Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead

1991
PG-13
1h 42m

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

39K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer1:49

Five siblings are left alone all summer when their mom leaves town and the evil babysitter bites the dust.Five siblings are left alone all summer when their mom leaves town and the evil babysitter bites the dust.Five siblings are left alone all summer when their mom leaves town and the evil babysitter bites the dust.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

39K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

1,112

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 4 nominations

Videos2

Trailer 1:49

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Trailer 2:05

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Production nearly stopped towards the end of shooting when Christopher Pettiet's drug addiction was getting out of control. The producers cut a few of his scenes to keep the film on schedule.

Goofs
Several times, the children refer to being on summer vacation. However, the computer at the office reads March 22, 1989, and the tickets Sue Ellen gets as a gift read April 1st, 1990.

Quotes
[repeated line]
Sue Ellen "Swell" Crandell: I'm right on top of that, Rose.

Crazy credits
The two groundskeepers for the cemetery stand over the Babysitters grave and comment how nice it was for her to leave them the money. The tombstone reads "Nice Old Lady inside who died of natural causes".

Alternate versions
TV versions edit the shot of the three drag queens stealing the car and also cut the line of dialogue from Sue Ellen that goes, "Oh yeah, what are we gonna say? Liza Minnelli stole our Buick?"

Connections
Featured in Siskel & Ebert: City Slickers/Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead/Jungle Fever/An Angel at My Table (1991)

Soundtracks
Draggin' the Line
Performed by Beat Goes Bang
Produced by Alan Meyerson and Beat Goes Bang
Courtesy of Restless Records
Written by Tommy James and Robert King (as Robert L. King)
Published by Longitude Music Co.

User reviews126

Review

Featured review

7/10

Harmless entertainment

You know... I've seen this a couple of times and I'd see it again. It made me laugh. It was charming. It was a harmless flick; no psyches were harmed in the making thereof. Granted, no real thought needs to be put into watching it. But it was fun, and I enjoyed it.

Christina Applegate especially impressed me, which is noteworthy as -- at the time -- I really disliked her as a result of really disliking "Married With Children." She was not only good in her role but, I have to say, pretty much won me over.

I can't say that the film made me wish I had siblings or a dead babysitter, but it did entertain me, and it made me smile to remember it watching this review, which has got to be worth something.