Don't Sit, Don't Answer: Babysitter Nightmares

Three nightmare-inducing tales of babysitters who should have never taken the job.

In this episode, I dive into the horror classics When a Stranger Calls (1979), Better Watch Out (2016), and The Nursery. From chilling phone calls that hit way too close to home, to holiday home invasions gone viciously wrong, and nursery monitors revealing something far more sinister than a crying baby — these films prove that watching someone else’s kids can quickly turn into a fight for your life.

Grab your baby monitor, lock the doors, and join me for a bloody good time.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Dad Bot of Horror Season 1, Episode 28.

SPEAKER_01 0:06

I am your host, Butch Barr.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Still no co-host. For this episode, first off, of course, you can find me on Twitter or X at Dad Bot of Horror. You can also find me on Instagram at Dad Bot of Horror.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Stop and say hi.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

So since the uh last episode, I have actually seen uh quite a few um recently released horror movies. The first one I'll talk about, well, I'm not talking about just kind of rate, is This Is Not a Test. I wish I could remember what streaming service I saw on. But it must be on a streaming service or else I wouldn't have seen it. So uh again, it's called This Is Not a Test. So this is a uh zombie apocalypse type movie. It stars Olivia Holt.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

And uh it's good. I give it a 7 out of 10. Then I have uh Scared to Death.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Um this is like a on it house type movie. Um a film company comes in to film a seance and then you know, bad things happen. I give it a six out of ten. Again, I think it's on Prime, but I really don't remember. Then there's uh the forest clown. I believe that's on Prime.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Um I mean, got a clown in a forest.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

It's uh if I'm not mistaken, kind of British. So I give that a five out of ten. Uh there's a movie called Survive that I did actually like. I give that a six out of ten. Yeah, I watched a lot of movies. I had I actually had two days off this week, so I strangely enough I guess spent them watching movies. Um on Prime, there's a movie called Snake River, which is um four out of ten. You can uh guess what happens, Snake. It's like Anaconda, but a hillbuilding version of it. And then there's Snake Manor, which uh is funny, uh Snake River, the snake is like a hand puppet, and I swear they use the same same hand puppet and snake manor. Snake Manor, I give a three out of ten. And uh the last one, which I just watched right before this uh taping. It's called Power Tool Cheerleaders versus the Boy Band of the Screeching Dead. It's quite a title. Um, that is actually on Tubi.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

And you know, I'll go with a four out of ten. It tries. It tries. So, now time to dive in the actual episode.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

So, season one, episode twenty-eight, movie number one is when a stranger calls from 1979. You can find it on Prime, Screenbox, Shout TV, Fossum, Plex, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, and To Be To Be. Production Company is Melvin Simon Productions. The director is Fred Walton. The writers were Fred Walton and Steve BK. I don't, I don't, F-E-K-E. Stars uh Charles Derning, Carol Kane, and Britannia Alda.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

The plot.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

A police detective and a babysitter relive horror years. Okay, let me let me say that one better. A police detective and babysitter relive horror years later. That really just is a horrible sentence. Uh why this movie?

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Um, really Yeah, no good reason. Um Yep. Um, how did I see it?

SPEAKER_00 4:50

I've actually seen this movie a few times over the years. I really do like it. I enjoy it. Um I don't remember the first time I saw it though. Favorite kill?

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Um none. I don't even know if there's a killing in the whole movie.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Well, I mean there is, but you don't see it, so the opening sequence of this movie is uh based on the babysitter and the man upstairs, Urban Legend. So, you know, the babysitter is babysitting out kind of the well, let's say the boonies maybe, gets calls from a man asking her if she checked on the children. Um she gets freaked out eventually, gets a hold of the police, and the police trace the call, and the calls are coming from inside the house. You know, the phone calls coming from inside the house was also used by 1974's Black Christmas. In fact, that exact line, the calls are coming from inside the house, was used in both movies. So, like, you'll see a lot of movies today using that same concept. Um, you know, someone's calling, uh, scary calls to someone, you know, that's alone in the house or whatnot.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

So this movie 1979 was back when there were landlines in the house.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

