I have to say, I didn’t expect too much from Babysitter Wanted. The 2010 effort directed by the team of Jonas Barnes and Michael Manasseri (from Barnes’ script), at first glance, looked to be a standard babysit and slash fest. What the film is, exactly, is a nice mesh of slasher and gothic devil-inspired horror with a healthy dose of genre convention humor. I enjoyed Babysitter Wanted quite a bit. It was moody, atmospheric and playful using the staples of the babysitter-being-stalked film to its full advantage. Playing like a throwback to the late seventies, the film starts slowly and builds toward an intriguing little mystery until the big plot twist, which was a nice change of pace.
Now, when I say slowly, most of you claiming to have ADHD will say, “Nope, not for me.” Good. You don’t deserve to watch this, then. What I mean by slowly is something that is sorely lacking in the modern horror film… character development. Our protagonist is fully fleshed out with motivations, aspirations and even some cultural conflicts. Wow, what a new concept, a character we care about!
Angie (Sarah Thompson) goes away to college in order to learn art history. Angie is a devout Catholic and being at school has her paranoid and jumpy from the onset. In need of a job, Angie answers a babysitter-wanted ad and finds herself in the country with the friendly Stanton couple (Kristen Dalton and Bruce Thomas pulling off a perfect evil Thirtysomething routine).
Hold it. That sounds like a standard hack and slash, right? Oh, it gets weirder, much weirder. Without engaging in a spoiler-fest, suffice it to say that Angie is in charge Sam Stanton (Kai Caster), the young boy that isn’t really what he seems, is stalked by a creepy looking man hell-bent on their destruction and must find a way out of becoming someone’s next meal. Along the way she runs into genre-veteran Bill Mosely (Devil’s Rejects, Repo the Genetic Opera). If you really, really want a hint, how about: Angie has a REVELATION about Sam. If you don’t get that, I don’t care.
Babysitter Wanted is available on DVD and BluRay from Big Screen Entertainment. If you want to check it out, use the handy dandy Amazon.com link to the left there and give a little something back to the Cheese.
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