 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: The Babysitter • Year: 2017 • Country: USA • Director: McG • Main cast: Judah Lewis, Samara Weaving, Robbie Amell • Runtime: 85 minutes • Production company: Boies / Schiller Film Group, New Line Cinema, Wonderland Sound and Vision • TRAILER |
Sunday afternoon movies could be an independent genre by themselves. Sunday, the real holiday day of the week, the day you spend in your pajamas and with your ass glued to the couch. It doesn’t need to be a hangover Sunday after a wild night out, Sundays already have their power by themselves. And if Sundays have to exist, Sunday movies should also have a place in our regular life. And then one we have in hands right now could be the perfect definition of a Sunday movie, a movie that if you miss some parts you don’t really miss much.
The Babysitter (2017) is one of these horror comedies that fit perfectly in this description of a Sunday afternoon movie. The plot is simple and yet effective. A bunch of good looking not very well developed characters doing crazy things, and as many jokes as mild gory effects. And I must say, some of the jokes can actually be quite funny, and some of the killings are fresh enough! Besides, it is part of the Netflix catalog, so that makes it even more suitable for a couch and TV evening.
Judah Lewis plays Cole, an introverted 12-year-old boy who is always bullied by his next-door neighbor. And, of course, he is in love with her outgoing and explosive babysitter Bee, played by Samara Weaving, who has been in another of the action-horror movies of the year Mayhem (2017) –read our review here–. One day, Cole decides to spy on her babysitter once she puts him to bed. You know the rumors, probably she is having her boyfriend coming over and they do some explicit stuff on the family couch. And that is what at first seemed to be, the kid was satisfied with the truth or dare game she and her bunch of friends were playing. Until the game turns into a massacre. With bloody result. And then, a funny home invasion survival session where the kid must escape from the crazed uninvited visitors. As mentioned before, with some interesting killings and somehow effective funny moments.
I think the complicity and chemistry of the actors is one of the good features of this movie. The already mentioned Judah Lewis and Samara Weaving always having this innocent yet flirty behavior; the visitors played by the young actors Robbie Amell, Hana Mae Lee, Bella Thorne, Andrew Bachelor and Doug Haley; and even Cole’s parents, played comically played by Leslie Bibb and Ken Marino. All of them orchestrated by director McG, a veteran in entertainment known for the movies 3 Days to Kill (2014) or Terminator Salvation (2009), or the TV series Supernatural (2005– ).
The Babysitter (2017) is never intended to be the most transcendent or innovative movie in the genre. In fact, probably it will be forgotten in a decade or two. But it is indeed a fun one to watch. I got it recommended by a friend, and I might also recommend it if I get asked. Yet another interesting addition to the Netflix Originals catalog. It delivers what you expect, a short hour and a half of entertaining horror comedy. Take it as it is.
RATE: 6/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4225622
