Babysitter Massacre

Director - Henrique Couto (Haunted House on Sorority Row)Starring - Erin R. Ryan (Bludgeon, Easter Casket), Marylee Osborne (A Bulldog for Christmas), and Haley Madison (Hunters)
Release Date - 2014
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Stalked. Tortured. Killed. Can you escape?"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

      The babysitter slasher is one I typically don't give a damn about.  The claustrophobic setting and lack of characters just bore the fuck out of me.  However, there is always an exception to any rule including this one.  Several months back I saw that Ohio based directed Henrique Couto was working on a babysitter slasher simply titled Babysitter Massacre.  The poster looked great so I wanted to see the film.  I was a little gun shy after watching Bleeding Through but I decided to have a double feature with another Couto flick, Haunted House on Sorority Row, which was amazing.  After watching HHoSR I had very high hopes for Babysitter Massacre. 

     Babysitter Massacre follows a group of childhood friends, former babysitters, as they try to recover from the lose of one of their former friends who was abducted and murdered. As the years dragged on the girls have went their separate ways.  One of the young girls wants to put together a little party to get the girls together one last time.  Everyone is down but only two others arrive arousing the suspicion of Bianca (Osborne).  Bianca was the last one to see the murdered girl alive when she saw a man in the white mask abduct her.  This weighs on her the most.  She investigates the missing babysitters but the trail turns cold until pictures of the missing girls are sent via text to the remaining women.  The girls are mutilated and this causes great concerns for the entire group.  This forces Bianca to search desperately for the man in the white mask before her remaining friends are slaughtered.
     Babysitter slashers typically take place inside of a home and rarely venture outside of it.  These types of slashers feel very constraining.   The rooms usually feel small due to the camera crew taking up most of the free space and this results in a very cramped scene.  I, personally, find these scenes hard to watch. Babysitter slashers also have the same storyline that sometimes spills over to other slashers.  These slasher usually involve someone, or something, inside the home stalking the teenage babysitter as she tried to make a few dollars.  However, just like any other visionary director, Henrique wanted to make something different and made that a reality.  The acting in this one is solid by most of the cast.  Erin R. Ryan is amazing as always.  She can play any role and make that role believable.  The role of Bianca, portrayed by Marylee Osborne, is also another actress that sticks out.  This young lady has some spunk and stands out as well.  However, her bad ass angle did seem forced at times.  A little more real and a little less fake psycho would have went a long way.  The story for this one is not your typical babysitter slasher flick.  This story is a little more complex, fun, and very thought filled.  Henrique was able to take a slasher sub-genre and make it his own with a film that goes against the conventional and borders with torture porn.  The down side is the killer.  A slasher is known for it's killer so if the killer fails then the film has to pick up slack in other departments to stop from failing.  The killer, a man wearing a skin tight white mask, just lacks everything slasher fans love about slashers.  He's not menacing nor is her scary.  Finally, the film does have a few on screen kills but the special effects are minimalistic and does not quite satisfy my bloodlust that I expect to be met from a normal slasher.  However, some of this kills are brutal and makes the viewer feel very uncomfortable in their own skin.  Overall, Babysitter Massacre is a fun slasher that goes against the grain to deliver something very fun.  If you like beautiful women who hate their clothes and fun slashers then this one is for you!