Film

Nanny

Name: Nanny
Genre: Horror, Drama
Released: 2022
Cast: Anna Diop, Michelle Monaghan, Sinqua Walls, Morgan Spector, Rose Decker

Psychological horror
Very dark

Nanny is a hallucinogenic horror-drama about a Senegalese immigrant navigating exploitation, displacement, and psychological fracture. Anna Diop delivers a raw, layered performance as the film slides between sharp social realism and dreamlike dread. It's formally audacious, sometimes disorienting, and works best for viewers prepared to feel unsettled rather than scared.

TMDb rating

2.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want slow-building dread that lives in a household's silences and in an immigrant woman's sense of being watched, and you're happy for the unease to carry the story rather than jump scares.

Skip it if you need horror that escalates quickly; this is patient and mostly interior, its grim mood sustained more than its scares delivered, and it can feel long.

What it asks of you: It wants patience and close attention across its lean, under-100-minute run, with long quiet stretches that let the unease thicken before anything breaks the surface.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Candyman1992

A supernatural thriller that weaponizes historical trauma and systemic racism into genuine horror. Like Nanny, it refuses to separate psychological terror from social reality, and both films understand that the real monster is structural.

But The horror conventions can feel familiar if you've seen it before, and the pacing occasionally prioritizes atmosphere over momentum.

The Nightingale2018

An unflinching exploration of trauma, displacement, and survival set during colonial violence. Both films use fractured, unreliable perspectives to convey psychological damage that words alone cannot capture.

But Deeply grim throughout. There are no moments of relief, and the violence is neither quick nor clean.

Possessor2020

Body horror and fractured identity explored through a woman losing grip on her own mind. Shares Nanny's interest in dissociation, control, and the body as a site of violation, delivered with surreal visual intensity.

But Extremely visceral and graphic. The gore is the point, and if that turns you off, you won't find much else to grab onto.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Nanny

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Stalker1979

Both films use visual disorientation and psychological fracturing to explore what it means to exist in a space where you don't belong, and both trust silence and strangeness over exposition.

A philosophical science-fiction film about desire, longing, and the gap between what we want and what we're allowed to have. Tarkovsky's meditative approach to interior breakdown creates the same hypnotic dread as Nanny, but through contemplation rather than horror convention.

But 163 minutes of slow Russian cinema about metaphysics. If you need plot momentum or conventional pacing, this will feel like watching grass grow.

Mulholland Drive2001

A masterclass in using dream logic and narrative collapse to explore displacement and lost identity. Both films trust viewers to sit with confusion and let the emotional truth emerge from the wreckage.

But Long, deliberately obscure, and the ending rewrites everything that came before. It demands patience and interpretation rather than clarity.

Saint Maud2020

A slow-burn psychological horror where a caregiver's mind deteriorates into religious delusion and obsession. The intimacy of the setting and the creeping unreliability mirror Nanny's formal approach.

But The payoff is ambiguous and the pacing is meditative. If you want conventional scares or clear answers, this will frustrate you.

Ema2019

A visually dazzling exploration of desire, violence, and social displacement in Santiago. Both films use saturated color and disorienting editing to convey emotional states that refuse conventional narrative.

But It's abstract and sensual rather than plot-driven. The meaning is in the feeling, not the story, and that alienates a lot of viewers.

The Wailing2016

A complex, layered horror-mystery that refuses easy answers about faith, guilt, and whether evil is supernatural or human. The paranoia and ambiguity echo Nanny's refusal to resolve its central tensions.

But Two and a half hours long, deliberately obscure, and designed to contradict itself. It's exhausting in the best and worst ways.

Daniel Isn't Real2019

A hallucinogenic exploration of childhood trauma, delusion, and maternal damage. Like Nanny, it uses body horror and fractured reality to convey psychological states that feel more true than straightforward representation.

But Aggressively grotesque and sometimes silly. The line between unsettling and absurd is gossamer-thin, and not everyone wants to walk it.

Fleabag2016

Both explore the exhaustion of code-switching and the fracturing that happens when you're constantly adjusting yourself for an audience that views you as a service.

A British comedy-drama about a woman performing versions of herself in spaces designed to contain her. Fleabag subverts class and power dynamics with humor, while Nanny does it through horror, but both are formally inventive examinations of performance under pressure.

But The tonal shifts can feel jarring. It's funny and then brutally sad, sometimes in the same scene, and that unpredictability frustrates viewers seeking consistency.

Let My People Go !2011

Both works use disorientation and visual rupture as a formal choice to convey rage and dislocation that conventional representation cannot adequately express.

A performance-art documentary by Arca about queer identity, family violence, and rage. It's formally uncompromising, using abstraction and sound design to convey what documentation cannot. The experimental approach to trauma mirrors Nanny's refusal of conventional narrative language.

But It's 35 minutes of avant-garde video art. If you're uncomfortable with formalism over content or visual abstraction over clarity, this will feel impenetrable and self-indulgent.