Babysitting is inherently scary because generally it involves a teenager and children home alone together. Many babysitting horror movies originate from the “babysitter and the man upstairs” urban legend: a babysitter who receives threatening phone calls only to realize that the calls are coming from inside the house. The classic example of a babysitting horror movie is When a Stranger Calls (1979), where this trope plays out.
Babysitter horror movies often overlap with kidnapping and home-invasion movies. Home invasions work well in babysitting horror movies because they center around two innocent and vulnerable groups—the babies and the sitters. Horror gets much of its power by juxtaposing the weak and vulnerable against remorseless forces of evil because at some point in our lives, we’ve all felt threatened and powerless. There’s also a special sub-category of babysitter horror movies that flip the script entirely and cast the babysitter as the villain.
This list catalogs the best babysitting horror movies ever made. Make sure the baby is asleep, lock the doors, and ignore those scratching sounds at the window—it’s probably just a tree branch…
Table of Contents
Old Babysitter Horror Movies (1971-2000)
Foster’s Release (1971)
Also called Judson’s Release, this (very) hard to find short film is a predecessor to early horror movies like Black Christmas (1974) and Halloween (1978). It uses the “babysitter and the man upstairs” trope and follows a young woman who receives menacing phone calls. The police and phone operator try to help the woman as she is harassed by a psychotic killer.
Fright (1971)
A British horror thriller movie about a babysitter who takes a job at a remote mansion in the countryside. She is watched by a man outside. When she hears noises outside, she thinks it is her boyfriend playing a prank on her. It is actually her employer’s ex-husband, who has escaped from an insane asylum.
Halloween (1978)
After viewing the 1976 John Carpenter film Assault on Precinct 13, a pair of movie producers approached Carpenter with an idea—they wanted him to write and direct a film about a terrorized babysitter. Carpenter agreed, and along with his ex-girlfriend Debra Hill, herself a former babysitter, they worked on a script about a man who had murdered his sister on Halloween night fifteen years prior, only to escape from the mental hospital, return to his town, and start stalking babysitters. Babysitting is so central the plot of Halloween that it was originally titled The Babysitter Murders.
See also: 50+ Trivia Facts About the ‘Halloween’ Universe
The Amityville Horror (1979)
This supernatural horror movie is well-known not only because it started a long-running franchise (there are at least 35 Amityville horror movies) but because it is allegedly based on a true story. The film follows a young couple who get a deal on the home of their dreams. The catch? The home is the site of a recent mass murder in which a man shot and killed his entire family while they slept in their beds. Once the new family movies in, scary supernatural events unnerve everyone — including the babysitter who is locked in a closet by a paranormal entity.
When A Stranger Calls (1979)
This is probably the best example of a babysitting horror movie based on the “babysitter and the man upstairs” urban legend. When a Stranger Calls stars Carol Kane as Jill Johnson, a babysitter who starts receiving harassing phone calls. After calling the police, they trace the call and inform Jill that the calls are coming from an upstairs bedroom. The first 20 minutes of this film are very scary.
See also: 33 Scariest Movies of All Time
The Babysitter (1980)
This made-for-TV thriller movie came up with a new twist on the babysitting genre — it’s not the babysitter being terrorized; the babysitter is the source of the terror. Stephanie Zimbalist stars as a mentally imbalanced young woman who takes on a babysitting and attempts to seduce the father (William Shatner). The Babysitter was said to be a huge influence on The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) as well as other non-babysitter-related films involving malicious women who seek to destroy domestic tranquility such as Fatal Attraction (1987) and Single White Female (1992).
Bloody Birthday (1981)
A slasher movie that upends babysitter horror movie norms and makes the children the villains. Three kids who were born during a solar eclipse start murdering people 10 years later, including their own family. Joyce (Lori Lethin) agrees to babysit one of the children one night, completely unaware that she’s walking straight into a death trap.
Alone in the Dark (1982)
A home invasion/slasher movie about four violent psychopaths who escape from a psychiatric hospital. They target the rural home of their institution’s head psychiatrist, Dan. One of the men poses as a babysitter, gaining the trust of Dan’s daughter Lyla and then men murder her real babysitter (and the babysitter’s boyfriend). Eventually the family realizes they are targets for the escapees and barricade themselves inside their home.
The Guardian (1990)
A supernatural horror movie co-written and directed by William Friedkin of The Exorcist fame. It is about a young couple with a newborn child who hire a nanny. Unfortunately, the nanny is actually an ancient tree nymph who kidnaps children and sacrifices them to an evil tree that thrives on the blood of the innocent.
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992)
A salacious psychological thriller about a Seattle housewife, Claire (Annabella Sciorra), who hires a nanny. She doesn’t know that the nanny is actually the wife of the obstetrician who lost his career after Claire refused to keep his sexual assault a secret. Set on revenge, the nanny slowly tries to destroy Claire’s life.
See also: 26 Curious Facts About ‘The Hand That Rocks the Cradle’ (1992)
When a Stranger Calls Back (1993)
A surprisingly great made-for-television sequel to When a Stranger Calls (1979). Both Carol Kane and Charles Durning reprised their roles from the original and Fred Walton returned to direct. The plot follows Julia Jenz (Jill Schoelen) as she is terrorized by an intruder while babysitting one night and her charges disappear. Five years later, Julia is a college student who still believes she is stalked by the intruder. She turns to Jill Johnson (Carol Kane), now a counselor at her college, for help.
