It's funny that The Babysitter, newly released on Netflix, comes out a week or so after Better Watch Out as the two feel thematically similar in the context of a babysitting job gone horribly wrong. There are drastic differences in the plot and how it plays out, but both have a similarly dark and twisted sense of humor that runs through both films.
Twelve year old Cole (played by Judah Lewis) has been left in the care of his beloved babysitter Bee (played by Samara Weaving) for the weekend while his parents (played by Ken Marino and Leslie Bibb) are off on trip. Cole and Bee always have a great time together as the two seem to get one another, which has led Cole to develop a bit of a crush on Bee. This all changes one night as he decides to stay up and sneak out to see what she gets up to after he is sent to bed. He witnesses Bee sitting around in a circle in the living room with a group of her friends, including Max (played by Robbie Amell), Allison (played by Bella Thorne), Sonya (played by Hana Mae Lee), John (played by Andrew Bachelor), and Samuel (played by Doug Haley). What at first seems like an innocent game of spin the bottle takes a dark turn when he witnesses Bee murder Samuel in ritualistic murder. Realizing that his beloved babysitter and her friends are in fact psychotic Satanic cultists leaves Cole reeling. He also realizes that Bee and her friends know he saw what they did, beginning a long night of Cole trying to escape and defeat the crazy cultists that have invaded his home.
The film was directed by McG from a script by Brian Duffield and I can say this definitely feels like a McG film. It is wonderfully and ridiculously over the top mix of horror and comedy that only a director that totally embraces that kind of lunacy could pull off. I also appreciated how intricately the film plotted itself out, setting up certain elements that were going to pay off in the ways the audience expects until the film pulls the rug out from under the viewer and subverts it in a memorably funny way. The filmmakers do a great job of messing with the viewer's expectations of what is going to happen at any turn in the film, which is certainly something I appreciated and enriched the viewing experience for me. Any time a movie can make me stop and go, "wait, what?" is a memorable one for me (there are of course exceptions to this rule, such as when I say it to something incredibly stupid or not well thought out from the filmmaker, but in this case the film did it in a unique and fun way). The filmmakers manage to pull this off a couple times in the film to nice effect.
The acting in the film was good, with Judah Lewis making for a good pint size hero that grows up alot over the course of one night as he defends himself from the various cult members, but does well showing how clever and cunning his character can be as well. Samara Weaving was good as Bee, who despite her Satanic leanings, still really cares about Cole and as the film goes on I was never really quite sure where her allegiances really were. Robbie Amell has an amusing turn as bad boy Max, of of Bee's friends.
The Babysitter premiered on Netflix last weekend and was a suitably fun horror comedy. It has a certain "heightened reality" mentality to it that may turn some viewers off of it and is very tongue in cheek throughout. It also was very stylish and has a wickedly fun sense of humor to it as well. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I certainly dug it.
No comments:
Post a Comment