The Babysitter (2017) Review!!!

Synopsis – The events of one evening take an unexpected turn for the worst for a young boy trying to spy on his babysitter.

My Take – Who would have expected that in a year where clowns and demons in horror films seems to garnering complete mainstream attention, two films would bring back the 80s cliché of centering a babysitter in the amidst of all the terror, one being the fantastic Better Watch Out (whose review I will be posting soon) and this new Netflix original from the usual ridiculed director McG, who has ended up providing the sub-genre of comedy horror the much needed turn over. I can understand, the two genres are hard to combine, and considering the nonsense that has been releasing over the years, at first glance, you would believe that this McG film is going to be the usual recycled garbage that Netflix churns out on a fortnightly basis just to keep the thumbnails fresh. Considering, I had already been through a disappointing Bella Thorne-starring horror last week, I was not quite sure, if I was in the right space to spend 85 minutes of my time on a tongue-in-cheek tween horror, but hey, McG film are known for being short on logic and heavy on the gimmicky music video style editing, right? Luckily, I did end up enjoying this film more than I expected to. Yes, there is plenty of comically over-the-top gore, mainly as the film plays out more like a comedy than a horror really, it’s part Satanic cult film, part home invasion thriller, and part action film, all dashed with a healthy dose of black comedy, and while the tone is completely all over the place, the film never forgets to be amusing. Most importantly, the film is never too scary, as the trailers make it out to be. So in case, you’re looking for something to make you scream and jump out of your chair, this may be the wrong film to check out. But if you’re looking for a sly and silly send-up of films about nubile teens being massacred and one with plenty of heart beneath the gruesome exterior, this film does guarantee a lot of mindless fun.

The story follows Cole (Judah Lewis), a regularly bullied timid twelve-year-old, who due to his lack of social skills, manages to be friends only with his neighbor Melanie (Emily Alyn Lind), and his sexy babysitter Bee (Samara Weaving), on whom Cole has been crushing for some time. When Cole’s parents (Leslie Bibb, Ken Marino) decide to take a mini vacation, he is left in the charge of Bee, who seems to appreciate a true nerd & is ready to comply with Cole’s demands of watching a film, dancing around, quoting westerns, among the few, which is good news for Cole. However, things take a dark turn when Melanie convinces Cole that Bee brings guys over to have sex after she puts him to sleep, so one night Cole stays up, determined to catch her in the act. Spying from the landing, Cole witness Bee playing a game of Truth or Dare with the jock Max (Robbie Amell), goth Sonya (Hana Mae Lee), class clown John (Andrew Bachelor), cheerleader Allison (Bella Thorne) and the dorky Samuel (Doug Haley). Cole continues to watch as how a harmless game quickly turns into a satanic ritual, which for some reason also requires a few harmless drops of blood from Cole to be complete. Panicking, Cole tries to make a run for it, but unfortunate for him, Bee and her friends are now alert of his presence. What follows is like a demented version of Home Alone, as Cole uses all kinds of household items and cunningness to prevent himself from becoming the next victim. As a director McG has been part of a variety of different projects in the past, this however seems to be his first delving into the horror/comedy genre and for the most part it works. It is a very quirky film and insanely odd in terms of the plot, characters, dialogue, and even the way the editing is handled. It flips the script on some cliché slasher elements but also embraces some of them, forming a story that is largely unpredictable and he does a great job of keeping the pace fast and breezy, while still developing his two lead characters. This is not a film about objectification of women and the fragility of masculinity like Better Watch Out is, and that’s fine; not everything needs to be. The whole narrative focuses on a boy that feels slightly suffocated by the adults that swarm around him and ends up in a brutal storm. The film is ridiculous in the best possible ways without ever fully tipping over into spoof territory, but running beneath the big laughs and extreme violence are some worthwhile themes about growing up and taking responsibility. They never get in the way of the pure entertainment, but instead adds a certain sweetness early on and in the film’s third act that give the film a little bit extra. The slow pace works for what it is trying to do, it is setting up the main players in the story and their relationships and injecting clever morsels of foreshadowing here and there but the quipped dialogue and campy humor feels out of place in what is at the time a relatively normal plot. But from the moment the extended cast are introduced it picks up the pace and becomes a fun and very eventful adventure that balances the horror and comedic elements well. From this point everything goes by so quickly you won’t have time to be bored because it is a constant thrill ride and whether you are laughing or in fear for Cole it has you hooked. Beginning as a self-aware comedy about a young kid and the fact that he finds his babysitter incredibly attractive, this is a film that has many twists and turns that you won’t see coming. Having to fend for himself and take down this cult of killers, the film is relentlessly entertaining from start to finish. This is not a film about objectification of women and the fragility of masculinity like Better Watch Out is, and that’s fine; not everything needs to be. Director McG‘s film acknowledges that it’s predicated on a pre-teen boy’s fantasy of a hot, older babysitter, and to that end the film embraces style and atmosphere over reality. (I did mention it’s a new McG film right?)