So, um, which is foreign to a lot of you know younger kids today. So and you you know, there's no caller ID, so you couldn't see who was calling you, you know, nothing like that. It was that phone rang and it was like you're going in blind. Um but it was always exciting, you know, you get a phone call. Except of course when you're alone in the middle of the night because a phone ringing is scary. It's like it is loud piercing and just breaks the quiet. So in this particular movie, the director for the uh phone ringing parts he you know, because it's quiet, it's quiet in the house, so he decided that each successive phone call from this guy would get louder than the previous one to like add into the tension of the whole thing, which is I think is brilliant and worked really well. And again, if you've ever been alone in a house and heard one of those landline phones ring, it it it it's it's scares. It's like, you know, I don't know why, it just is. So the babysitter and the man upstairs uh does actually have uh some basis in reality. So that urban legend. So 1950, a 13-year-old girl named Janet Christman was raped and murdered while babysitting in Columbia, Missouri. Um the kid she was taking care of was not harmed. She called the police, but the call ended before uh she could get uh give any information regarding uh her location as it was 1950, and the call couldn't be traced. There was a suspect that was never charged, and three years later, a 15-year-old in Wisconsin named Evelyn Hartley was abducted while she was taking care of a baby girl. Um again, the baby was not harmed, but the house showed signs of a struggle, and drops of blood matching Evelyn's blood type were found in the basement and outside the house. Um, and Evelyn is still a missing person. So, you know, the thing that they kind of based the whole movie on was based in reality. The movie kind of starts out like really like this suspense suspensefully with lots of stuff. With tons of suspense, and it's like a it's like a it's like a thriller, you know, like this is like the you're on edge. But then it kind of shifts to like a police drama, and then the ending of the movie again is terrifying. Um so yeah, so basically this guy is in the house calling, has killed the kids, is calling the babysitter, played by Carol Kane, uh, to try to get her to come up to check on the children, which she doesn't do. And he's caught and arrested and is put into an asylum. And then he breaks out of the asylum, and the father of the children he killed hire the previous detective on the case, who's retired now, to track this guy down and find him. And so it's kind of like you're following the the killer as he kind of slips in and out of s you know, psychosis and uh watching Charles Derning, the previous cop who is now a detective, uh trying to hunt him down. So the movie stars Carol Kane. Um at the time she was 27, she plays the babysitter in the beginning, who, you know, is in her teens, and then also plays the same character who now later on in the movie has two kids of her own. Um, I think she does a tremendous job in this movie. I think she's a great actress. Um mostly known for comedic roles, but you know, she pulled this off really well. They did make a sequel to this, which is just god-awful terrible, and I hope that this podcast doesn't have last long enough for me to have to watch that movie. Charles Derning. He plays, again, the cop in the initial murders, and then a retired cop who's the private the private detective. He's another tremendous actor, um, has 215 acting credits to his name. He is a very stocky guy. I remember there's a stretch in the movie where he's chasing the killer, and the killer is a slight guy. You know, if that guy weighs 150 pounds, I would be surprised. And um, you know, one of Charles Derney's legs weighed 150 pounds. And Charles Derney's chasing this guy, and I'm like, come on. Like, they keep showing scenes of Charles Derney running, and I'm assuming they shot like a 10-second scene and then crap filming for the day and then shot another 10 seconds the next day. Because there's no way Charles was doing that. The guy that plays the killer in this is Tony Beckley. Um he played the killer kind of in a in a if if you watch it, like it he's he's sad. He's a he's a sad human. Um unfortunately, he was dying during the filming, which actually may have led to this performance. Uh he actually died before the film was released. I'm gonna give a spoiler alert. The ending of this movie to me is like like right on the top of like one of the worst things that I can imagine. Um I guess I don't want to give too much away. You really should see it. Uh the beginning is great, the ending is great, the middle, you know, is if you've only if you haven't seen it yet, it's good to watch. So time to move on to movie number two for season one, episode 28. And the movie is Better Watch Out from 2016. You can find it on Prime, Con TV, Screenbox, Apple TV, Fossum, Peacock, Peacock, Plex, Pluto TV, Roku, and Tubi. So anywhere on TV apparently. Production companies were Storm Vision Entertainment, Best Medicine Productions, and Eclectic Vision. The director is Chris Peckover. The writers were Zach Kahn and Chris Peckover. It stars Olivia DeJong, Levi Miller, and Ed Oxenbold. The plot. So why this movie? Um, I for this episode I went with a babysitter theme, and this one kind of fits right into that. How did I see it? I actually watched it as part of a Christmas movie Marathon I did uh a few years ago. So it's it's it's a holiday movie kind of, because it takes place during the holiday.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

