Director: McG
Writer: Brian Duffield (Screenplay)
Starring: Judah Lewis, Samara Weaving, Robbie Amell, Hana Mae Lee, Bella Thorne, Emily Alyn Lind, Andrew Bachelor
Plot: The events of one evening take an unexpected turn for the worst for a young boy trying to spy on his babysitter.
Tagline – Dream girls can be a nightmare.
Runtime: 1 Hour 25 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Twistedly Entertaining
Story: The Babysitter starts as we meet high school geek Cole (Lewis), he gets picked on by the other students, never feeling like he fits in. he has a close friendship with his babysitter Bee (Weaving) who turns heads because of her beauty, even though she is one of the most down to earth people in Cole’s life.
When Cole’s parents go away on a trip, it leaves Cole and Bee alone in the house, but this time Cole wants to learn what happens when he is asleep, which starts off as normal teenager shenanigans takes a dramatic turn for the worse as it turns out Bee and her friends Max (Amell), Sonya (Lee), Allison (Thorne) and John (Bachelor) are devil worshippers. Cole must prepare to defend himself against them once he learns their secret.
Thoughts on The Babysitter
Characters – Cole is a high school student, he gets picked on daily even though he has a close friendship with his sexy babysitter. When he decides to stay up and learn what she gets up to when he is sleeping, he must learn to stand up for himself to stay alive. Bee is the sexy babysitter that is a fountain of geek knowledge which helps her friendship with Cole. It is when we see her darker side character that we get to see how see acts around her friends because of her alternative motives. Max, Sonya, Allison and John are the fellow friends that are involved in Bee’s big plan and worshipping.
Performances – This has some of the best performances in any horror comedy this year, Judah Lewis as the high schooler is great showing both the innocence of his struggle and the strength he has the ability to show. Samara Weaving gives us one of the strongest performances in horror in years, she knows her looks work for her character and the brains only develop her to the next level of bad. Robbie Amell gives us one of the most entertaining performance in the film because he plays the mentor without being a friend.
Story – The story plays into the idea of what your babysitter is doing while you were sleeping, we go into a cult like status and a battle for life and death. If you could see Home Alone with a violent twist into survival horror. The tone of the film does shift but it does remain fun throughout the darker side of the film. The story does include original ideas even if you can see how the kills will end up going because the use of foreshadowing is slightly too in your face.
Comedy/Horror – The horror comedy mixes together deliciously in this film, I felt the film had the same tone as Tucker & Dale vs Evil, balancing both very well.
Settings – Most of the action in the film takes place in the one home which I feel keeps the film contained in the battle for survival.
Special Effects – The effects are used to make the kills look as brutal as they could, some do add to the comedy too.
Scene of the Movie – Born to Run.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – You can work out the kills a times.
Final Thoughts – This is a wonderfully fun horror comedy that is getting the praise it deserves, it has moments of tension when needed while also spending time poking fun at the genre clichés.
Overall: Fun, entertaining and bloody delicious.
Rating
