Sometimes you just know you can accurately predict what will happen in a film from start to finish, and you also know for a fact you've seen it a dozen times before and haven't liked it once. And yet, even in cases like that you sometimes continue to watch for a very banal reason. In my case, I simply watched "The Sitter" because I wanted to know whatever became of Russell Mulcahy; the once utterly cool Aussie director of 80's classics such as "Razorback" and "Highlander". Well, now I know
he directs politically correct and hugely derivative made-for-TV thrillers. The theme of "The Sitter" is very nineties. With its 'dangerously seductive (teenage) femme fatale' main formula, the film is similar to "Poison Ivy" (starring Drew Barrymore), "Wild Things" (starring Denise Richards), "Dearly Devoted" (starring Rose McGowan), "The Temp" (starring Lara Flynn Boyle) and of course "The Crush" starring the ultimate next generation's Lolita Alicia Silverstone. All these flicks revolve on seemingly sociable and alluring young girls that are, in fact, obsessive and deranged psychopaths who do not hesitate to kill if they don't get what they want. And what they want is one specific male, usually one that is already happily married and not at all looking for trouble. These males befriend their jailbait admirers and narrowly resist all the sexual allusions, but when they actually physically reject them down, both their private as professional lives turn into a living nightmare. Meanwhile, friends & neighbors of the male in question that are interfering too much begin to die in mysterious accidents. There you go, I just summarized all of the above films including "The Sitter". This particular TV-movie has nothing new to offer, except maybe the experienced directing skills of Russell Mulcahy and the attractive appearance of lead actress Mariana Klevano. She looks a bit like Liv Tyler and supposedly (according to people on her personal message board) like Selena Gomez, although I have no idea who that is. She carries her crazy wench role quite well, although she can't compete with the above mentioned ladies in the other films. The body count in "The Sitter" is quite low, but at least the murders are vile and nasty for a TV- production. Since "The Sitter", Russell Mulcahy directed a sequel to "Resident Evil" and a good old-fashioned gritty revenge thriller "Give 'em Hell, Malone". I'll just conclude that this was a side-project to be able to pay the necessary bills.
Review of The Sitter
