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The Babysitter

  • TV Movie
  • 1980
  • Unrated
  • 1h 36m
IMDb RATING
5.5/10
696
YOUR RATING
The Babysitter (1980)
DramaThriller

Spoiled 12-year-old Tara's new best friend from next door gets hired as a live-in babysitter, but things soon go horribly wrong when Tara's mom starts hitting the bottle and fighting with he... Read allSpoiled 12-year-old Tara's new best friend from next door gets hired as a live-in babysitter, but things soon go horribly wrong when Tara's mom starts hitting the bottle and fighting with her dad.Spoiled 12-year-old Tara's new best friend from next door gets hired as a live-in babysitter, but things soon go horribly wrong when Tara's mom starts hitting the bottle and fighting with her dad.

  • Director
    • Peter Medak
  • Writer
    • Jennifer Miller
  • Stars
    • Patty Duke
    • William Shatner
    • Quinn Cummings
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    5.5/10
    696
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Peter Medak
    • Writer
      • Jennifer Miller
    • Stars
      • Patty Duke
      • William Shatner
      • Quinn Cummings
    • 25User reviews
    • 10Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos

    Stephanie Zimbalist, William Shatner, Patty Duke, and John Houseman in The Babysitter (1980)
    The Babysitter (1980)
    The Babysitter (1980)
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    Top cast

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    Patty Duke
    Patty Duke
    • Liz Benedict
    • (as Patty Duke Astin)
    William Shatner
    William Shatner
    • Dr. Jeff Benedict
    Quinn Cummings
    Quinn Cummings
    • Tara Benedict
    David Wysocki
    David Wysocki
    • Scotty
    • (as David Wallace)
    Kenneth Tigar
    Kenneth Tigar
    • Tom Montgomery
    Virginia Kiser
    Virginia Kiser
    • Mrs. Welford
    Stephanie Zimbalist
    Stephanie Zimbalist
    • Joanna
    John Houseman
    John Houseman
    • Dr. Lindquist
    Hildy Brooks
    Hildy Brooks
    • Barbara
    Frank Birney
    Frank Birney
    • Mr. Farragut
    Ty Haller
    • Minister
    • (as Richard Ty Haller)
    • Director
      • Peter Medak
    • Writer
      • Jennifer Miller
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Although primarily filmed in Washington, the two primary residences were filmed using historic mansions on the shores of Deer Lake in the city of Burnaby, BC Canada. The main family home was Townley House, aka Deerholme, and the babysitter's house was filmed at Hart House, aka Avalon. Although both were somewhat run-down in 1979, they have both been restored and are now protected heritage resources.
    • Quotes

      Tara Benedict: [watching Scotty work on his boat] Please take me with you! I don't wanna be by myself! He doesn't even know I'm alive...

      Joanna Redwine: [hiding behind a tree] Poor Tara...

    • Connections
      Remade as The Sitter (2007)
    • Soundtracks
      Music in Motion
      (uncredited)

      Written by Steve Gray

      Bruton Music

    User reviews25

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    4/10
    bizarre editing, poor sound mixing, and other problems
    This had potential, and it actually did realize some of it. However, the dialog is hard to hear in places, and the editing is just bizarre, several times jumping from a tense moment straight to another scene without resolving anything.

    My biggest objection, though, is more fundamental: for the first two-thirds or so of the movie, the fascinating "babysitter" seems to have some kind of supernatural... something. It's never clarified what, but she seems to be almost mesmerizing people on occasion; at another moment, she is unfazed by a car nearly hitting her, almost as though she is in control of the situation more than the driver is. Then in the last third or so, that "something" seems to vanish and she is just a crazy young woman.

    Zimbalist is captivatingly beautiful here and seems game to bring her character to life, and the other players are all fine in their roles. However, the story just doesn't quite make sense in spots and the relationships feel hurky-jerky. A bit more time invested into the writing would have helped, as would a better job on the sound mixing and the editing. Lacking those things, I can only give this a 4, as I ended up just wondering what the point of this was. Still, if you're a fan of stalker/psycho movies, or of Shatner or Zimbalist (or anyone else here), you will probably enjoy this at least a little bit.
    helpful•7
    1
    • JamieWJackson
    • Jan 5, 2015

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 28, 1980 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United States
      • Canada
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Babysitter
    • Filming locations
      • Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
    • Production companies
      • Moonlight Productions
      • Filmways Television
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 36 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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