Undescribable Perfection

The Age of Commercialism

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Please don't spend money on this.

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...

Good acting by a solid cast makes this somewhat-familiar material worth slogging through, even though the issues it raises seem to get all fouled up. Patty Duke Astin plays a doctor's wife who has hired a mysterious young woman to care for her rather hapless daughter, which causes friction in their already-shaky household. Quinn Cummings, fresh off her stint on TV's "Family", has a few surprisingly strong scenes standing up to babysitter Stephanie Zimbalist, but Zimbalist's role is a wash-out. Her character isn't given the grand, juicy build-up that villains usually receive in television suspensers, but perhaps this time it was a mistake (director Peter Medak is so overly-cautious letting the pieces fall into place that he becomes unintentionally coy about the whole thing). The film is shrouded in murk; Medak, going for a low-key mood, doesn't allow the drama to take shape, and as a result the story and characters become lethargic blobs.

People what's wrong with You?! How, in the nine hells, this movie got so high notes? Geez, this is complete no go. Don't waste neither Your money, nor Your time (as We all know 'time is money'). What I know for sure, is that They should hang'em all high - actors, actresses... o yeah and the script... and music.. There's nothing in this film that makes worth watching it. Yes, I know 'Romeo Is Bleeding' is a great movie, but 'the Babysitter' is Peter Medak's Waterloo. Last thing: There's as much suspense as in Beverly Hills 90210 or any similar crap.

Well, I bought this movie for the fact that Stephanie Zimbalist (Laura Holt of Remington Steele) played a leading role in it. Everything I had seen of hers was pretty good so far, and I'm a Remington addict, so I figured this would be good as well. I was mistaken. It wasn't exactly garbage. If written differently, it could've been a really good movie. The category in which it's categorized is all wrong as well. This is definitely not a suspense or horror film. There was no blood or gore, which is what I describe a horror film as to be. As far as suspenseful goes, it almost meets that category, as I said, if written better. My opinion, the writing stunk. The storyline could've been extremely better. It's definitely not a movie you'd view more than once, IMO.