User reviews

I remember watching this film when I was growing up, I loved it then and I still love it.

Despite the fact it's obviously predictable, it's a fun film that's well acted and directed and has a great soundtrack.

Christina Applegate is quite impressive as Sue-Ellen, as is the rest of the cast.

Most of the characters are quite black and white with the obvious "baddies" getting their comeuppance towards the end of the film. Predictable films howeverm, aren't always bad. Especially if they are well acted and the characters are interesting. The only character that was meant to be nice that I found utterly annoying, was Josh Charles as Sue-Ellen's sugary sweet suitor, Bryan. His acting was great don't get me wrong, but I think it's safe to say Bryan wouldn't be MY type!

If anything else, this fun film is easy to watch and will remind most people in their mid 20's of their adolescents.

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.

I remember watching this film when I was about ten and I loved it. I remember being motivated to see it in the first place because Married with children reigned supreme in our house and I loved Christina Applegate. In this movie she didn't disappoint either, as she was not only good in it, but played a character wildly different from mean, dim witted Kelly Bundy. Instead she played Sue Ellen Krandle a decent ,level headed, but restless young woman who is uncertain about her future. Sue Ellen has a contentious relationship with her siblings and mother,but she also is willing to strive for their approval and respect. In other words she is a regular seventeen year old. More mature than her siblings but not quite ready to take up the mantle of an adult. When her mother goes to Austraila, Sue Ellen thinks that she is going to have a care free summer of fun in the sun, when a woman comes to the door and her mother introduces... the babysitter. When mom leaves the seemingly sweet grandma like gem, reveals a nastily terrifying tyrant underneath, and Sue Ellen and her siblings try and keep cool heads. The old be careful what you wish for scenario surfaces when the baby sitter sees Sue Ellens punk brother's bedroom and is literally shocked to death. Sue Ellen finds the woman's corpse and to make a long story short her and her siblings are left for two months with out money or adult supervision. This movie is not perfect from a technical standpoint. It a predicable cheesy fantasy full of scenarios that in real life would be incrediblbly dark. However, for some reason, the acting, the engrossing action pact scenes and the love you have for the respectful a, fresh and resourceful sue Ellen and hate you have for the bad characters emotionally engross you. This movie couldn't hold up today, but for its time, and because the memories it brings I will always love it.

Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead (1991)

This is one of the best and the last 80's style comedies along the lines of "Uncle Buck". Sue Ellen (Christina Applegate) is the oldest of 3 brothers- Kenny (Keith Coogan), Walter (Robert Gorman), Zach (Christopher Pettiet) , and 1 sister- Melissa (Danielle Harris). Excited about her mom leaving for Australia on vacation, Sue Ellen is expecting to have a great summer- that is until she discovers she is going to be "babysat" by the evil Mrs. Sturak- a mean, grumpy old hag who gives you book reports instead of letting you watch television in the evening. Then, Mrs. Sturak dies- leaving Sue Ellen and her four siblings to survive the summer, prompting her to get a job to support her brothers and sister, put food on the table, and learn the true meaning of responsibility. This movie has some laughs and is pretty fun and entertaining. A good family comedy. 8/10.

I loved this movie as a teenager, and still love it now , it's funny the acting is wonderful, and it's just a silly movie to relax and enjoy

This film is sort of like a perfect time capsule for what life was like before the internet. What a trip.

I forgot how dreadfully fantastic this movie was in its own way! Nothing compares to 90 movies and American hotdogs :)

Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead is a great coming of age, dark comedy from the early 1990's. I've liked this movie since I was a little kid, and it's still just as good now.

The story being told in this film is ridiculous, but very original and entertaining. The characters and atmosphere scream 90's nostalgia, and it's full of some funny quotable dialogue. The movie also has a great cast including Christina Applegate, Keith Coogan, Josh Charles, and Danielle Harris.

If you have never seen this movie before, I would definitely recommend giving it a watch, because it's one of those films you will want to see more than once.

The best part of this picture is seeing Christina Applegate as the beautiful women she is, in different scenarios, hairstyles, dresses, etc. There's not a lot of fine acting, but there is a little crude comedy. Okay for a Saturday afternoon, but I wouldn't rent it for a Saturday night movie.

