By Kyle Laugh
Directed by Jonas Barnes and Michael Manasseri
Written by Jonas Barnes
Starring Sarah Thompson, Matt Dallas, Bruce Thomas, Kristen Dalton, Kai Caster, and Bill Moseley
Released in 2008
While in search of a bed for sale at her college’s bulletin board, Angie notices a posting for a babysitting job. Being hard up for cash, she takes a leap of faith and contacts the potential employer. Following an awkward meet up with the shy Sam, the Stanton family agrees to have Angie become their new weekend sitter. But with odd happenings taking place around town, Angie’s paranoia is at an all-time high, especially when these strange occurrences begin taking place at the Stanton farmhouse.
Many years ago, in the “tape trading days” or “DVD’ trading days” by that point in time, a friend of mine would swap out various hard to find horror films or new releases that weren’t readily accessible to folks living in a small town. Three days prior to moving to a larger city, I received a final package in the mail, a parting gift of sorts with a note attached stating “Good Luck Buddy!”. Enclosed was a copy of a film entitled “Babysitter Wanted”. Unfortunately, through the move, I misplaced the film, only to have it pop up at the most inopportune times. Years later, that same film randomly appeared on TubiTV, leaving me no choice but to sit down and watch it once and for all.
How did the film hold up ten years after its release you ask? Well, surprisingly well to be quite honest with you.
Although the story takes a while to get going, (we have to get roughly halfway through the film before things really start taking off) the characters are developed in a meaningful way, using their backstories to quietly intertwine with the main plot. They do it in such a way that, as a viewer, you only pick up on the connection moments prior to the big reveal.
This is largely in part due to the acting abilities of practically everyone who makes a screen appearance throughout the presentation. Their ability to bring realism to the screen is fantastic and something I wish more films were able to bring to the table in their finished products.
Another big plus is the practical effects used. This was important as its presence in the movie is incredibly important to the film’s plot and aid’s for both the build-up and as eye candy for gore lovers.
From blood spatter to dismemberments, if you’re a fan of brutal effects, you’ll enjoy checking this one out.
This wasn’t all rainbows and kittens however as there were a few low points. Babysitter Wanted does have a slightly out of touch film score reminiscent of a low budget 80’s film or a mid 90’s made for TV special. It wasn’t able to properly set the tone for what was taking place but it wasn’t bad enough to throw my attention off from the film.
The second issue I had was the time spent explaining to the audience that Angie and her mother were very heavily into the teachings of the church, making mention of finding a church and praying on multiple occasions throughout the story. Again, this wasn’t a bad this as it kind of ties everything together by the end of the story, but it definitely felt a little bit forced onto the viewer.
As an added bonus, there is a small role played by genre favorite, Bill Moseley. It’s not a significant part but one we can all appreciate the horror legend with.
If you’re a combined fan of Halloween, The Omen and Salem’s Lot, I believe you will truly enjoy Babysitter Wanted.
7 out of 10
TRAILER
Have you listened to our HORROR Podcast? This week on Beyond The Void Horror Podcast . We dove into Alligator infested waters during a hurricane for Alexandre Aja’s Crawl (2019). Was this creature feature everything we hoped and more?! Find out as we review the movie spoiler free then dive into the spoilers and loads of trivia of Crawl. Listen/Subscribe on iTunes here!