Dave dissects a garden-variety TV movie that’s given an extra lurid edge thanks to some heinous real-life revelations.
It would be tempting to shrug off THE BABYSITTER’S SEDUCTION as small screen chewing gum for the eyes, but David Burton Morris’ telepic has enough about it to distinguish itself from the blander content on the schedules – thanks in part to disturbing revelations that came to light nearly two decades later.
The premise is a simple whodunit. Sally Bartrand (Dawn Lambing), mother of two and wife of wealthy businessman Bill (Stephen Collins) is found dead on her kitchen floor by what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Her husband is prime suspect from the get-go, but then there’s her lover, Paul (John D’Acquino), as well as the couple’s young babysitter, Michelle (Keri Russell), for whom Bill is fostering a growing obsession.
Russell displays a perfect blend of naivety and wide-eyed innocence in her role while Collins is memorably seedy in his quest to seduce the nubile teen. Hindsight is a wonderful thing of course, and in the wake of a career-ending admission of inappropriate sexual conduct with three female minors over a twenty year period, The Babysitter’s Seduction assumes a dark and uncomfortable edge. [1]
The Iowa born Collins had been working consistently – albeit in a relatively low key capacity – in showbusiness for a quarter of a century when The Babysitter’s Seduction debuted on NBC in January 1996. Sixth months later he got the biggest role of his career when he signed on for the lead in 7th Heaven: a behemoth of a show that ran for eleven seasons, despite criticism regarding its Christian propaganda and heavy-handing moralizing.
“You can get tied with a nice guy image,” he confessed to The Associated Press during the week that The Babysitter’s Seduction aired. “I consider this a rip-roaring thriller, though, and one of the best parts that I’ve had in television.” [2]
I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler to say that the film pops its cork a little too early in terms of who the killer is, but scripters Shirley Tallman and Nancy Hersage counterbalance this by keeping the two detectives investigating the case (Tobin Bell and Phylicia Rashad) suitably foxed. There’s also a tense face-off in the final reel elevated by Jan Hammer’s fine score.
Writing in Variety, Todd Everett criticised – rather presciently – the nature of the piece: “[A] lurid and somewhat misleading title. It seems calculated to attract a larger-than-normal crowd of drooling middle-aged fathers.” [3]
Indeed: one of them took top billing.
USA ● 1996 ● Thriller, TVM ● 92mins
Keri Russell, Stephen Collins, Tobin Bell ● Dir. David Burton Morris ● Wri. Shirley Tallman, Nancy Hersage
[1] In a December 2014 interview with People Magazine, Collins admitted that he committed “inappropriate sexual conduct with three female minors” in 1973, 1982, and 1994.
[2] Stephen Collins, He of the Clean Cut Image, Lands a Role as a Nasty by Bob Thomas, Associated Press, 22nd January 1996
[3] The Babysitter’s Seduction by Todd Everett, Variety, 23rd January 1996
The Schlock Pit 