The Babysitter

Hats off. McG created an enjoyable horror comedy which made me feel the same way I felt when I watched Shaun of the Dead many years ago. It had great atmosphere, awesome cuts but it still wasn’t enough for 5 stars. There is not enough music for my taste. It is stylish only at the end when there is Queen playing in the background. It would be a lot better if there was more music in it. On the other hand the premise is brilliant and I have to say that Samara Weaving is great at picking her roles. This really is a movie crazy trip that makes fun of every slasher with great zeal. (2020-09-12)

It delivers pretty much what the trailer promises: sterile, wannabe cool entertainment with pretty people in front of the camera, a light script and a serving of gory deaths that teenage boys might wank to. Of proper horror there isn’t even a pinch, of course, but nobody was expecting that from McG. The comparison to the recent Better Watch Out is an affront to horror fans. The two stars do deliver at least some decent craftsmanship in my eyes. In short, a perishable seasonal product. (2017-10-14)

In its own way, The Babysitter is an entertaining bit of silliness that reflects on the present day in a sometimes hilarious way (the most tragic thing about dying is losing followers on Instagram!) and you can’t deny its inventiveness. But it's not scary enough for a horror film and not funny enough for a comedy, i.e. it's a kind of weird farce with a few passable gore moments. Samara Weaving is, of course, a hottie and she clearly pulls it off here. Because the rest of the ensemble are incredibly wooden. The dynamic direction is fine, but it perhaps stands out a little too ostentatiously above everything else in this film (except for Samara Weaving's acting). (2020-09-25)

The Babysitter is a conspicuously mishandled combination of subtle black comedy and fantastical splatter. McG completely mindlessly mixes modern visuals with the most stereotypical teen characters, unoriginal gore scenes, ineffective allusions to cult films and stiff humour, and tries to string it all together in the story of a 12-year-old boy, another outsider who gets bullied at school. It could have worked within certain boundaries (if he woke up from a bad dream at the end, for example), but it shouldn’t have been so moronic and divorced from reality. (2020-10-16)

Hugo Weaving's niece in a swimsuit, with a kitchen knife or a shotgun, take your pick. A horror take on Home Alone with a dash of Satanism. The opening with the nanny that every boy (and not just boys) dreams of having sets the right tone and then spills over into the bloody destruction of the beautiful blonde's evil plans. It's often overwrought and McG seems to have ditched consistency and drama, but I enjoyed it unexpectedly a lot. (2023-01-03)