There isn’t a believable frame in the entire film — the killers don’t quite act like killers, the suburban neighborhood fails to notice screams and gun shots in the middle of the night — but if you can get on board with it all you’re in for an absolute blast of big laughs and bigger arterial blood sprays. Writer Brian Duffield shifts gears again after Insurgent and Jane Got a Gun with his amusing take on slashers, and he gives his characters smarts and genre awareness that lend a playful tone to the carnage. And I do mean carnage. McG fully embraces the bloodletting to the point of employing various wounds and injuries as laugh-earning gags. The tone of this film is not for everyone though, so I have to caution those with weak stomachs and those who just don’t like to see gore. If you’re sucked into this wacky film and are willing to let it take you anywhere, then I think you’ll have as much fun with it as I did. The satanic elements are rarely played on and it is possible that the plot device was squeezed in just as a way of setting up the entire scenario. It is important, but they could have used several different reasons for Bee to be insane, and the concept could still have been driven. Besides, once the gonzo, gory fun begins, Bee herself actually disappears from the film for almost a full half hour. Part of the fun of the film is the way it sets up all of the other characters in her Satanic cult; they’re all high school archetypes, obstacles that Cole must knock down, mini-bosses he must fight and defeat before he takes on the “big bad” babysitter. The other characters are typically generic but they are not overused in a way that makes it tiring. The stock characters that would have been helplessly butchered in 80’s horror films are the monsters here, but they’re also still victims. As Cole faces his fears and makes them chase him around his house, they each end up meeting a gory demise one by one. Never mind the times where Cole gets outside of the house and then runs right back in, just for the sake of continuing their deadly game of tag for the sake of there being a film. Admittedly, it all gets a bit farfetched at times, particularly with the surrounding neighbors seemingly oblivious to the explosions, gunshots and general mayhem occurring across the street. Being directed by McG (Charlie’s Angels, Terminator: Salvation), his music-video experience is very much on display here; there are quick cuts, forced on-screen text, slow-motion shots of women running, and more. I found this really grating at first; during the first act, it seems like he can’t get through a single scene without some kind of video-skipping gimmick or random captions floating around the characters’ heads. Also there were a few times, where I began to temporary lose interest, due to its excessiveness. Whether it was the language being thrown at one another or the murders themselves, I found this film to be a little full of itself in terms of its graphic nature. The acting in general is pretty good in this film, all throughout and all across the board. High praise has to be assigned to Judah Lewis who puts in a great account of a young boy that needs to grow and become more confident as the film progresses. In a way, he puts in a performance that sits well above the film, which may have suffered slightly if he had not put in a representation worth watching. Samara Weaving is the biggest highlight pulling off the charming nature of her character but also her creepy and evil side. Her chemistry with Judah seems genuine enough to make the inevitable confrontation between the two, feel actually quite poignant and touching. The rest of the supporting cast, Robbie Amell, Hana Mae Lee, Bella Thorne, Emily Alyn Lind, Andrew Bachelor, Leslie Bibb and Ken Marino were all very entertaining in their own respects and the performances behind these characters were all unique and spot on. On the whole, ‘The Babysitter’ is a surprisingly very funny genre-bending film which embraces its cheese factor and bloody mayhem.