My favorite kill.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

So there's a part where the killer is testing the theory that getting hit in the face with a paint can, like in the movie Home Alone, would s actually smash your skull in. Um he believes it would. His friend believes that it wouldn't. And in the movie, it does. He's correct in the movie. I don't know if that's reality. But in the movie it does. So this everything I'm gonna talk about is kind of a spoiler alert. So um if you want to see the movie, I would I would say see the movie first, if you don't want anything wrecked for you. So this movie takes the babysitter and intruder in the house thing to like the next level. Like, absolutely. It it starts a bit like the babysitter movies. She's getting calls where no one speaks, she's hearing strange noises, and things are being moved around, and she thinks she sees things. The thing is, is that the whole thing is set up by the kid, she's babysitting. Um, she's a high school girl and he's like 12. And he is definitely into her, and so his his first plan is to get her drunk and make out with her. She doesn't go for that. So then he gets his friend to like scare her, like act as an intruder, um, hoping that if he plays a hero, that you know, she'll fall into his arms and you know, make out with him. Well, that doesn't work either. So in his head, the next logical progression is to kill her boyfriend or her and kill her ex-boyfriend and kill her and blame it all on her ex-boyfriend and for her. You know, as one does. So obviously there's something wrong in the head with this kid. Um, this is a really entertaining movie. Um, although it looks like the kid set the evidence up correctly to make it di make it look like the ex killed everyone, um, there is you know, there's evidence of evidence, and then there's evidence in evidence on evidence. Like, like I don't think, you know, there there's definitely evidence that we call into question. There are bodies that were moved after death, which would be questioned because of what do they call it, lividity, like the the how the blood settles after someone dies. Um there's also there was blood upstairs where no one should have been, according to the way he put it, played it out. There's also, strangely enough, um, other evidence that could be found in how much the police look. Um so it's again, it's how thorough they would be, which I would imagine in this case they might be pretty thorough with everything that looked like happened and the way he set everything up. I would hope they'd be very thorough. Uh the movie has a terrific ending. I'm not gonna get into it, but yeah, there's a terrific ending. Strangely enough, even though the movie takes place in America, it's actually an Australian-made film shot in Australia, and except for the actors who play the parents, um, all the other actors are Australian. Just weird. I I I don't know why they couldn't have just made it an Australian movie. I don't know what is different. But it but whatever. Hey, it was still a great movie. Maybe it gave the Australians time to work on their American English accent. Strangely enough, as I said before, the parents were actually American. The I think the the most well-known actors were the parents, and like were barely in it. So Virginia Madsen played uh the mother. Again, she's been at a ton of stuff. You will probably remember her from the original Candyman or the original uh Dune. And Patrick Warburton, he does a ton of voice work. He also played uh Jerry's Mechanic and Elaine's uh on and off, on and off boyfriend uh on Seinfeld. He was also one of the stars of the TV show Rules of Engagement. Uh, but again, he's been in a ton of stuff. Um just a fun actor to watch, and and I would imagine just a fun human being to be around to tell you God's honest truth. So uh we'll move on to movie number three for uh season one, episode 28. And that movie is The Nursery from 2018. You can find it on Prime, Fawsom, Pluto, and Tubi. Production company is Three Tortured Minds and Visuality Media Productions. Director is Christopher A.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

Miklos, Miklos, Miklos, and Jay Sapiro.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

The writer is Christopher A. Miklos, Miklos, Miklos, whatever. It stars Madeline Conway, Emma Bailey, and Carly Ray James Sauer. That's one person, Carly Ray James Sauer. I get like C Ray. C. Ray, J.S. C. Ray, C. Ray James Sauer. Carly Ray James Sour. Anyway, sorry. Plot. When Renee agrees to babysit for a family with a tragic past, a run-of-the-mill Saturday night quickly turns to a confrontation with unspeakable horror. Um, why this movie? Again, just following the uh the babysitter theme. How did I see it? Um, I watched it for this episode. First time I'd seen it. Uh Favorite Kill. I don't think I have one for this movie. So this movie's not bad. Um, you know, it is a uh an independent R movie. But it's not too bad. Um the writing and this the the writing, the story are solid. They really are. Like like this is an interesting thing. Um you know, the whole plot uh i i is good. I feel like maybe bad casting and some part acting are probably the movie's downfall. Once again, I think I've brought this out in previous episodes. For some reason, of the women in the movie, the least attractive one turns out to be the slut. Um so again, some some spoiler alerts. So the idea is that there's a girl watching a couple's infant son. Her friends come over and and people start seeing something. They don't know what it is. They investigate to find out what's going on and to try to stop this thing, which it turns out to be a spirit, before it harms the child, and you know, some of them end up getting killed with a process. Um and again, there's so much like like you think you know where where it's going, you think you know the idea, like, oh, okay, I get it, and so on so. And then as the movie goes on, you realize it's one of those like twists a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Which helps make the movie good.

SPEAKER_00 22:06

The co-directors in this, I don't know why I have a go in there, uh, Christopher, Mick Loast, and Jay Sapiro, along with executive producer Glenn Chung, uh, spent over 20 years running a local advertising and marketing firm called Visuality, making a horror film was a massive departure from their corporate day jobs. Um, I'll tell you what, I give them an A plus because quite frankly, I did like the movie. Um you know, quite frankly, if I would take this movie and give it a bigger budget and put better actors in it, and um, I think you have something. I really do. I mean that's how much uh I really like what they did with this movie. So um yeah. So see it if you get a chance. Like I said, it's on Prime Boston Pluto Pluto and Tubi. Give it a shot. I think you'll like it. So that was uh movie number three. That's the last one I'm gonna talk about. This episode is gonna be a little short. I apologize for that. You know that. Just give me a little time to say uh thank you to all the listeners out there. I do appreciate you. Um it's why you do it. I do have fun, I really do. I I love doing this, I think it's a lot of fun. I love watching horror movies and I like talking about horror movies. Um I'm gonna try to get more guests on here. I've heard a lot of good things about the episode where I had a guest. So um I will work on getting more guests to chat with on here so you don't have to just listen to me droning away. So I do know what movies are set for my next episode, and let me see if I can give you a theme. I believe I gave you a theme last time. How do I how'd you do? How'd you do thinking of movies that I was gonna use for the babysitting thing? Um, let's see. The next episode theme looks like it is. Um I will go with insect theme.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

Insect. What movies will I be chatting about? So until then, have fun.