Mary Poppins is undoubtedly the most well-known Nanny in history. She arrives out of nowhere like a wandering spirit from beyond to take the Nanny position with the Banks family. She gets hired on the spot, with zero references. Mary Poppins goes on to use her magical prowess to evoke a recognition of truth in others. Mary Poppins almost always casually denies that anything unusual has happened, in order to make them think and look within themselves to realize the encrypted, paradoxical message that she has to share. Let’s take a look at some of the other Nannies we have seen in films … ones that should have maybe undergone more thorough background checks.

7. The Chalk Garden (1964)

The Chalk Garden follows Miss Madrigal (Deborah Kerr, Black Narcissus, 1947), a newly hired green-thumbed governess of the problematic Laurel (Hayley Mills, Tiger Bay, 1959). Miss Madrigal continues in attempts to straighten out the problem child Laurel before someone else gets hurt. Madrigal’s history haunts her with having been charged for the murder of her stepsister. When Laurel unearths the murder conviction in Miss Madrigal’s past, butler Maitland, (John Mills, Hobson’s Choice, 1954), having grown fond of the new governess, persuades the vindictive youngster not to reveal what she has uncovered. Laurel’s wealthy grandmother Mrs. St. Maugham, played by the scene-stealing Dame Edith Evans (The Whisperers, 1967), is pulled away from tending her precious garden when it appears that there might be a murderess in her house, a prospect that seems to thrill the old grandmother.

6. The Nanny (1965)

This classic thriller follows Joey Fane (William Dix, Doctor Dolittle, 1967) who returns home after spending two years in a mental Institution for ill children as his family suspects him guilty of his sister’s drowning. Joey suspects that his families’ Nanny (Bette Davis), is guilty, and he refuses to have anything to do with the sinister woman. When Joey’s neurotic mother Virginia (Wendy Craig, The Servant, 1963) nearly gets killed after eating the tainted food, the Nanny had prepared, that’s when Virginia’s sister Penelope played by (Jill Bennett, Moulin Rouge, 1952) steps in to lend a hand. Penelope quickly sees the bad blood between the Nanny and Joey, thus leading to her thinking that Joey might have been right about her all along.

5. The Visitor (1979)

The Visitor has been hailed as the Mount Everest of Insane ’70s Italian cinema. To even begin to scale the story upon first glance, you might find yourself asking if this is one of the highest concept plots ever undertaken. The master filmmaker himself, John Huston, stars as an intergalactic warrior. Together with a blonde cosmic Christ, they battle against a demonic 8-year-old girl played by Paige Conner (Fast Food, 1989) and her evil pet hawk. Lance Henriksen plays some kind of Iluminatist Juggalo being goaded into sewing his would-be anti-christ seed while the fate of the universe hangs in the balance. In the fray of insanity, Shelly Winters (The Night of the Hunter, 1955) plays a Nanny sent to spy on the child. In this cluster of film madness Winters makes no attempt to just mail-in her role and steals the scenes. Especially in the scene when the Nanny is slapping the living hell out of the young actress repeatedly. This is one of those films that has to be seen to be believed, if you haven’t yet, treat yourself to the film that melted people’s brains back in 1979.

4. The Turn of the Screw (1989)

Shelley Duvall’s Nightmare Classics was an American horror anthology television series created and produced by Shelley Duvall featuring adaptations of well-known horror stories by famous authors. Some of the names included were Henry James, Robert Louis Stevenson, Ambrose Bierce, and Sheridan Le Fanu. In this version of the classic novel by Henry James, Amy Irving (Carrie, 1979) stars as the ‘English governess’, who has been hired to look after two neglected children, who show signs of having been corrupted by the insidious influence of the groom, Peter Quint. Quint, who was hanged for a murder, still skulks among the shadows of the manor along with Miss Jessel, a prior governess who took her own life. Similar to the plot device used to carry The Innocents (1961), the two children cannot help opening a sinister doorway that lets evil forces roam the grounds of the old haunted manor.

3. The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992)

Director Curtis Hanson’s suburban horror story follows a demented nanny hell-bent on revenge. Peyton Flanders (Rebecca De Mornay, Risky Business, 1983) used to be happily married as Ms. Mott, but her husband commits suicide after being accused of assaulting a patient. Peyton’s broken world now revolves around getting revenge. Claire Bartel (Annabella Sciorra, Jungle Fever, 1991), the same woman who made the accusation, hires Peyton as their new Nanny, oddly enough, not having any clue of their past involvement. The terrorizing of the family begins as Peyton attempts to seduce Michael Bartel (Matt McCoy, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, 2018), Claire’s husband played by De Mornay has many great moments and seems to craft a character that we find frightening, sympathetic, and believable aside from the non-strenuous background check part.

2. The Perfect Nanny (2000)

Recovering from an attempted suicide, Andrea McBride (Tracy Nelson, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, 1986) applies for a Nanny position for a handsome, wealthy surgeon, Dr. James Lewis (Bruce Boxleitner, TRON, 1982) a widower of two children. Another applicant gets the job, but she gets killed in an ‘accident’ and you guessed it, Andrea gets the position after all. Then, Lewis’ girlfriend gets mysteriously killed. The murdering rampage continues as Lewis’ teenaged daughter Fawn (Dana Barron, National Lampoon’s Vacation, 1983) begins to put the pieces together as the slaying keep getting closer to home.

1. Good Manners (2017)

Brazilian writer-director duo Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra’s supernatural thriller surrounds an intimacy that develops between live-in nanny Clara (Isabél Zuaa, Joaquim, 2017), and Ana (Marjorie Estiano, Paradise Lost, 2018), her wealthy and pregnant employer. Clara eventually comes to realize that Ana was impregnated by a werewolf. After Ana dies in hideous childbirth gone wrong, Clara does the unimaginable and goes above and beyond taking on the dangerous labor or love in caring for her dead lover’s monstrous child she names Joel.

Did we leave out any Nefarious Nannies? Sound off on Twitter, in our Official Subreddit, or in the Fiend Club Facebook Group!