In this dark forest of horror back in the 80s, House Sitter would have been one of the many trees, except maybe with a few more branches. I love all sorts of slashers. I love the innovative ones that further the limits of the sub-genre, as well as the heritage slashers beholden to the earliest traditions, and also the street-level slashers with their stripped-down run times and non-stop slaughter. But above all else, I love the slasher next door; the no-frills, cheap thrills slasher that used to stampede across cinemas in great numbers like buffalo skeletons. Sometimes you are just looking for a good, home-cooked slasher to quiet your belly by filling it full of blood.
Like those paperback horror novels back when, there are a lot of dialogue scenes in House Sitter that are too damn long. The audience gets the idea at the halfway mark of every sequence, making the other half of chit-chat annoying. This is okay, as it helps the viewer wait eagerly for the death of the chatterboxes, which is all but guaranteed in any slasher. The gore is sparse but interesting in its application when it does appear. There is an extra-nasty version of the kitchen death in the first Halloween picture that any fan would appreciate. The music is used in the same interesting way, with the old school horror synth score being put to creative uses throughout the film. It is shot very simply, similar to one of those story pictorials of the shirtless guy in Bananas magazine.
“House Sitter is a decent enough slasher with a couple of good moves.”
Where the Letos shine is when they are showing their love of the slasher format. It comes through in the dialogue, with not only several meta-references as to what happens to people in horror movies, but also a fair amount of deep-dish horror trivia. The Letos slasher love also comes through in the handful of intriguing moves that are made during the film. Nothing revolutionary, but still satisfying enough to warrant a recommendation.
House Sitter is a welcome addition to the death party, joining the other low-budget slaughter shows that are part of a proud and nefarious history.
"… a good, home-cooked slasher to quiet your belly by filling it full of blood. "