OK the premise is dumb--A mom is going on vacation to Australia for two months. She has five children and leaves them with a tyrannical babysitter. The babysitter dies (of natural causes) within the first 15 minutes and the kids basically have to live alone all summer...but need money for food. The oldest one is 17 year old Sue Ellen (Christina Applegate)and she easily gets an executive position (just like real life, right?) at a fashion agency and, naturally, is incredible at her job. And her brothers and sisters learn values from her example...

Sounds horrible, but it's well-acted (especially Applegate and a drop dead gorgeous Joanna Cassidy), it moves quickly, is very funny, has a great soundtrack of new AND old songs and I enjoyed every minute of it! Not a great movie by any means, but if you can turn off your brain for 2 hours, you'll really enjoy it!

I really enjoyed this movie,, very funny, lot's of humor,, you have an old grandma, who looks 90, acts like a drill sergeant towards the kids,, the boy is totally reckless, clueless and lazy,, the teen girl actually shows ambition, and wants to earn money,, not like today's teen girls that's for sure.. Christina Appelgate stole the show for me,, I wish her career would have blossomed, the parents go to Australia for 3 months, and the kids are left with a mean old lady to babysit them,, shortly thereafter the babysitter crokes,, and the kids are left alone to fend for themselves... I got many a laugh out of this movie,, which is exactly why I bought it for in the first place.. not to mention,, Christina Appelgate..

it isn't good.i didn't find it funny at all.i did find it boring and stupid,though,so i guess that's something.not something good,but still something.i couldn't finish the whole movie,i was so bored.in the 45 minutes i watched,i never laughed once.i figured if the movie wasn't good by then,it wasn't gonna get any better.the premise is an interesting one,but the execution falls flatter than than a pancake.somewhere between page and scree it falls apart.the average rating here is 5.3/10 and i would have to disagree with that rating.for me,Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead into the awful category with a 3/10.

Christina Applegate plays Sue Ellen, a 17 year old recent high school graduate whose mom goes to Australia for a business trip, and hires an elderly babysitter to watch Applegate and her 4 younger siblings. The babysitter ends up rubbing all the kids the wrong way, and she conveniently drops dead of natural causes. The kids come up with a plan to drop her off at the morgue or the police station (it was unclear which), and fend for themselves for the entire couple of months their mother is gone.

But the babysitter had all of the money, so now Sue Ellen has to get a job to support them until their mother returns. Sue Ellen (Applegate) gets a job at some sort of Chuck E Cheese establishment, and promptly quits due to the overly cheery nature of her boss (she finds it all obnoxious, as would I). She forges a resume and ends up getting a job at a clothing company as an executive administration assistant. Since she is only 17, this job proves to be a struggle for her at first. Somehow, Sue Ellen manages to keep her 4 younger siblings alive and healthy, while bringing in a steady paycheck. Since this is a comedy, you can probably guess that certain people don't come back when they are supposed to, which adds to the conflict.

I was impressed with all the kids, but I thought Applegate was the best. I don't know why I never realized before how good she is at comedy. Very predictable, but the kids made it worth watching, as they all held their own, and weren't overly annoying, as some child actors are prone to be. If I remember correctly, this was advertised as low brow escapist entertainment when it was released, and that is pretty much what it is.

This is a funny no-brainier comedy with a group of kids about as dorky as the cast from "Fast Times At Ridgemont High", not quite as stylish as clan from "The Breakfast Club" and not as cool as the gang from "Grease". But this group does have a way of making you laugh in-spite the fact the babysitter is dead.

While you are grabbing a bit of fast food on the way home be sure to pick up this movie too. It is a good watch if you are wanting to see a stupid but funny teenage packed comedy flick.

This movie may make a good double-flick night with "Weekend at Bernie's" or "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure".

7/10

The filmmaking was nothing special and the idea feels the same way. However, the characters were entertaining, the jokes worked and the pacing was mostly smooth. The mom isn't very bright on the phone and probably should have left sooner to head home, but Christina Applegate as the oldest daughter was basically the mom of the house who took charge and even got a job as a fashion designer with an entertaining boss name Rose. I also like the scenes at her first job working at a chilli dog restaurant with her weird boss. The brother Kenny as a total loser played by Keith Coogan was fun, but wasn't very memorable except when he had to "clean the dishes." The other two kids were less interesting, but this was still fun for the most part.

