The Night Sitter Movie Review

Babysitters in the US are a different-breed that’s for sure. It’s Christmas and the inexplicably attractive Amber (Dufour) turns up at the house of widower, Ted, whose son Kevin, isn’t too happy about his dad going out on a date. Ted should probably be worried about the creepy drawings Kevin scratches into his pad but he seems pretty happy with it all so lets not concern ourselves.

Ted is a fan of the paranormal and his house is full of artefacts, but what is behind that locked door at the end of the corridor? We’ll find out, don’t worry.

Ted’s date turns up with her son Ronnie, a total little shitbag, but he’s a talented little shitbag so it makes for some nice comedy moments, especially later on when Amber lifts her top to stop him whining.

As soon as Ted and his date are out the door, Amber is on the phone to her friends and it becomes clear that she is not taking this babysitting gig seriously. When she gets the boys to bed, her boyfriend Martin (Lamore) turns up, he’s heard about her plan to rob the place and tries to convince her to go through with it. Meanwhile the kids get into the door at the end of the corridor and uncover a whole bunch of creepy shit including a book about ‘The Three Mothers’. When Kevin flicks through the pages he cuts himself and his blood awakens the witches.

More future victims turn up when Rod (Rivers) and his girlfriend Lindsey (Neukum) arrive with a huge van to get this party started, but the witches have been awakened and now they will terrorise our hapless burglars and pick them off one by one with grisly results.

With its '80s synth musical score, and warm, Christmassy production design, Bruhn and Rocco have made a fun and competent horror film. Dufour is clearly streets ahead of the rest of the cast when it comes to her acting ability and is a joy to watch, but sadly doesn’t have a lot to play with and the rest of cast are simply clichés to be picked off one by one so don’t really offer much in the way of substance.

The kids however are pretty good, Jack Champion (Kevin) certainly has talent and should go on to bigger and better things and Ben Barlow who plays neighbour Vincent adds a welcome bit of humour to proceedings.

The witches themselves are a little underwhelming and don’t really offer much in the way of scares, especially with their laugh that sounds like it was recorded in a hurry. It’s made with a lot of love and is entertaining enough but doesn’t quite hit the right satanic mark. Make sure you get references before taking on this particular babysitter.