Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead is NOT for kids (what parents need to know)

Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead 2024 is a remake, but is it even raunchier than the original? Find out here!

There’s been a wave of nostalgia over the 1990s with scores of movies that are remakes, reboots, or outright sequels to films of that decade. Yet few would have guessed someone would be doing a remake of Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead. The 1991 movie was a mild success at the box office ($25 million off a $10 million budget) but soon became a massive cult favorite on home video and still loved today.

The plotline focuses on a pack of teens who are left home alone when their mom goes on an Australian vacation. She leaves them with a mean and horrible old woman as a babysitter, only for the woman to keel over dead. Worried telling the cops will ruin their vacation plans, the kids bury the woman and the oldest (Christina Applegate) poses as an adult to gain a job to pay the bills. 

Now, the movie is getting a remake that skews closely to the original plotline. The turn here is that it focuses on an African-American family left alone when their mom goes on a business trip in Thailand. June Squibb is the tyrannical (and likely racist) babysitter who dies. This time around, the kids are worried that reporting an old white lady dying in a home of black kids won't go over well with the authorities to hide the body.

Thus, the eldest teen (Simone Joy Jones) gets a job for a major influencer (Nicole Richie) while the rest of the family tries to hide the truth from the cops. It looks like a worthy remake, but is it appropriate for kids?

How appropriate is Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead?

The movie is rated “R” for a reason, the biggest being some pretty raunchy language. Given much of it comes from kids and teenagers, that can be even more striking for younger viewers.

According to Common Sense Media, the movie has a lot of profanity as well as several characters engaging in drug use along with kissing, although no nudity. There’s also the obvious black comedy of an elderly dead woman with lines about suicide and apparently some humor about police brutality. 

So while the movie may pack in some nice humor and getting good reviews, the rating indicates this shouldn’t be for kids although teens should enjoy this modern take on a classic 1990s comedy.

Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead premieres in theaters today, Friday, April 12, and streaming on BET+ on May 16.