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The Babysitter is an OK time waster if you're in the mood for comedy horror. The problems it suffers from are identity. In one scene, the camera takes the idea of a POV shot that feels like it belongs in Paul Brickman's art teen comedy Risky Business. Are we in for something similar here? No, unfortunately. The writing simply doesn't care enough about a plausible story or character motivations outside of a general premise involving sacrificial blood and career choices. What the film delivers in nuanced bits seem quickly swept under the rug in favor of "borrowing" riffs from other films, almost as if this movie is a remix of better films before it.
Is the director an actual dj, or is he Scottish? I'm McCurious.
I felt like watching this was seeing the director try to make something fun and on the level for horror buffs, but kind of fumbling around with reliance on over stated tongue in cheek and camp. There's no way I can discount that the intentions were there to make a classic type of horror comedy, it's just that everything felt a bit flattened and half assed. While the effects were decent, and the humor was enough to float most of the run time, the resolve was kind of brain dead and cliche, the way the story tied up wasn't exactly mind-blowing.
Should the ending have been mind-blowing in a film like this? Yes. It should have been mind-blowing. If it was great writing, and the ending was a real zinger, then the film that led up to this point would have been legitimate. But it didn't, and it wasn't quite at the level of decent.
I know I'm leaving a lot of blanks in my review and that parallels the film-itself. There are moments, but over-all it just kind of exists. The comedy is generous and often funny, very funny in fact. I just wish the writing and directing were handled better. It was a missed opportunity for something that could be re-watched. I'd probably never need to see this film again.
The Babysitter (2017)
Director: MCG
Director: MCG
The Babysitter is an OK time waster if you're in the mood for comedy horror. The problems it suffers from are identity. In one scene, the camera takes the idea of a POV shot that feels like it belongs in Paul Brickman's art teen comedy Risky Business. Are we in for something similar here? No, unfortunately. The writing simply doesn't care enough about a plausible story or character motivations outside of a general premise involving sacrificial blood and career choices. What the film delivers in nuanced bits seem quickly swept under the rug in favor of "borrowing" riffs from other films, almost as if this movie is a remix of better films before it.
Is the director an actual dj, or is he Scottish? I'm McCurious.
I felt like watching this was seeing the director try to make something fun and on the level for horror buffs, but kind of fumbling around with reliance on over stated tongue in cheek and camp. There's no way I can discount that the intentions were there to make a classic type of horror comedy, it's just that everything felt a bit flattened and half assed. While the effects were decent, and the humor was enough to float most of the run time, the resolve was kind of brain dead and cliche, the way the story tied up wasn't exactly mind-blowing.
Should the ending have been mind-blowing in a film like this? Yes. It should have been mind-blowing. If it was great writing, and the ending was a real zinger, then the film that led up to this point would have been legitimate. But it didn't, and it wasn't quite at the level of decent.
I know I'm leaving a lot of blanks in my review and that parallels the film-itself. There are moments, but over-all it just kind of exists. The comedy is generous and often funny, very funny in fact. I just wish the writing and directing were handled better. It was a missed opportunity for something that could be re-watched. I'd probably never need to see this film again.