You won't be disappointed!

the audience applauded

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

A family is undermined by the cunning manipulation of a beautiful, young woman named Joanna (Stephanie Zimbalist). After insinuating herself into the family, she begins seducing the husband (William Shatner) and emotionally sabotaging the wife (Patty Duke). Knowing nothing of Joanna's extremely dark past, the family is unaware of just how dangerous she is, though the 12 year old daughter (Quinn Cummings) seems wiser than her clueless parents. Will they realize what Joanna is doing, before she causes irreparable damage, even death? Duke is great, and Shatner is less T.J. Kirk than usual. However, this is Zimbalist's movie, and she is the blackened sun at it's center. There's even a LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN moment on the lake! Mostly though, THE BABYSITTER prefigures the future POISON IVY, only in a more "family-friendly", made-for-TV form. Co-stars John Houseman as a doggedly suspicious neighbor...

The central idea of "The Babysitter" - a young woman worming her way into taking care of a family who doesn't know that she is deeply disturbed - is one that had been done a number of times in movies before this one, as well as afterwards. The basic familiarity of the plot didn't bother me. What did bother me, however, was how weakly produced this version was. Since it was made for TV, the movie stays strictly at a PG level, and that turns out to be the movie's downfall. There's no bite to the movie, certainly no sexual material, and the very limited violence comes across in a manner that is extremely casual. What this movie really needed was a harder edge to succeed, but as it is, it's too soft, as well as being drawn out to ridiculous levels. The only interesting things the movie has is its sometimes interesting musical score, as well as some picturesque location shooting in Washington state.

First things first: There's no baby in this movie, and it's not about a babysitter. So why did they call it "The Babysitter"? I don't know. Because of the drugs the cast and crew were taking, maybe? (I suspect acid, but maybe downers, just to ease the pain of knowing they were starring in such an awful movie.) It's about a family torn apart by a ruthless housesitter with a secretive past. Yes, a HOUSEsitter. Not a BABYsitter. Unless a balding, wig-wearing Will "I Used to Be Famous, Look at Me Now" Shatner counts as a big blubbering baby. He certainly acts like one in this movie. So either it's a smart satire with a self-referential title... or the writer just forgot that it's not about any babies. Or babysitters. (I just can't stress this fact enough!) The housesitter is a sexy 18-year-old seductress, a bit like Drew Barrymore in "Poison Ivy," only not quite as demented. She tries to seduce William Shatner, and he refuses her advances after she pokes fun at him a little bit. Aww, poor baby! (FYI, I wouldn't have cared if she called me scum of the earth!) The Hungarian director Peter Medak has a resume filled with TV movies and television shows. After seeing this it's not surprising he hasn't been able to graduate to the big screen successfully yet.The characters are lame and underdeveloped, the plot is all over the place; scenes lack cohesion and seem to jump back and forth with no real point. I.e. we'll be watching William Shatner talking to some guy and suddenly - whoa! We're in a house! And then we're back to William Shatner! And now we're staring at a cow in a green pasture! (Oh wait, it's just William Shatner.) Don't bother with this. It isn't worth the time.

I bought the TV movie "The Babysitter" because of the director Peter Medak, who directed the "The Changeling", which in my opinion is one of the best horror movies ever made. After I watched "The Babysitter" I said to myself "What a waste of time." It was boring, there isn't any suspense or scares. All it is about is a troubled couple hiring a housesitter, not a babysitter, to clean house and make meals. The only problem is that she has a dark and closely guarded past. The copy that I bought now just sits on the shelf collecting dust. Check out Peter Medak's other film "The Changeling", It's much better.