‘The Babysitter’ Review: McG and Netflix Deliver a Funny & Bloody Coming of Age Tale…

Would you rather stay in bed on Friday the 13th – are you someone who suffers from friggatriskaidekaphobia? Or are you more likely to tempt fate? Go to a graveyard? Or sit inside and watch a serving of Netflix’s The Babysitter?

If 80s and the 90s movies taught us anything — and those decades taught us many things — it’s that lusting after your hot babysitter could result in sneak peeks of T&A, inappropriate sexual behaviour, and your dad being kicked out of the house.

Yes, The Babysitter, a film about a kid who discovers that his babysitter is a devil-worshipping maniac, and who at one point escapes the house and proceeds to… run back underneath the house and set up booby traps (Home Alone-style). To be fair, there is literally nothing keeping him from running all the way to a neighbour’s house or to the nearest police station. No one is directly behind him. There is no lockable gates, high walls, electrified perimeter fence.

Nobody will be killed if he doesn’t come back.

To be fair, The Babysitter isn’t trying to be a clever movie. It’s a teen comedy that ogles young women, makes sex jokes, delivers buckets of blood and death moments. At one point in the film, the words “WHAT THE F**K” literally fill the screen when our hero, Cole (Judah Lewis), sees his seemingly awesome babysitter, Bee (Samara Weaving), kill somebody. (It’s a cool idea, and works for this comedy/slasher film!)

Cole’s parents (Leslie Bibb, Ken Marino) take a mini vacation and leave him behind in Bee’s care, and suspecting sexy times are afoot Cole stays awake past bedtime to steal a glance at what his dream girl is up to. He discovers she’s invited some friends over — including Bella Thorne (The DUFF), Robbie Amell (The DUFF), Hana Mae Lee (Pitch Perfect), and Andrew Bachelor (Meet the Blacks) — along with a geeky and nervous stranger.

Our, young, nerdy Cole sees his babysitter and her friends commit a horrific act of violence, and now they’re out to get him. Cole, as we learn at the start of the movie, is a bit of a coward, and so he must overcome his fears in order to save his own life and the lives of others.

But the killers have a tendency to stop acting like killers whenever the filmmakers think it would be a funny joke – which delivers… sometimes – and Cole has a tendency to do brave things long before he’s supposed to have learned how to be brave.

Judah Lewis is an amiable lead, and Samara Weaving — who also gives a breakout performance in this year’s horror-comedy Mayhem — proves that she’s a hilarious, unpredictable performer. The script has some clever ideas and set-pieces too.

Netflix’s The Babysitter stars (from L-R) Robbie Amell, Bella Thorne, Samara Weaving, Judah Lewis, Hana Mae Lee, and Andrew Bachelor.

McG‘s The Babysitter acknowledges that it’s predicated on a pre-teen boy’s fantasy of a hot, older babysitter, and to that end the film embraces style and atmosphere over reality. The film has potential (I did mention it’s a new McG film right?) but the film is treated like it’s one of the lamer American Pie sequels.

Sometimes, the broadness of the humour detracts from the characters and the story and the horror, instead of complementing them – which is a shame. But the film does have a strong, recognizable soundtrack and on-screen text.

The Babysitter is ridiculous in the best possible ways without ever fully tipping over into spoof territory, but running beneath the big laughs and extreme violence are some worthwhile themes about growing up and taking responsibility. A fun and enjoyable film dedicated to a worthy night in watching Netflix on Friday 13th.