“It must be pretty embarrassing needing a babysitter in high school,” someone once told the 14-year-old at the heart of My Babysitter’s a Vampire. Being stuck with a sitter on a Friday night would definitely be mortifying for just about any teenager. However, Ethan Morgan (Matthew Knight) changed his tune when the most popular senior girl from school, Sarah Fox (Vanessa Morgan), arrived at his house that fateful evening. This schoolboy’s elation soon became abject terror as his caregiver was revealed to be a bloodsucking creature of the night. As it turned out though, Sarah was no ordinary vampire; she refused human blood and was intent on spending what looked to be her final days slaying her own kind.
While the Disney Channel indeed helped Canadian import My Babysitter’s a Vampire reach a wider audience and build it a sizable cult following, this 2010 TV-movie and the subsequent series actually originated on Teletoon (since rebranded as Cartoon Network). The Canadian channel’s first live-action feature, one directed by Bruce McDonald of Pontypool fame, sought to make “the popular vampire genre accessible to a younger audience.” Yet as young as they aimed for their target demographic, this telemovie plays a tad darker than anticipated. Especially when juxtaposed with the lighter style of most Disney Channel Original Movies (DCOMs). For instance, in what is essentially a long pilot episode, a random teenager is abducted in the opening scene. Later on, what’s left of the victim is said to have been found shriveled up like a juice box, as stated so sensitively by Ethan’s best friend Benny (Atticus Mitchell). The body-count only grew bigger as the story continued, although not every one of those bodies stayed dead.
Before anyone can even accuse it of being a Twilight knockoff, My Babysitter’s a Vampire beats them to the punch. Rather than pretending its genesis was not inspired in any way by the cinematic saga of glittery vampires, this movie immediately introduces its own Twilight: a diegetic franchise called “The Dusk Chronicles.” Its third entry, “Dusk III: Unbitten,” coincided with the actual release of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Far sillier and much poorer in both acting and dialogue than their real-world parallels though, these intentionally terrible “Dusk” movies served not only as a target of parody but also the source of narrative elements in which My Babysitter’s a Vampire subverted.
Image: Matthew Knight, Atticus Mitchell and Cameron Kennedy respectively play Ethan, Benny and Rory in My Babysitter’s a Vampire.
One stark contrast between My Babysitter’s a Vampire and Twilight was the lack of a central and ongoing human-vampire romance. The likes of Edward and Bella aren’t 100% mirrored here; the closest match wouldn’t be explored until the series. Before then, the movie’s most relevant union between vampire and human happened out of view; Sarah and her now ex-boyfriend Jesse (Joe Dinicol), a 200-year-old cult leader turned vampire kingpin, met before the events of the movie. And as it was revealed later, Sarah’s off-camera turning was, unlike that of best friend Erica (Kate Todd), done against her wishes. “You said I could choose, you said it was up to me,” Sarah lamented. To which her abusive sire responded: “Some decisions need a little push.” The comparable scenario in Twilight played out differently, albeit with more room for interpretation; Robert Pattinson’s character initially refused to turn Kristen Stewart’s character, despite her requests. Meanwhile, the subject of Sarah’s agency in her supernatural life choices would come up again in the series.
All is not lost for Sarah in the love department. Even though Jesse was only interested in raising his long-dead companions, the leading man of My Babysitter’s a Vampire was always interested in Sarah. Ethan was smitten — and after the initial shock of learning Sarah’s secret, accepting — from the moment his soon-to-be sitter called him a dork in the school cafeteria. In yet another subversion of Twilight and other similarly constructed YA stories, the human half of this supernatural pairing is male. Of course, Ethan and Sarah’s romance was nowhere as consuming; their real first date wasn’t until the series finale. Comics-loving and Star Wars-quoting Ethan, whose stock would surely rise in the nerd-friendlier back half of the 2010s, was originally shooting tiny cupid arrows at a moving target before Sarah finally stopped and saw what was there all along. Ultimately, their romance was more of a whisper than a scream, and it played out in a way that better reflected a real teen’s worldview.
