Words By: Sarah Aurora

With the recent Netflix release of its killer sequel, we had to relive the original 2017’s The Babysitter and it’s wonderfully classic soundtrack – the perfect movie the spooky season. 

The Babysitter is a horror-comedy that follows Cole [Judah Lewis] as he spies on the antics of his babysitter, Bee [Samara Weaving] when he’s supposed to be fast asleep. What starts out as an innocent crush turns into the discovery of a murderous teen cult – and Cole is their missing sacrifice. With the help of his next-door neighbor, Melanie [Emily Alyn Lind], Cole has to figure out how to make it out alive in this of the twisted game of truth or dare.  

The film received mostly positive reviews, despite some of the casting choices. The movie was praised as highly entertaining, despite its recycled plot. The 90’s popularized the teen-slasher horror genre, beginning with Scream and its following franchise. With the franchise came films like Scary Movie that introduced a more comedic element to the budding genre. Scream itself is a commentary on some of the ridiculousness that occurs in slasher films, but it never aimed to be a straight comedy – instead it broke down several fourth walls within the horror genre and ran with it. It’s clear that The Babysitter was meant to fit into this genre – just simply modernized for the teens and young adults of today.

The plot line isn’t the only aspect of this movie that might hold some nostalgia. Although the film has a relevant cast and a modern setting, the soundtrack is full of throwback hits. The film features tracks all the way from Dusty Springfield in 1968 to Bow Wow Wow in 1982 to Craig Craig in the 2010’s. With a soundtrack covering this many decades, the film was clearly trying to connect with viewers across the generations. 

The combination of the throwback soundtrack and the 90’s-esque plot line was a very smart choice on behalf of director, Brian Duffield. The whole film does seem to parody its genre in some regard by placing extremely stereotypical characters in these twisted scenarios. Each of the members of the group represent a typical high school student in a very exaggerated way – each willing to sell their soul to the devil to get what they truly desire. These choices were obviously meticulous, as Duffield seemed to want to create something that would comment on the genre, in a similar way that Scream did back in the 90’s. 

As a whole, the film is successful in what it attempts to do. It’s entertaining with a plot that’s proven to work, and when you add in the soundtrack, it’s impossible not to enjoy. The sequel, The Babysitter: Killer Queen was released this September, and a third film to round out the trilogy is already in the works. Needless to say, this movie is killer.

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