The best pure horror film of the year as far as I’m concerned!
Babysitter Wanted (2008)
Directed By: Jonas Barnes & Michael Manasseri
The Prologue
Oh the joys of babysitting huh? You get to watch someone else’s kid(s) and more times than not the little bastards are enough of a handful to make you want to pull your own hair out. Now, I’ve never actually babysitted anyone’s kids but when I was a kid I was the bastard being watched and let me tell ya, I was a handful for sure! In the film Babysitter Wanted, our poor lead Angie gets way WAY more than she figured she would when she takes a babysitting job. And I’m happy to tell you that the results are awesome!
The Movie
In a small college town, a young girl working on a babysitting job in a rural farm is terrorized throughout the night. Now I know you may have heard of another film called The House of the Devil that could make you start thinking Deja Vu, but I do believe this one came first. And even more than that, I believe this film does everything right that that film did wrong. No slow pace with this one folks and plenty of gore to boot! Sure, this film won’t be able to avoid the comparisons and I enjoy both that film and this one but I do believe with all my being that THIS film is better.
And just what does this film offer? A very creepy storyline for one. Poor Angie has never been away from home and she’s off to college to follow her dreams. However, like every teen she needs money and that leads her to take the babysitting job in the middle of nowhere with a very strange kid while murders have been happening in town. You just feel the doom in the air as the poor girl arrives for the job and that feeling never leaves you as you watch this great film.
Also this is a film that balanced some comedy in with the horror without going overboard and getting silly. Horror films seem to have trouble with that but this one does a great job. It also gives you likable characters in our lead and a few others. That in it’s self is a lost art in horror. Oh! And we get Bill Moseley playing something different for a change in the role of the town sheriff! This movie is just overflowing with fresh air! And is well wrapped with an original plot.
Another thing I loved about this film was it played up the fact that Angie and her family (or just her Mom as that’s all she has) are very religious. It also places Angie in very un-bible thumping situations and shows her actually not act like a snob or holier than thou. See kids? Not all God fearing people are crazy or think they are better than you. So bravo for that part of the film. And of course religious elements are in this film, another thing that makes me wonder if maybe Ti West seen this film before he made that OTHER babysitter themed film.
The only thing I would have done differently about this film is I would have cut it and rolled the credits just a bit sooner at another part of the movie than the movie actually does. Of course, now we know they did that to build up tension for the SEQUEL that is in the works. I don’t know how that movie will go but it sure has a very hard act to follow. I loved this film.
The Conclusion
If we got by when the film was released rather than by when it was made, then I believe this is the best pure horror film to come out this year. I believe the only other film released this year I’ve rated higher was Shutter Island but everyone wants to debate if that’s really “horror” or not.
So go out and see Babysitter Wanted by any means you can because I believe once the credits roll you will like this movie very much. Perhaps not as much as I do, but I just don’t see how you couldn’t like it.
The Rating (8.5/10)
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