‘The Babysitter Lives’ Review – A Fun And Scary Reinvention of Familiar Horrors
For those who keep tabs on modern horror literature, Stephen Graham Jones is a household name. The author has already delivered fans of the genre two percolating classics, The Only Good Indians and My Heart is a Chainsaw. Now the groundbreaking author returns with The Babysitter Lives, a novella released exclusively in audiobook format. Fortunately, this happens to be a medium I appreciate. As an avid Audible subscriber, I’ve been teaching my brain to soak up audio stories over the past five years. Not every reader has developed the same patience for absorbing fiction this way. But, if you are looking to develop an ear for audiobooks, look no further. This is the perfect launchpad.
Jones has crafted an experience simultaneously accessible and unique, embracing the joys of YA horror pulp fiction alongside the esoteric, worldview-disrupting elements of classic haunted house literature. Part Christopher Pike, part Shirley Jackson, yet completely Jones, The Babysitter Lives is a funhouse of exciting horrors perfectly suited for kicking off the spooky season. The story starts off with one of the most archetypal and familiar sets up available in horror. A final girl with a heart of gold spends the night before Halloween babysitting a set of sweet young twins in an intimidatingly vast suburban mansion.
Protagonist Charlotte jumpstarts this experience by ushering the listener into the setting with her very capable hands. It’s like when you get a boost at the start of Mario Kart; the right combo of buttons blasts off the story with an accelerated introduction. Like her skills as a babysitter, Charlotte is just as capable in the role of the lead character. She’s likable, flawed, realistic, and always active in the face of unspeakable evil. Indigenous, queer, and gifted, Charlotte is unlike any final girl I’ve encountered under these familiar circumstances.
When one of the white children she’s babysitting shows Charlotte their “Authentic Squaw Halloween costume, complete with buckskin and feathered headdress”, Charlotte’s patience for bullshit is thoroughly showcased. An outsider peering in, she picks her battles carefully while keeping close tabs on the microaggressions circling ubiquitously around her. These interpersonal survival skills come in handy when a murderous evil makes itself known, and the horror surrounding her rises.
When The Babysitter Lives begins to illustrate its scares, things quickly take a turn towards the strange. There is a magical realism quality to the storytelling which comes as a bit of a surprise. Think the slow-burn possession horrors of The Shining or Burnt Offerings juxtaposed with the energy of the L.J. Smith Forbidden Game series. A fast-paced YA quality prevents the more brooding and intellectual elements of this novella to overcomplicate matters. The walls of its setting are haunted, but never in the way you expect them to be. A stranger is calling from inside the house while the children pitter-patter around. But it’s unlike any other home invasion horror you’ve yet to encounter. Jones is carefully subverting tropes and expectations while leaving room for playfulness. It’s a Halloween story, after all. The horrors on display are mean, gory, and relentless but this is still a good time, from start to finish.
Captained by the capable hands of Charlotte and Jones himself, The Babysitter Lives is an exciting, contained experience. A unique exploration of the horror genre using well-worn archetypes as its staircase, never holding our hand as we step upwards towards a surprisingly existential spook show. While there are some moments of fantasy that become overly nitpicky in their details, causing the listener a little bit of confusion, Jones generally keeps the winding path clear and steady. Prepare for classical horror tropes re-conceived in startlingly unique ways.
By the final moments, I was clutching my pearls, rooting for Charlotte with all the school spirit I could find. The Babysitter Lives by Stephen Graham Jones is a clever horror story that celebrates its influences while expertly subverting them in a way even the most jaded horror audiences will appreciate.
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The Babysitter Lives
Summary
Stephen Graham Jones has crafted an experience simultaneously accessible and unique, embracing the joys of YA horror pulp fiction alongside the esoteric, worldview-disrupting elements of classical haunted house literature.
