent. She is there for him. Having the issues that she did in the past gives her better insight. That is until she decides to do a treatment on him without informing the parents. She also has her sights set on Jacob as she notices the cracks in this couple's marriage. She seems to want to replace Rebecca as the mother/wife to this family. It is through this that even more secrets are revealed.

That is where I'm going to leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that I wasn't expecting this to go where it did. There are good aspects and others that don't necessarily work for me. I can understand why it goes where it does though. Since I'm going to delve a bit more into things, I'm going cryptic here. What I will say is that after my first watch, I did have issues with things. There were little things that I missed though and it made more sense this time around. The second watch definitely helped.

Now to start delving into it, I'll go back to the character of Millicent. I will say that Saylor does an excellent job in her performance. She is a young woman that is struggling. She wants to find love. What I like here is that this doesn't just mean love from a significant other. She wants to be a mother. Part of this stems from her upbringing in foster care. She never had stable parents. It also causes her to not feel love. She also has 'daddy issues' and is attracted to Jacob. There is an interesting thing about her home life that gets introduced. That made me question if she was as old as she said and if she was truly in college. It was with this second watch that I picked up on things and may have fixed issues I had here. What I caught was the different names that she is called by. Little bits of information are also shared through interactions with others as well.

Then over to the family again. Rebecca and Jacob seem like they used to love each other. They were compatible sexually. That was until they had Johnny. I'm not sure if his medical issues has turned Jacob off doing things or if her becoming a mother has ruined it. The easy answer is that it is a combination of both. He also seems like he has wandering eyes due to their decreased intimacy. It is also interesting that Rebecca writes books on how to help people with their sexual understanding and how to connect. There seems like a disconnect because there are issues in her life. It seems like a situation where she can help others while she cannot fix what is wrong in her life. The ending lines make sense as well even more now.

I'm going to stick with them and my thoughts are that Foster and Olivier are good in their roles. They feel like a couple who want to help their son, but Jacob is home more than Rebecca and he's tired. He wants to get better help and increase the quality of the boy's life. Rebecca seems like someone who would feel like a failure if they did that. It is interesting as well since I used to give advice on relationships even though I either had never been in one or mine were in shambles. Jacob also seems easily seduced. I can understand the heat of the moment and his wife being away. There are also hints about Johnny's condition not being what we think.

That should be the last bit, involving the boy. I think both his parents have his best interests at heart. They love him and want him to get better. Millicent also cares about him. She comes from a different perspective. She brings up an interesting idea as well that his allergies might be in his head. This is a thought that I've never considered and makes me wonder if there is research out there to back it up. She also wants to use her LSD treatment on him as she thinks it will help. She does make headway with the boy and it shocks Rebecca. There are other factors though that ramp up the tension here. It seems to be a high number of dead rabbits. I'd also say something else hidden in the backyard as well.

Where I'll then go is the acting. I've already said how good Saylor is and she carries this movie for sure. Foster and Olivier are also solid as this married couple. You can see there is still love there, but it is strained. I like Crovetti as the boy. What works there is they limit him. That fits in the framework as we aren't fully sure what is wrong with him. It built tension for me. Other than that, I'd say that Powell and the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.

All that is left to go into would be filmmaking. The best thing is the cinematography. I like that we get to see the hallucinations that Millicent is experiencing. She isn't giving the full truth to Dr. Welsh. With her history and past trauma, this helps her descend into a delusion. This also adds tension. The CGI for these scenes aren't great. I am forgiving though as they're not real so it being distorted works in its favor. I also like these images we get of men coming on to her in her fantasies. She sees them as evil and having horns. That was interesting to me, especially with her past and trauma. Other than that, I thought the soundtrack fit for what was needed. The use of nursery rhymes is a good touch with themes are get.

In conclusion, this is a solid film that I'm glad I didn't sleep on. I think this explores interesting concepts of being a parent and how drugs can help, but also create issues for someone when not used properly. The balance of Saylor performance is good. She seems like someone who is normal enough, but peaking behind the veil, we see there are underlying issues there. The rest of the cast is solid around her. This is also well-made for me. Not the best movie I've seen this year but has good elements and I'd recommend a watch to horror as well as non-horror fans alike.

My Rating: 8 out of 10.

If you like intelligent plots with a touch of bizarre and smart solutions, this is the film. Amazing acting, a sober direction and dark shades of obscure references anchored under the human psiqué (pay attention to 'The Shining' nod in the door sequence). Above all, no trace of the left-wing clichés that, nowadays, pollutes almost every script or the politically correct crap made in Hollywood. Just a tight screenplay that surprises and conquers the moviegoer with a slight touch of gore. The soundtrack also contributes to the result, along with LSD references that makes it more and more insteresting. A potential cult for the right audience.

This seems like a movie about a crazy nanny, and it is. However, every character in the movie is crazy so the fun is in finding out who the craziest caharacters are. I found this really clever and surprising, especially the twist at the end. It's a fresh take on the obsession drama. Morgan Saylor shines as the crazy nanny and you develop a lot of sympathy for the character. It's deliberatly bleak, and several times one of the characters says "it'll be okay," and you can't help bu think: no, it's not! Watch it for the mystery, watch it for the sometimes absurd dialog, and especially for the LSD dosing!