Make no mistake, My Babysitter’s a Vampire is foremost an adolescent horror-comedy. Those few bits of seriousness are either cut with juvenile and situational humor, or just simply glossed over. The latter is truer in the movie, which has more edge to it than the proceeding series. After Jesse is temporarily vanquished, only to return another day because vampires don’t so much die here as they do slip into a “kind of limbo for souls,” Sarah and her own ragtag team of ghostbusters are faced with a variety of self-contained threats. The first of two seasons is the biggest departure in terms of urgency and gravity; things only became grave after a steady streak of inconsequential plots. This formula would continue well into the following season, although with some crucial new changes in the mix.
In addition to wild and weird standalone adventures, the characters received more time to interact and be fleshed out in the series. The movie resolved open-endedly enough to where interpersonal relationships could have gone south; Ethan and Benny’s equally nerdy acquaintance Rory (Cameron Kennedy) along with Sarah’s bestie and “Dusk” fangirl Erica remained vampires (and students) after the Jesse business was handled. Instead of pursuing a frenemy storyline for Sarah and Erica though, the two stayed friends. As much as Sarah needed to step in when her BFF’s conscience was lacking and her mean-girlness was approaching excessive, Erica was a fiercely loyal confidant whose allegiance only faded when she was mesmerized by an elder vampire. In the meantime, the core three of the group would grow to rely on each other the most, seeing as every one possessed an uncanny ability necessary in stopping Whitechapel’s endless supply of otherworldly danger: Sarah is the muscle, Ethan is the seer, and Benny was a novice spellcaster. Much to the amusement of viewers, their success rate as a trio varied from episode to episode.
Image: Joe Dinicol, Vanessa Morgan and Matthew Knight respectively play their characters Jesse, Sarah and Ethan.
The bulk of My Babysitter’s a Vampire would seem skippable for the “I hate filler” crowd. For others who can appreciate or maybe even crave a “monster of the week” format, the TV series is enticing, not to mention fun. It’s evident that the writers were fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, considering several stories feel straight out of Sunnydale. These familiar plots include a cheerleading witch, an incognito mummy in search of a consort, a menacing life-sized doll, and a school jock frankensteined from corpses. The Halloween episode even has everyone becoming their costume, and Benny’s love potion has a negative effect on the town’s women. Then the series’ more unique opponents include mutant alligators, zombified critters, a weredog, and a singer-songwriter Siren wishing to spread her emo pain. The references to iconic horror films is also apparent, with John Carpenter’s Christine being a major influence for the episode where Ethan is terrorized by a vampiric vintage car. The originality was questionable, but these fillers proved to be entertaining.
Without question the stakes are lower after the events of the movie, but the series was in the midst of creating an overarching plot before it all ended. In the second season, a recurring council of local vampires often complicated the characters’ lives. Sarah in particular was targeted on several occasions, due to her talent for always being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and her unyielding sense of individualism. However, the council, led by a vampire resembling a child (Addison Holley), wasn’t actively doing evil; the real enemy was hidden in plain sight and closer to Sarah and Ethan than they realized. Sadly though, My Babysitter’s a Vampire finished on an explosive cliffhanger that the fandom still begs to be resolved all these years later.
My Babysitter’s a Vampire came to a sudden end in 2013, yet unlike Sarah, it never came back from the dead. Any chance for a second movie providing closure is now long gone after the showrunners experienced problems with “broadcasters, budgets” and “keeping the cast together.” So while this series lived only a short life, there is no denying the impact it had on fans; a devoted and enthusiastic following refuses to let the show be forgotten. And since My Babysitter’s a Vampire went off the air, nothing has quite filled the space it once occupied with ample flair and spirit.
Image: Vanessa Morgan plays two versions of Sarah in the episode “Independence Daze.”
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