"Babysitter Wanted" (2008)

Directed by Jonas Barnes & Michael Manasseri
Review based upon the Lionsgate DVD release

A very low budget direct to DVD genre entry, “Babysitter Wanted” has been praised in many quarters for offering a story that leads the audience in one direction before moving into a wholly different viewing experience. Borrowing aspects from “Halloween”, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “The Omen”, does this movie really manage to pull of this interesting and rather diverse hybrid of ideas?

Angie Albright (Sarah Thompson) is a god-fearing eighteen year-old who leaves her hometown to study art history at college. Upon arrival things are not quite as she’d hoped, as she lives with a rather difficult roommate and inexplicably feels an anonymous stranger is stalking her. Befriending fellow student Rick (Matt Dallas), Angie takes a job as a babysitter for the Stanton’s: a couple who live out in the middle of nowhere with their young son Sam. During her first night looking after the boy, Angie receives several disturbing phone calls that lead to the house being besieged by her stalker. But is everything as it appears to be, and what does the mysterious figure want with her?

Directed by first-timers Jonas Barnes and Michael Manasseri, “Babysitter Wanted” falls into an emerging trend of horror films where the plot seems to be leading the audience in one direction, only to pull the rug out from under the viewer during the second half and completely shift the focus in another direction. “[REC]” achieved this feat for the zombie movie and “Martyrs” did the same for religious horror. “Babysitter Wanted” attempts to do the same thing for the slasher flick, opening as a “Halloween” wannabe and then throwing everything up in the air some forty-five minutes in. Whilst there’s always a danger that such a massive narrative gamble might make things fall apart, the major twist works here and as such takes the picture in a direction that is altogether more interesting.

The movie also contains a great deal of genuinely suspenseful moments, especially at the beginning where a lot of emphasis is place upon the supernatural and religious art history Angie is studying. The moment in the lecture theatre where someone appears from the shadows is particularly effective, and such a key sequence to watch for.

In addition to the tension created by the directors, the bloody effects are also rather good and although underplayed (most likely due to financial issues) they’re well executed and edited to allow maximum use of limited resources. Several sections in the final thirty minutes or so are very reminiscent of Tobe Hooper’s “Texas Chainsaw”, and this is no doubt intentional. However, whereas Hooper chose to leave the most vicious moments to the imagination of the audience, Barnes and Manasseri prefer to attempt a full reveal, which arguably could’ve been achieved more successfully with fewer shots of carcasses being carved up (they look too much like animals anyway) and more focus on the reaction of the victims instead.

Performances are generally more than adequate for the material, with Sarah Thompson as Angie being particularly strong. She carries the movie, appearing in almost every frame, creating the character that’s both realistic and engaging. It’s also great to see genre favourite Bill Moseley appear as Chief Dinelli, a brief role that still gives the actor a chance to deliver a performance that adds to the overall mystery of the first half.

The pacing and editing is very polished, with the grating and screeching SFX soundtrack again reminiscent of Hooper’s masterwork. It adds great depth to some of the jump scares (of which there are several), but could also be said to saddle the film with an unwanted comparison that it simply cannot live up to.

“Babysitter Wanted” is an interesting hybrid of a film that ultimately works as a cohesive whole. Building up to a shocking twist and a brutal close that’s reminiscent of “Them” and “The Omen”, this picture contains enough horror staples and themes to warrant close attention. Entertaining and surprising, “Babysitter Wanted” is a solid genre entry that’s well putting up an ad for on your local college noticeboard…

7 out of 10
An impressive debut that’s a movie of two halves… a film that houses scares and shocks alike