BABYSITTER WANTED

The nineteen-year-old Angie is a college freshman and, as such, has not yet settled into and gotten used to college life. To pay for her studies, the girl grabs the opportunity to go babysit for the Stanton family, a couple of farmers who live outside the city and have a child, Sam, with a fragile health. But the first night at the Stantons' house is a nightmare: a mysterious man with a disfigured face and armed with a knife has followed Angie and now seems intent on sneaking into the house. In real life, the job of a babysitter is one of the simplest and most relaxing that can be imagined: hourly pay, free phone, fridge to raid, and a few hours of relaxation if there is a video game console in front of which to chain the child to be cared for. In horror films, on the other hand, the profession of babysitter is one of the most dangerous and deadly that can be imagined, since there is always a serial killer, a maniac, or some psychopath who is lurking around and is intent on making the unfortunate one of the moment have a nightmarish night. The examples of films that try to kill a babysitter are innumerable and among the most famous we can undoubtedly remember "The Allnighter: A Babysitter's Nightmare", "Halloween – The Night of the Witches", "When a Stranger Calls" and its pseudo-remake "Chiamata da uno sconosciuto". In 2008, the debutants Jonas Barnes and Michael Manasseri decide to revive the tradition and give life, with good results, to "Babysitter Wanted". The two directors, who have entered the world of cinema mostly as actors and producers, manage to build a tense and well-made horror film with a modest budget and a simple idea. Initially, they try to retrace all the clichés of the slasher-thriller using in particular a style that somewhat recalls the old way of making horror films, the one that alternates atmosphere with raw violence, typical of the 1970s. And if in this initial approach we can find a worrying air of déjà-vu, broken only by the over-the-top characterization of the protagonist – a girl who is water and soap, all house and church, really religious and chaste – in the second part "Babysitter Wanted" takes a turn that not only redefines the type of genre to which the film can be assimilated, but also manages to handle the times and topoi of horror effectively. Let's say that the change of perspective that the film undertakes around the fortieth minute is not a big surprise, given that in the first part the division of roles is highlighted in a too obvious way, but what manages to surprise is the "what" of the turn, an anomalous and in some ways original solution that manages to mix with functionality two strands of horror that rarely manage to meet. The dry and old-school style adopted by Barnes and Manasseri is combined with a rhythm that in the second part becomes decidedly pressing, with the intention – succeeded – of not giving the viewer a moment's respite. In "Babysitter Wanted" there is even room for a textbook torture porn scene, a butchery at the expense of a poor girl that will not fail to make the happiness of gore fans. Only in the finale can some unnecessary length be glimpsed that could have been avoided, especially for coherence of intent in paying homage to the films of the 1970s, which we all know have the characteristic of saving meters of film especially in the last scenes, also managing to imprint themselves more effectively and harshly in the minds of viewers. Good the performances of the actors, from the protagonist Sarah Thompson ("Seventh Heaven"; "Angel"), perfectly cast in the role, to Bruce Thomas ("Enterprise"; "Kyle XY") and Kristen Dalton ("The Dead Zone"; "The Departed") in the roles of the Stanton spouses. In the role of Sheriff Dinelli also appears Bill Moseley ("Non aprite quella porta 2"; "La casa dei 1000 corpi"). "Babysitter Wanted" is therefore a fresh and rhythmic horror, not without flaws but certainly one of the best products from the American underground of recent years.