The Babysitter (2017)
“I’m not a perv…I just want to know what happens after I go to sleep.”
“Alrighty babes let's head upstairs and get the blood of the innocent.”
Take Home Alone, sprinkle in a little Stranger Things, and top it off with a touch of Saw, and you have The Babysitter - one of the funnest Saturday Night Drive-In flicks we’re seen in a while.
The story revolves around an awkward kid - Cole (Judah Lewis) - and his babysitter, Bee (Samara Weaving). Cole has a Hollywood typical bad life. He is bullied in school (but not too badly), his parents have marital problems (but not too serious), and his not quite girlfriend’s dad is a douche (but not horribly so). In other words, his life isn’t too different from most 13 year-olds. Except for Bee.
Although a teen, Cole’s parents, Ken Marino (Drunk History) and Leslie Bibb, insist he still have a babysitter. That might be another source of teeny angst, but Bee is smart, funny, geek-friendly, popular, and pretty.
We’ll get a little Spoilerish, but not enough to ruin the movie.
The set up is pretty straightforward. Cole’s folks schedule a conjugal get-away and ask Bee to watch Cole.
Now, Bee isn’t the kind of babysitter that plants her charge in front of an X-Box and spends the evening WhatsApping her boyfriend. B & C have the kind of “best day ever” a 13 year old geek dreams about: pool time, a screening of Billy Jack, sci-fi trivia, and a pretty girl giving you shots before bed. Come to think of it, that’s probably a “best day ever” for a 55 year old geek too.
The movie could have ended there and I’d have been happy. Cole would have probably been happier too.
Rather than drifting off to dreams of goat riding Starfleet hobbits though, Cole decides to stay up longer than he should. Hearing a noise downstairs, he sneaks from his room to watch Bee playing a game of spin the bottle with some friends who arrived after bedtime.
After a final spin, things go pretty dark and the movie changes from a feel good flick to a splatter fest that would be deeply disturbing if it wasn’t tempered with so much humor.
We’ll leave the summary there.
The Babysitter is fast, violent, and funny. The pacing is superb. And the acting is solid, including especially cool bits by cultist quarterback, Max (Robbie Amell - Upload), cultist cheerleader, Melanie (Emily Alyn Lind), and cultist beret queen, Sonya (Hana Mae Lee).
So...should you watch this one?
The violence can be pretty intense, ‘though it is a little cartoonish, and some of the themes are fairly mature. I wouldn’t play this around younger or overly sensitive teens. Older ones will probably enjoy it though, so if you want to earn some cool parent points by suggesting a movie that your kids will likely get a kick out of, this is a safe bet.
It’s also a good flick if you have sent the kids to the sitter (or they are babysitting) and you want to enjoy a geeky, fun, and often funny 1:25 escape.
You can check out The Babysitter HERE.
Three out of Five Sharp Kitchen Knife Showdowns.
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