This review contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the movie Babysitter Wanted.

Ill be fine, its just college, our protagonist, Angie, assures her mother shortly before jumping into her car and taking that big step into the real world as a college student. Scenes of praying, bidding farewell to her mother and lots of pleasantries firmly establish Angie as an innocent youth who is only beginning to learn how harsh this life can be.

It doesnt get much better upon her arrival at college as she is introduced to her roommate - a girl she has absolutely nothing in common with and might as well live in a complete other world - and discovers that her dream college apartment is more like a pit of sin that she must try to survive until she graduates. But in a lighter note, Angie takes on a babysitting job for a nice, rural family and sparks begin to fly with another student (Matt Dallas) who is almost - but not quite - every bit as cautious as she is.

Sarah Thompson very nicely steps into the role of an innocent girl heading far from home for college and pulls off the character of Angie with surprising distinction and sincerity given her shadowy and morally grey alter-ego of Eve on Angel for which she is probably better known. Gone are the cold and calculating scowls and puckish grins that made her character a joy on the vampire series - Angie is a character who is a whole lot more at home with herself and offers a softer and more polite smile instead.

Unfolding at a very gentle and natural pace, Babysitter Wanted creates its sinister atmosphere not from hacking, blood splattering or gut wrenching levels of gore, but instead from an finely crafted musical score by Kurt Oldman that turns simple shadows and tricks of light into something so much more threatening and unsettling.

Oldmans score offers a lot of build up to false reveals like pulling open a shower curtain to find no one on the other side and gradually mounts into something else entirely; hair-raising crescendos, solid beats of percussion and precisely used episodes of tranquility all create a severe tone of panic, confusion and dangerously icy tension.

In this movie, it is what you dont see that gives the story its edge; in addition to the score, the attacker from the opening scenes is never identified until the very end and even as the loveable Angie is stalked and terrified there is never a clear view of her pursuers mutilated face, nor are his motivations ever really explained.

It may be low budget and utterly unambitious and unoriginal in its premise, but Babysitter Wanted is how low budget horror movies should be done.

What Worked

The opening teaser launches with the unpacking of a torture kit which takes place as casually as you or I would crack open your lunch box in the middle of the afternoon. What follows remains completely bloodless and devoid of all gore, instead including a visual of a college student about to have her head smashed open. Quickly cutting to the credits, the actual death of the girl is left to the imagination as are the events that led her to this fate.

Directors Jonas Barnes and Michael Manasseris creative decision introduces a precedent that no information will be forthcoming in the movie until it is needed, creating a very definite air of mystery to the whole caper. Even as Angie is pursued through college and to work, any explanation as to why she has become the target is cast to the side and the real focus is on Angies attempted adaptation to her new life.

The entire story is told from the singular perspective of Angie and the script relies so heavily on Thompson and a lot of monologue to narrate her thoughts and each and every decision she makes. Thompson herself does a fantastic job on causing a heartfelt pang of sympathy for Angie and her deadly circumstances and her transformation from Catholic school girl to a gun slinging survivor plays out as more of post-traumatic stress than any inner heroism.

Both Bruce Thomas and Kristen Dalton do a great job of portraying a mentally unstable family, particularly Thomas who explains he is just trying to be a nice guy as he bashes open a girls skull. The couples disagreement comes off as typical as a domestic dispute over what kind of toilet paper should be purchased or what movie to watch only has the added thrill that their discussion is on going for the kill. Their casual discussion of death perfectly illustrates how monstrous these people really are - theyre not some supernatural force and theyre not creatures from beyond : they are simply people with the need to feed their child human flesh.

Throughout the entire ordeal, Oldmans score brings the violence to life more than any act or direction or dialogue. More than anything else, he makes this film scary.

What Didnt Work

After so much of the story being carefully concealed, the attack by the priest in the farmhouse turns the film in a complete one-eighty, outlining the main plot points that have so far been obscured: the killer is after young Sam (the child being babysat), he caught up with the family back on Romania and Sam himself likes to eat human flesh. The revelations come without any substance and are also dealt with in more of an artificially constructed info-dump form.

It was also somewhat disappointing to have Nana Visitors role compacted into a miniscule thirty-second role.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

Babysitter Wanted stars Sarah Thompson, Matt Dallas and Nana Visitor. It was written by Jonas Barnes who directed the movie along with Michael Manasseri.

Stop back at Rabid Doll later this week for an exclusive interview with Kurt Oldman, the man behind the music of Babysitter Wanted.