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 Babysitter
Wanted (2008)
R2 / PAL DVD
Lionsgate / 2009
Directed by Jonas Barnes & Michael Manasseri
Written by Jonas Barnes
Cast: Sarah Thompson, Matt Dallas, Bruce Thomas, Bill
Moseley
Reviewed by Phil Wheat
Virginal Angie Albright (Sarah Thompson) leaves her strict
Catholic home bound for college, once there she is haunted
by feelings of being watched by a mysterious man. Settling
into college life with new roommate and new boyfriend, Angie
decides to earn money by babysitting. She gets a job
babysitting for a local couple, the Stantons. On her first
night on the job she is spooked by strange phone calls, the
kid, Sam, she's watching goes missing, then the stranger
Angie suspects is watching her breaks into the house and
tries to kill Sam. But that's just the beginning...
Babysitter Wanted starts out life as a cross between
Halloween and When a Stranger Calls - a young girl afraid
for her safety, an apparent stalker following her on the
college campus. All the stereotypes of your typical
Halloween-esque modern day horror movie. But note, I did say
'starts out', because just when you think you know where the
film is going it throws in a huge plot twist changing the
course of the film completely. For seasoned horror fans like
myself, that twist may have been slightly obvious, but watch
the film with someone who isn't a big horror movie
aficionado and see them look totally confused when it
happens.
The filmmakers behind Babysitter Wanted seem to be big fans
of 80's horror and even on a limited budget (which possibly
helped proceedings), they successfully manage to capture the
feeling I had years ago watching one of the many slasher
movies I rented from my local video store. In keeping with
the 80's vibe, Babysitter Wanted has gore-a-plenty, I don't
think I've seen this much gore in a film since those slasher
movie heydays. The soundtrack feels familiar too, there's an
amazing orchestral score throughout the movie, and the
film's use of screeching violins really builds the on-screen
terror ala Friday the 13th.
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