Netflix dropped the trailer to “The Babysitter: Killer Queen” last week and it was so silly that I loved it! Because silly horror comedies are my weakness. The best kind of distraction on a dull weekend night. There was just a little problem – I hadn’t seen the first film.
If you are wondering why I hadn’t seen it already – I actually did try watching it two years back with a fellow-horror movie enthusiast, but we lost interest in the first 10 minutes because a lot of other stuff was happening at that point of time. This time around, I saw the film with the husband.
“I am not drunk enough to watch this film,” he complained mid-movie, while I laughed at some scene that he didn’t find mildly funny. The big problem with ‘The Babysitter’ is that there are a lot of pop-culture references that non-movie enthusiasts won’t understand. There was a scene with the lot of star-trek references that were completely lost on me too. At the cost of being ‘nerdy cool’, the makers alienate a lot of regular movie fans and bore them.
The plot is pretty simple – 12-year-old Cole is the only boy in his class who still has a babysitter; a very hot one at that. One night, he learns that she is a part of a cult that makes human sacrifices and finds himself fighting for his life in his own home. It’s like ‘Home Alone’ meets ‘Evil Dead’, although there are no ghosts or ghouls. Just a boy trying to save himself from a bunch of psychotic teens baying for his blood.
There are quite some gory slasher scenes that horror fans would enjoy screaming to. Not the scared kind of screaming, more like “ew, ew, ew” kind of gasps. The cast is very good-looking and all actors do their part well. Some of the stuff is insanely stupid and you know that the makers deliberately tried to do spoof like scenes to draw some laughs.
Despite having a short runtime of 90 minutes, ‘The Babysitter’ would have benefited from some snipping. I think they take too long to come to the whole horror bit, so the set-up to the conflict could have been shorter. Instead, the killing sequences could have been elongated a little to heighten the drama and horror a little. Most of the kill scenes are over too quickly. Some sappy romantic scenes get more screen time than they deserve.
Judah Lewis who plays the 12-year-old hero is definitely the saving grace of this film. He is adorable as the shy, starry-eyed nerd who has the hots for his gorgeous babysitter. While the movie is mediocre and probably didn’t need a sequel, Judah Lewis definitely deserved a second-shot. I hope the next one is more fun and the makers have learnt from their past mistakes.