Tags:
Film: The Babysitter
Year: 2017
Director: McG
Writer: Brian Duffield
Starring: Judah Lewis, Samara Weaving and Robbie Amell
Review:
This film begins showing us a kid needing to get his flu shot. The kid is played by Judah Lewis. The male nurse is telling him that it won’t hurt and he has a bunch more kids to administer them to. He then screams. Next we see him in gym class and he is hit in the face, with the gym teacher laughing at him.
He is bullied by a group of kids as well. Their leader is played by Miles J. Harvey. He is saved from them by his babysitter, who is played by Samara Weaving. She is older and gorgeous. He has a crush on her. He also has a crush on a girl who lives down the street from him. This girl is played by Emily Alyn Lind. Lind’s father is recently divorced and has a sports car to make up for that.
Lewis’ parents are played by Leslie Bibb and Ken Marino. They are a little bit odd, but they are nice. They are going out of town this weekend, to stay in a hotel and do whatever. Lewis is babysat by Weaving during these outings. She is coming over the following day.
Before going home after the next day at school, he sees Weaving talking to a nerdy guy, played by Doug Haley. That night his parents leave when Weaving shows up. They do a lot of things that his parents said not to and have a blast. Lewis tries to stay up past his bedtime and Weaving tells him he can’t. She does try to give him a shot to change his mind. He pours it out when Weaving goes to get one for her. He then pretends to be sleeping.
His plan was to see if she brings her boyfriend in to sleep with him or to just see what she does. He is texting with Lind who is egging him on to check. He finally does.
What he finds is there is a group of people over. There is Robbie Amell, who is the quarterback of the football team. Hana Mae Lee, Andrew Bachelor and Haley are there as well as Bella Thorne, who is a cheerleader. They are playing spin the bottle with whoever it landing on has to pick truth or dare. It lands on Weaving and she kisses everyone in the room, including a steamy kiss with Thorne. When she goes to kiss Haley, she stabs him in the head. Lewis flees back to his room.
They all go up there to collect blood from Lewis for a ritual. They collected all the blood from Haley and then they stick Lewis with a needle. He pretends to not be awake, but before they came up, Lewis tried to escape out of his window. Weaving notices it is open. After they leave, he makes a ladder from his sheets and blankets, but Weaving never left. She asks if he saw anything. They bring him downstairs and tie him up.
Before they came up, he also put his pocket knife in his pocket and called the police. They see him as he tries to cut the ropes. They seem like they will let him go, thinking that he didn’t see the murder. When the cops show up though, they know they have to cover up their evidence. Amell throws a poker and it stabs one of the cops in the eye. He discharges his gun and it hits Thorne in the chest.
Lewis finds this time to run away to his room. Bachelor chases after him, but slips on a toy and falls to his death. Can Lewis get away from this group before he is killed? What do they want with him?
I have to say that I had this film recommended to me by a friend and also saw it featured on podcasts that spoke highly of it. I’m glad I checked this film out, because I thought it was great. It has a really good blend of horror, gore and comedy. I liked that Weaving is such a cool girl, but she is hiding such a dark secret. Each of her friends is different and unique, but all have similar ideas in mind. I thought it was creative that everything that was introduced in the set up comes full circle for something in the end. One thing I will warn you about is that this film is highly outrageous so you are going to need to suspend some disbelief. It definitely is a fun film though that I found to be very well done.
The acting in this film is great. I thought Lewis was solid for his age. This is really a coming of age for him. He is scared of everything and is forced to overcome all of that in order to survive this night. Weaving is great in her role, showing the duality of the character. She is the coolest, hot girl that is hiding such a horrible secret. Her friends were all unique and I thought they played their roles well. The comedy from pretty much everyone was on point as well. It was nice to see Thorne in a cheerleader outfit; she doesn’t seem to mind to be anything somewhat revealing.
Effects for this film for the most part looked to be practical, which as you know I’m a huge fan of. It looked good when that was used. There are a few times that it was CGI and it looked fake. For a film that is part comedy, I have a little bit more leeway with that, but I’d like to see them all practical. I did have issues with some of the titles that would pop up. I thought that came off as too cheesy and wasn’t needed. The editing for this film is really good. It moves through everything at a good pace, building tension to the climax. It has a lower running time and keeps you engaged the whole time. I liked the score of the film as well. It has a good blend of songs you recognize, which are fun with songs that are there to build the tension of the scene as well.
Now with that said, I would definitely recommend this film if you are a fan of horror comedies. This is one of the better ones in my opinion. The story is really solid and I like what the concept. It is outrageous so keep that in mind going in. The acting is really good across the board. The effects for the most part were good. The practical ones were for sure. The editing of the film builds as it should. The score of the film is a plus for me. I feel that this film is good and worth a viewing.
My Rating: 8 out of 10