...having engaged and embraced the 'slasher' horror sub-genre at a relatively young age...remembering a time when just about every weekend, during the early-to-mid '80's, there were new, blood-drenched offerings in this sub-genre...this ardent viewer can't help but appreciate the recent wave of horror cinema, which pays a lovingly devoted homage to that bygone era. The best of the lot, not only borrowing straight from the prerequisite 'rulebook', associated with the genre...the masked killer, who's identity is suggested and hinted at, in the course of the film, given a plethora of distracting 'red herrings', but an identity not revealed, until the last...beautiful, buxomous and scantly-clad (...if that) young women, who are dimly aware of 'what happened before', but remain bravely naive and unaware enough, to haplessly provide themselves as helpless 'slasher' fodder for the killer...the one 'surviving' gal at the end...innocent, virtuous, and yet less naive...a fighter, clothed in something next to nothing, and reduced panic-stricken flight...the false scare jolts, followed by a moment of relaxing 'whew', before the real scare jolts kick in...and of course, a generous balance of lingering nudity, and righteous arterial spray...and more boobies...and more blood...and more boob...well, you get the point...but also affords the viewer a measurable caveat of...something not necessarily original, but at least an element...a twist on the genre, unique and individual enough, to make the film it's own creature. Does our newest offering, "Babysitter Massacre", have all that...and a ham sandwich?? Let's find out, shall we??...
...as Halloween typically provides the perfect excuse for a party, Angela...a beautiful, attractive and sexy waif of a young woman, chooses this time to call upon some old friends, for a little celebrative reunion...a casual affair, naturally, where gals giggly get together, empty the liquor cabinet, reminisce of the old times...oh, and of course, engage their passion for see-through lingerie. But then, this is an oh-so special night for these gals; about seven years earlier, sheer terror wrought this exclusive babysitter club clique, when two of them, April and Bianca, venture out amongst the trick or treaters, and are instead plagued and attacked by a maniacal, faceless killer, wearing a blank-white, featureless mask. Bianca manages to break free, and take off...hardly looking back. April, whose body is never recovered, is also never heard from, again...
...having lived with the guilt and shame of her actions, as well as having been long ostracized from the once-circle of friends, Bianca...now, having assumed a disturbingly dark, Gothic and...to most in town...an assumingly lesbian-like visage...ponders and considers the party invite, which she has received from Angela; in the midst of this ponderance, she is tortuously plagued by sights and visions of the pale-faceless psychopathic killer...seemingly seeing him all around her, while about town...and wonders if perhaps he has come back, for another melee of murderous mayhem. In the meantime, Angela is joined by friends Arlene and Lucky...the former, very brash and extrovert, and the latter, naive and apprehensive...and the three of them get things rolling...a little wine, some conversation, a little Ouija board tinkering, and a lot of skin. Amusingly, albeit mysteriously enough, Angela...in the course of the evening...repeatedly receives gruesome and bloody picture-phone communication from several of the other gals, who were once in the club...with each picture, more and more gory and horrific than the previous. Initially and laughingly putting them off as joke photos, involving elaborate make-up, Angela becomes more and more concerned, when none of the gals in the pictures, show up at the party. Who is sending these pictures?? Who is next, to appear in these pictures?? Has the killer indeed resumed his bloody murder spree, so many years later?? And who, exactly, is the killer??...
...considering more than just the exploitative suggestion of the film's title, "Babysitter Massacre" assuredly succeeds in delivering something more than just a massacre. Aside from the heinous and bloody slayings in the film, there's an underlying layer of irony and tragedy herein, which carries itself well into the gripping shock conclusion of this little terror excursion. It is this measure of storytelling, as well as the well-enacted performances and interesting character engagement, which uplifts what would normally be considered tired and contrived, into something genuinely suspenseful and engaging. Being an independent, low-budget production, there are...naturally...flaws, which are normally forgivable, and as such, negligible, in a film such as this; however, one misgiving, in this viewer's book, which stood out as unusual, in engaging this horror excursion, is the fact that it seemed that punches were pulled, with regards to the varied and creative scenes of death. Granted, there is, without a doubt, a substantial level of bloodflow featured here; however, in just about all of the deaths, only the final result of the murder, as creatively and cleverly effective as these make-up effects appear to be, are shown. Although, this might have been solely due to budget restraints, one still cannot help but feel a bit cheated, in the interim...
..."Babysitter Massacre"...the title of which, to a small degree, wink-wink borrows from the original working title of the 1978 horror classic, "Halloween"...for the most part, clearly carries through on the promise, as blatantly suggested by it's titular moniker. Engaging. Tension-filled. Adequately suspenseful. The film isn't exactly going to turn the genre on it's ear, in any way, shape or form; however, in it's own ability to thrill and chill, it's...it's...(...slurp)...it's...(...slurp)...my, my...is the droll streaming from the corner of this viewer's mouth, from the gore...or from the flagrant flashing of skin.....??
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