We’re continuing the trend of modern horror movies with this next one. The seventeenth movie in the Halloween 2021 movie challenge is Netflix’s The Babysitter – a teen black comedy horror that’ll make kids scared of their babysitters.
The Babysitter stars Samara Weaving, Robbie Amell, Judah Lewis and Bella Thorne. It’s directed by McG, written by Brian Duffield and was released in 2017.
Cole (Lewis) seems scared of everything, whether it’s needles, driving and his bullies. However, the one thing that doesn’t scare him? His babysitter, Bee (Weaving). The two have a special bond almost like they’re brother and sister. When his parent’s leave for the weekend, Bee’s left to look after him.
At the advice of his best friend, Cole stays up to see what Bee really gets up to when he’s sleeping. In Cole’s mind, the worst that’ll happen is walking in on Bee doing adult things with the group of friends she’s snuck over.
Unfortunately, that’s not the worst thing he sees. Even though there is kissing, something much deadlier awaits him. His babysitter is a killer… and has made a deal with the Devil.
The Babysitter surprises me. After years of putting it off, I wasn’t sure what to expect. From the trailer, I wasn’t sure about it but my love for Samara Weaving and Robbie Amell told me to watch it. Watching the credits roll, I was glad that I did.
Before I focus on the script and characters, I want to talk about something else I really enjoyed. Every so often the movie uses fun CGI captions akin to Zombieland to bring out the fun. There’s something about a caption appearing along with a horrible event that’s fun to watch.
Moreover, it really helps it to be different from other horror movies, especially slashers.
A lot of the first act is used to set up future moments that’ll have audiences cheering. The script takes its time to build up the relationship between Cole and Bee. Doing this makes sure the audience sees the bond between the two and understands their sibling-like love.
All of this happens so when the inevitable betrayal comes, the audience feels the same as Cole.
Going into this, I knew what was going to happen. The marketing doesn’t hide Bee’s heel turn, if anything it leans into it. Usually, knowing the twist dampens the experience.
However, I can’t say the same for The Babysitter.
The setup pulls you in and makes you believe there’s more to the story. Maybe the trailer showed it wrong. But no, everything follows as it does in the marketing.
The Babysitter is a fun, suspenseful and poignant horror any fan of the genre should watch at least once.