New Babysitter Horror Movies (2000-Present)
The Sitter (2007)
Also known as When The Children Sleep, this is a made-for-television horror movie. It stars Mariana Klaveno as Abby, a live-in babysitter hired by a busy couple. Shortly after she moves in, friends of the family start disappearing one by one. It slowly becomes apparent that the highly resentful Abby is plotting to harm the children’s mother because she wants to be their mother instead.
Babysitter Wanted (2008)
A horror movie about a religious girl, Angie (Sarah Thompson), who accepts a babysitting assignment at a rural farm after answering an ad placed on a college message board. Her charge is a little boy who loves wearing a cowboy hat, even while he sleeps. On Angie’s first night on the job, she starts receiving harassing phone calls.
The House Of The Devil (2009)
A young college student named Samantha accepts a babysitting job on the night of a full lunar eclipse. Over the course of the night, she realizes that her clients weren’t who they portrayed themselves to be and that there is not even a baby in the house to sit. Samantha winds up in a struggle for her own survival.
See also: Every Ti West Horror Movie, Ranked
All Hallow’s Eve (2013)
Art the Clown from the Terrifier films makes his debut in this horror anthology film. A babysitter finds a VHS tape containing three separate short movies in which a psychotic clown named Art murders people. The babysitter puts the kids to sleep after they all watch Art’s first murder, then watches the final two films herself. Unfortunately, she realizes she’s in the last film.
Babysitter Massacre (2013)
In an update to the “babysitter and the man upstairs” trope, this low-budget horror movie begins with a babysitter getting a text message that says “I’m not in the house… yet”. Meanwhile the members of a babysitters club mourn the loss of their friend April who disappeared seven years ago. Eventually, the babysitters realize they are being stalked by a killer.
Tormented (2014)
Also released as Berkshire County, this Canadian horror movie follows an insecure teen named Kylie who agrees to babysit on Halloween night. At a rural home, Kylie is confronted by a strange trick-or-treater in a pig mask. When she learns he’s looking for more than candy, it turns into a night of terror.
See also: 14+ Great Horror Movies Taking Place on Halloween, Ranked
Emelie (2015)
Sarah Bolger stars as the titular “Emelie” who pretends to be “Anna” after murdering the real Anna and showing up to her babysitting gig. At first Emelie just seems like a crappy babysitter, letting the kids break rules and encouraging them to fight one another. However, it soon becomes clear that Emelie intends to kidnap the youngest child after the older children go to bed.
Better Watch Out (2016)
A psychological horror movie about a babysitter, Ashley (Olivia DeJonge), who is sitting for her usual charge, Luke (Levi Miller). When it seems like someone from outside the home is terrorizing the two, a twist reveals that truth is always stranger than fiction. Better Watch Out is kind of like a babysitting horror movie mixed with Home Alone.
The Babysitter (2017)
A comedy horror movie about a young boy named Cole who is relentlessly bullied by a male neighbor. His babysitter—a woman named Bee—comes rushing to his defense. What Cole doesn’t realize is that Bee is a member of a Satanic cult who has signed a deal with the Devil. Her specialty is staking young boys to kill them—and Cole is next on her list. Also released as Night of the Babysitter.
Night Sitter (2018)
Seeking to rob a wealthy occultist, a female scammer named Amber (Elyse Dufour) poses as a babysitter. However, she gets more than she bargained for when she realizes her charge is also an occultist. He summons a group of witches known as the Three Mothers.
Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
Judy, the daughter of demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren, is at home with a babysitter, Mary Ellen. Daniela, a friend of Mary Ellen’s, comes over to the Warren’s house and pokes around in the artifact room, freeing the spirit inside the Annabelle doll who in turn frees other spirits that the Warrens have collected. The scares in the movie are almost too silly to be scary, but the adventures of Judy, her babysitter, and her babysitter’s friend are a nice change of pace from the usual serious nature of the movies within The Conjuring franchise.
See also: Ed and Lorraine Warren Movies: Films Inspired by the Paranormal Investigators
The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020)
This black comedy slasher is a sequel to 2017’s The Babysitter and takes place two years after the events of the original. Cole is now a high school junior who still fears his former babysitter Bee is after him, but neither his parents nor his friends believe him. Unfortunately, the satanic cult shows up again and Cole runs for his life.
Deadly Illusions (2021)
In this Netflix thriller (which was universally panned, but is still entertaining) Kristin Davis stars as a famous writer that needs to hire a babysitter so she can focus on her writing. She hires Grace, a young caretaker that seems to be a literal angel sent from heaven. Grace, of course, ends up being a psychopath and hilarity, sex, murder, and whatnot ensue.
Nanny (2022)
Nanny is a horror that blends psychological and supernatural scares in a way that is both creepy and somber. Aisha is a West African immigrant working to make enough money to bring her young son to the United States. She lands a job with an affluent couple looking after their little girl, hopeful that the long hours will earn her enough to make a better life for her own little boy. Before long though, Aisha’s mental state starts to deteriorate as a presence makes itself known.
More babysitting horror movies
- Baby-Sitting (2012) a short French horror comedy movie about a young woman who accepts a babysitting job without realizing how creepy the children are.
- Child Eater (2016) a babysitter tries to reassure little Lucas that he’s only imagining that the boogeyman lives in his closet—until she realizes that Lucas is right.
- Feeding Time (2016) a short horror film about a woman fills in for her friend’s babysitting gig one night.
- Babysitter’s Nightmare (2018) a made-for-television movie about a babysitter who realizes she’s locked inside a house with a serial killer.
Further reading:
- 60+ Best Home Invasion Movies: The Definitive List
- 30+ Movies Based on Urban Legends
- 50+ Trivia Facts About the ‘Halloween’ Universe
