Don’t Kill The Babysitter’ (originally titled ‘Devious Deeds’) is a Lifetime thriller directed by Chris Braggs and written by Mariannjely Marval. It stars Valentina Andrade, Dawn Nagazina, D. Adam Jamieson, Jamie Shelnitz and Isla Spencer. With production value and some style, this has a more sophisticated appearance than most Lifetime films. It is a boilerplate thriller but, at the same time, benefits from an interesting idea that looks into privilege and class mobility.
Don’t Kill The Babysitter (2023) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Mariela is a young Venezuelan woman who lives with her elder sister, Ana, and her niece, Sofie. They lost their mother in a car accident when they were really young, following which Ana took on Mariela’s responsibility. Mariela has gotten a job as an au pair at a wealthy American household. Going to the US has been a dream for a long time for her as she is passionate about learning languages and wishes to visit that place to master her English, which she is already quite fluent in. She will be working for the Collins family, where the father chose her after suspiciously put-together research into the biodatas of the applicants for the position.
Mariela arrives in the States to work for Collins and instantly finds everything too good to be true. Dr. Chase Collins is an extremely successful surgeon with a reputation that precedes him. Lori, his wife, is a homemaker who is a fantastic cook but also an extremely overprotective mother. Their daughter, Abbey, who is meant to be Mariela’s responsibility, instantly takes a liking to her.
Mariela is provided with a lovely room of her own in the large house Collins has in suburban Denver and even a new phone. The only caveat is that she is not only allowed to take pictures of the family or the house and share them on social media. She, like Abbey, is also forbidden from entering Chase and Lori’s bedroom. Other than these, her job is a breeze, and she cannot believe the life she has found put together for her right after arriving in a new country.
The morning after joining the Collins household, Mariela goes for a run. A strange man tries to approach her, but she runs into a woman, and he escapes. This other woman is Sarah, an au pair for the Clark family. The two instantly bond and exchange numbers. Right after that, this man again tries to approach Mariela, desperate to warn her about leaving the Collins’ employment but she is more than capable of defending herself and successfully fends him off. A concerned Lori tells her to keep her phone handy at all times from then on. It turns out that both Chase and Lori are aware of who this person is. They decide to hide it from Mariela to not ‘complicate’ things.
Mariela and Sarah start getting close. On the other hand, Lori’s overprotectiveness starts intensifying. This strange man, Jacob Raven, becomes a real threat to Mariela’s peaceful existence in the Collins household. But soon, it starts to become clear that the real threat to Mariela is not Jacob Raven but Collins themselves.
Who is Jacob Raven?
Jacob Raven was a janitor at Goodison Hospital. One night, he was caught stealing some medication by Chase, who works there, and he reported it to the police. He even testified in court against him, which landed him in prison for larceny. Jacob escaped from prison and has been on the lam ever since. It is never quite made clear if Chase’s reason for getting Jacob convicted was actually for stealing medication or if there is something more to it.
Jacob is constantly trying to reach Mariela so that he can warn her about some danger that she is in. Chase testified against him, and he and Lori are both reluctant to let Mariela know about their association with him. When Jacob gets hospitalized after breaking into the Collins house, Chase poisons him at the hospital. It can be assumed then that Jacob had, in all probability, discovered the scheme behind Chase and Lori’s search for an au pair.
He had probably been snooping around Chase’s office at the hospital, and when the latter found him out, he put him behind bars to keep him quiet. That would also explain why Jacob is desperate to get into Chase’s home office to prove something to Mariela. The fact that he was searching for this office despite standing in front of it can also mean that Jacob was aware of the secret lair that Chase had built under their house.
What is Lori suffering from?
Lori is a generally nervous person and, on two occasions, gets really sick. One time is when during Abbey and Mackenzie’s playdate, the former goes missing for a minute. The other time is when she finds out about Jacob’s break-in. In both cases, she appears to have a heart issue and takes medication for it. When Mariela accidentally enters Chase and Lori’s bedroom, she discovers that Lori is taking Captopril. A quick internet search reveals that it is used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure.
As we eventually learn, Lori has a poor heart which has greatly shortened her life expectancy. She is in dire need of one, but the waiting list she is on is too long. Chase’s meticulous search at the beginning of the film makes sense in this context. He chose Mariela to be their au pair because she is young, fit, and has O-negative blood, making her a universal donor. The plan always had been to replace Lori’s heart with Mariela’s, killing the latter in the process. The transplant is to be performed by Chase in the underground bunker that he has turned into a secret operation chamber and an office.
Don’t Kill The Babysitter (2023) Movie Ending Explained:
Why does Lori save Mariela?
For Chase, Mariela’s death means nothing. He knows that she does not have a family to miss her and hence, is the perfect victim. He loves Lori too much and views Sarah and Jacob’s death as collateral for giving Lori a healthy heart with which she can live a long, healthy life. Sarah’s disappearance provides the perfect opportunity for Chase as Lori’s death following the operation can be framed to appear like she murdered Sarah and then went on the run. Yet for Lori, doing away with these people isn’t easy.
When Mariela brings up Abbey by stating that Abbey will miss her and that she loves her like a little sister, it further weakens Lori’s resolve. Hence, she hits Chase over the head and allows Mariela to escape in the meantime. Following a pursuit and a fight, Chase is incapacitated by Mariela. The police arrive on time, and Chase and Lori are taken into custody.
A year later, Lori is in prison. Chase donated his own heart to her and died in the process. Mariela visits her in prison and tells her that she forgives her since, in the end, Lori saved her life. Mariela now lives in the States and is pursuing her Master’s degree. She goes to therapy and gets to see Abbey on the weekends.
One day, she suddenly gets news that her sister Ana, and niece Sofie, have gotten their US visas and are on their way to the country to live with her. Mariela is delighted at this news and looks forward to her life with those two and Abbey. The bench where Mariela and Sarah would stop during their runs has been dedicated to the memory of Sarah by Mariela.
