Directed by Joseph McGinty Nichol, professionally known as McG, the Netflix film ‘The Babysitter’ turned out to be an unexpected hit in 2017. That film stated like a generic story of a boy named Cole (Judah Lewis) with a crush on his gorgeous babysitter, Bee (Samara Weaving). However, the story turned dark rather quicky once he discovers that said babysitter was a Satan-worshipping murderer out to sacrifice him to the Devil. The first movie wasn’t a masterpiece by any sense, but its charming simplicity and compelling performances from its cast, led by Samara Weaving as the title character, led to its success. For most it felt like a homage to 1980s teen slasher comedies.
This sequel takes place two years after the first movie with Cole, now in a junior in high school, but still scarred by the happenings of the first movie. Worse still, he is bullied as no one believed his story, and thus assume he is crazy. The only person who seems to believe him is a loyal friend Melanie (Emily Alyn Lind), while his parents plan to submit him to a psychiatric school. Melanie convinces Cole to join her and three of her friends at a lake party. This is where Cole discovers the cult is back and still out to kill him. While making his escape he finds and allies with Phoebe (Jenny Ortega), a new student in his class who happened to be at the lake for reasons of her own.
Although, McG returns to direct the sequel, together with most of the same cast (yes, even those that died in the first movie), the movie never quite meets up to expectations. The biggest problem is a common one in sequels, where a movie tries a bit too desperately to replicate the charm and success of the first movie all while being slicker and flashier in all departments. However, despite its effort, it never manages to find its own identity and ends up being far too like the first with many of the gags and jokes repeating themselves in the sequel. The movie is also sorely missing the charismatic performance that Samara Weaving brought as the lead in the last movie.
But to be fair, no one really expects ‘The Babysitter: Killer Queen’ to be anything other than your basic escapist entertainment. To that end it does succeed, to an extent. While it is nowhere near as good as the first, it can still be a fun and enjoyable movie so long as you can overlook some of its flaws. The clever ending also redeems the movie to an extent, making it worth at least a single watch if you are a fan of the first movie.
‘The Babysitter: Killer Queen’ is available to watch on Netflix.
Director: McGStarring: Judah Lewis, Emily Alyn Lind, Jenna Ortega, Robbie Amell, Andrew Bachelor, Leslie Bibb, Hana Mae Lee, Bella Thorne, Samara Weaving