Okay right from the top this is not great art but with that title were you really expecting it to be? If you want that go watch a three hour Ingmar Bergman film but if you want a breezy, silly comedy with good performances and a snappy pace than this is for you.

The whole setup is preposterous but so are many 80 & 90's comedies, Adventures in Babysitting, Home Alone etc, but once this one gets past its bumpy intro scenes it actually becomes a more focused story of a young girl finding her way through unexpected responsibilities.

It helps a great deal that the cast headed by two very good actresses. Christina Applegate as Sue Ellen the young teen who finds out she is more resourceful than she realized and the marvelous Joanna Cassidy as Rose, her new boss. Keith Coogan is also a lot of fun as stoner brother Kenny who belatedly grows up.

Besides the good performances the film is filled with some amusing quotes, enjoyable situations and a flashback to 90's fashion. A pleasant diversion but again don't expect anything high toned and you'll enjoy the ride.

The idea behind this movie was not necessarily a bad one, take a frustrated teenage girl played by a good actress and give her the chance to become a fashion executive in a careful what you wish for kind of story. Teenagers by 16 to 17 often crave more freedom, we all remember that first time our parents let us stay home alone for a weekend and the satisfaction from that. Over the course of the film though the girl will learn the hard way that actually doing a few house chores is not so bad in comparison to the high end fashion world and work pressures which come with that. There's some fairly real aspects to thus too, the office politics and work place jealousy, the sleazy older guy always paying too much attention to the new girl. Christina Applegate is really good in her role but the plot runs out of steam about an hour in and then just keeps putting out the same things. There were probably to many kids on the family who to be honest we never really cared about and took time away from getting to know the least. The romance stuff was fairly standard, meet, first date, first kiss, first row but it could have been worse. Technically the film is well put together, the movie looks good, the fashion, it's nicely photographed there was once instance of obvious ADR. This isn't really a kids movie because the premise won't appeal to them, it's more a less innocent version of Home Alone with a girl who smokes and swears and the rest. A bit more humour and a tighter story and the movie would be better but the lead performance and idea of launching her into a career is a good one. Also refreshingly her boss turns out to be a pretty supportive and fun character.

I was young. I loved Home Alone 1 and 2. I was disappointed that I didn't see this one in the theaters because of the previews. I had to rent it. Back then, I tried to convince myself that this movie was good, that I've never seen a bad movie. This was a complete waste of two bucks that could've gone to more useful things (gum?). I can't recommend that anyone should waste any time or money on it. Let's just say that Police Academy 5 is more worthwhile.

How could you NOT like this movie! I am watching it right now, and it has inspired me to write a review, and hopefully give it more recognition and more importantly, a higher rating!!!! Kids home alone with no parents, free to do whatever, but also trying to maintain living! Each character has their own stereotype- Walter the youngest: a handful, Melissa: the disobedient tomboy, Kenny: the headbanging rocker drop-out, Zachary: the calm, but sneaky love struck teen and Sue-Ellen: the responsible, yet hip mother of her siblings. This movie is full of much excitement and a great plot. You cannot go past this underrated classic!

I recently rewatched Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter is Dead (1991) on Hulu. The storyline follows a group of teenage and pre-teenage siblings who are left with a babysitter when their mom leaves the country. Shortly after their mom's departure, the babysitter unexpectedly passes away. The siblings decide to keep this news a secret from their mom and attempt to enjoy the summer on their own, which proves more challenging than they anticipated.

Directed by Stephen Herek (Critters) and the cast includes Christina Applegate (Married with Children), Josh Charles (Four Brothers), Keith Coogan (Adventures in Babysitting), Joanna Cassidy (Blade Runner), David Duchovny (X-Files) and Danielle Harris (Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers)

This movie is a childhood classic that played a significant role in my teenage years. I must have watched it a hundred times. Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter is Dead immerses you in its story from start to finish. The cast is perfectly chosen, and every character feels relatable. While the circumstances are exaggerated and unrealistic, they are still entertaining. The well-written dialogue and enjoyable circumstances unfold perfectly. This successfully carries the 80s brand of comedy into the 90s.

Overall, Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter is Dead is a fun film suitable for all ages, as long as you don't take it too seriously. I would give it a 6.5-7/10 and strongly recommend it.