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Image Courtesy of Den of Geek |
The first movie featured
Cole (Judah Lewis), a nerdy kid who has a great relationship with his
babysitter Bee (Samara Weaving), until one night he stays up past his bed time
and witnesses her performing a sacrifice to the devil. After hacking his way
through her cultist friends and learning how to stand up for himself, Cole
grows as a person and learns to be assertive. It was a little disappointing in
light of this lesson that at the beginning of the sequel, which takes place two
years later, Cole is back to being a nerdy, bullied kid. Somehow all evidence
of the first movie’s events was erased, and everyone believes that Cole is
losing his mind. His parents put him on medication and are about to ship him
off to a psychiatric school when Melanie (Emily Alyn Lind) invites him out to a
weekend on the lake with her friends. There, the blood cult resurfaces,
featuring all the actors from the original reprising their roles for the
sequel, along with a new group of cultists trying to perform a sacrifice to ask
the devil for favors.
Bringing back the
original characters may have been a slightly lazy tactic for a sequel, but the
way that the original characters changed and the new characters added made up
for it. Melanie’s father (Chris Wylde) took on a larger role, and took his role
as comic relief to a new extreme. His mid-life crisis has deepened since the
events of the first film, and he has pulled Cole’s father into his shenanigans,
creating some genuinely funny moments.
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Image courtesy of Netflix |
The new girl in school,
Phoebe (Jenna Ortega), was also a welcome addition to the cast. From the
beginning she makes it clear that she will be her own person, unbeholden to
what others think of her.
The small things made
this movie more enjoyable as well, such as the little editing quirks inserted
sporadically throughout the film. A sound effect here and there to emphasize a
character’s hand motions. The text on the screen introducing the characters by
name and including a little bit about them. The way the soundtrack would start
and stop shows a real control and intentionality to the editing process that
made the film more engaging, and therefore more enjoyable to watch.
Although this may not
send chills down your spine, or force you to introspect on the nature of
humanity as other horror movies attempt to do, this set out to be a light
hearted, gory, slasher comedy, and it achieved that goal. McG has said that he
has a third film in mind depending on the response to the second. So if you are
looking for more in The Babysitter series, head on over to Netflix and
watch The Babysitter: Killer Queen during this 31 Days of Hell.
-Patrick Bernas
