WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
Depending upon the generation reading this article right now I think there would be two different answers to the question – what/who do you think of when we say babysitter and horror? Some of you, like me, your first thought might be of Laurie Stroud, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, in Halloween whereas others will think of Samara Weaving who plays Bee in The Babysitter. Of course, there are other famous ones like When a Stranger Calls but I thought – let’s cast the net a little wider…
Deadly Illusions
OK, so some of you may question why I decided you use this film as technically our antagonist is a nanny, not a babysitter but does that not amount to the same thing? A nanny is just a live-in babysitter so their job effectively is the same! This probably is considered as more of a thriller in comparison to the rest of the films on this article, especially as it is such a slow burner! It’s actually very rare for the wife in these films to become attracted to the nanny. In the same time frame that this was made, we also have Subservience with Megan Fox where the husband is attracted to the android whereas with this, it is Mary who starts fantasising about Grace. Unfortunately, the majority of this film is based on exactly that and it takes a long time for things to start taking a dark turn. I started to get a little confused by what was in Mary’s head and what wasn’t when it came to sexual moments between her and Grace – especially with what is revealed later in the film. I guess my real question throughout this film – is why them?
A Spoonful of Sugar
I just want to point out how much I actually love the title of this film! In a weird way it works on two levels because of the song from Mary Poppins as the lead character is a nanny and the fact that the babysitter seems to be on some sort of drugs or “medicine”. The need for a babysitter in this film is similar to that of Deadly Illusions as Johnny’s mother is also an author but weirdly there was something about Millicent that reminded me a little of Orphan – especially with her interest in Johnny’s dad. I got a little confused by her because even though she is introduced to the audience as Millicent – we also hear her called Emily and Mary Beth at later points in the film, but thankfully this gets explained towards the end of the film and it’s a pretty dark reason. I started to think that Johnny was going to be the antagonist of this film, especially once she dosed his medicine with her LSD and to some extent, especially when you see the closing scenes, this is the case but it is Millicent’s malicious intent towards the family that unleashes the monster he has been all along.
Emelie
I didn’t mention this in The Night Sitter but Amber isn’t our lead character’s real name. It’s the same case here regarding Emelie – she poses as Anna, an already hired babysitter but at least “Amber” doesn’t abducted someone to take their place (as far as we know!). This automatically says that the family in this film are chosen so we come back to the question of why. At first I thought she was stealing from them, again a lot like Amber, but when playing hide and seek, it’s almost like she’s looking for something specific. When we find out what her true motive is, I’m once again unclear on why this family specifically. Outside of that, she’s just unbelievably strange – the fact that she’s happy for Jake to come in the bathroom while she’s on the toilet and then shows them porn when they’re meant to be sleeping. What’s also interesting is that she never tries to be a good babysitter, instead she puts the children through borderline psychological torture, which is pretty dark!
The House of the Devil
I would love to know what inspired Ti West to set this 2009 film in the 1980s but I love the fact that to do so, and make it feel like it was genuinely made back then, he decided to even use the same technologies that would have been used to make films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre so it surprised me on first watching that it turned out to be a 21st century film. It’s mentioned that this film harks back to the “satanic panic” from the 80s which I am genuinely interested in now I’m aware of it. Samantha, our lead character and believed babysitter, is hired by the Ulmans but they have a much darker need for her than watching over the matriarch of the family. This film has two key elements for me and that is isolation, as the house is the middle of nowhere, and a small cast. The first is a key to horror – the other just being a favourite of mine. I’m still not 100% sure why Victor kills Megan but I guess potentially because she’s a loose end. Truthfully, between Megan’s death and maybe the last 10 minutes of the film – nothing really happens…
The Sitter
I would say that this is the only film where we get the remotest of backgrounds to our antagonist, babysitter Abbie Reed. I guess my first question going into this film had to be – what is her interest in Carter Eastman? Unlike Deadly Illusions and Emelie we know that Abbie specifically wants to babysit at their house. I’ll say this much, the way she seems to stroke the photo she has of Carter it feels like it is going to turn to be a bunny boiler style of story – that she’ll do anything to take Meghan’s role in the family (and Carter’s bed). What starts out as some sort of psychological thriller turns murderous around 40 minutes in and what a kill to start with! Marina Klaveno has such an expressive face that she looks almost completely different between nice, caring Abbie to violent, angry Abbie. Even her voice is different in the space of a few seconds when she’s speaking to Conrad’s father.
The Night Sitter
Now, this film slightly mixes the two current tropes of the babysitter character – not only does she has nefarious motives but because of those, she ends up a victim. In a weird kind of way, Amber reminds me a little bit of Bee in The Babysitter. No, she’s not the leader of some high school cult but even though she has a bad reason to be in the house – she chooses to protect Kevin against the witches that he has been seeing in his dreams and accidentally summons. She refuses to give him to the witches even though it results in terrible circumstances for her friends. I also get the feeling that much like Cole, Kevin has a bit of a crush on Amber. This film also does something very rare for a film made in the 21st century, they actually killed a child on screen! I was definitely expecting a more violent film, as it was described as Amber’s friends being “picked off” – but even with 20 minutes left, everyone is still alive. Having said that expect a lot of blood to be spilled in those final minutes…
