La sorellina

My TIVO is programmed to get William Shatner films since he's usually so much fun to watch in action. But he proved relatively restrained in his role.

Frankly, I wasn't expecting much from this film, perhaps a kitschy hour and a half of entertainment.

I've never seen Remingston Steele, so as soon as a young Zimbalist comes on the screen I could no help thinking "wow, who is that?" She is very convincing in the role of an enigmatic housekeeper who works her way into the family of Shatner and Duke-Astin.

The film begins at a slow pace, but has the saving grace of not falling into the typical and predictable TV movie of the week plot.

The acting is very good all around, as well as Zimbalist, Duke-Astin and John Houseman turn in good performances.

I was surprised to see on IMDb after watching the film that it was directed by Peter Medak. I greatly respect Medak for his work in _The Changeling_ (1980), _The Krays_ (1990) and _Romeo is Bleeding_ (1993), all non-mainstream highly-respected (nearly cult) films. It is really surprising that Medak seems to weave between these films and TV sitcoms, movies of the week, and so on. His influence in creating the proper mood is, in retrospect, dominant in the film.

As someone else mentioned, the sound quality is quite bad and it is at times difficult to make out the dialog.

This movie was pretty descent. A few times I wasn't sure where it was going, but it always seemed to keep me interested. It kept pulling me back in. I guess that is a way I could put it. I really like how the movie was photographed. It added to the overall mood of it.

Acting and story are tops. The babysitter is an otherworldly-looking, eerie kind of character. The 12-year-old, upon first seeing her, asks, "Are you real?" She looks like she's stepped out of a dream,mesmerizing, hypnotizing. And she works her way into this family of three--mother father daughter--wealthy, living in a large house on the water outside of Seattle, and she wreaks her awful havoc. The story moves along, and your eyes are glued to the screen, as you watch the whole thing work its way to its conclusion. The females in this movie are impressive--that would be the mother, daughter and babysitter. And of course, William Shatner as the father/husband--the ultimate likable good-guy. Skilled movie makers and actors (and writers) put this thing together and they came out with a polished, entertaining product.

In THE BABYSITTER, 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 Captain 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...

Couple (Patty Duke and William Shatner) hires an orphaned teenage girl (Stephanie Zimbalist) with a dark and mysterious past as a nanny. At first she is perfect and keeps there house in top shape and makes life much easier for the couple, but as time goes on she becomes destructive and turns Duke and Shatner against one another and the house is becoming a total mess. She then starts to show her true colors and people start to drop like flies. Sometimes haunting and disturbing TV film is given lush direction and entertains untill it crumbles apart at the end. Zimbalist makes a good psycho, but Shatner is miscast.

Not Rated; Violence.