Satan's Slave (1976) type vibes abound in this film about Charlotte (Aisling Knight) a skint, sexually repressed student who is offered the job of cat-sitting at a Georgian Manor House for the weekend. Only for this (well paid) dream job to turn into a nightmare when she is bombarded by visions of offering herself sexually to a horny demonic figure. Is she going mad or are the rich, eccentric family who have employed her part of a satanic cult who want to mate her with a demon? Slight spoiler (in order to drum up interest in this one) its the latter as Charlotte comes under attack from both robed satanic cult members and an equally dangerous Christian couple who don't mind killing Charlotte in order to foil the cult's plans. Unusually for a modern day British horror film, there is a fair amount of nudity and sexuality onscreen here, but for once this comes across as being justified and thoughtful rather than gratuitous. The 'sex with the devil' theme here being a clear metaphor for the heroine's fear of entering into a sexual relationship with her pushy boyfriend. Darkness Wakes' sexual content does however seem to have rubbed some of its audience up the wrong way, the IMDb's 'parents guide' section for the film is, as per usual, comedy gold "there is nudity throughout the film. Full blown porno shots and some half back, half front it's all there even full vagina. This shouldn't be a redbox, and if you love your kids at all don't let them see this". Equally entertaining is the IMDb page for the lead actress Aisling Knight, her self-penned bio basically consisting of her trashing the IMDb and regretting having paid £20 a month for a IMDb pro account. She also categorically states that her name is pronounced 'Ash-ling', so despite the nudity she does in the film, don't go calling her Ass-Ling, y'all.
Review of The Sitter
