K-SCORE: 55
Director: McG
Writer: Brian Duffield
Starring: Judah Lewis, Samara Weaving, Emily Alyn Lind, Hannah Mae Lee, Robbie Amell, Bella Thorne, Andrew Bachelor, Leslie Bibb, Ken Marino
Spoiler Level: Minor
Hot babysitter belongs to a satanic cult. Alright, you got me. I can’t resist a coffee table pitch that good. The Babysitter is a mixed bag though. It’s got enough entertaining content that it certainly won’t bore you, but it also can’t wow you with its innovation, tone, plot, or characters. Everything’s mediocre. The characters have some depth, but not much. Sometimes they’re funny, but not always. The relationship between Cole and B is awkward at times and amusing or charming at other times. The relationship between Cole and Melanie is cute. Cole and his parents - pretty flat and confused. The devil pact of cliche high school kids makes for humorous villains, but comes at the cost of story coherence since they never execute or even understand the actual ritual. Some choices are great for advancing plot and raising the stakes, like having the police show up only to be viciously murdered. Others, like having Cole go outside, not run away, and explore the inexplicably tarantula-infested underbelly of his porch, not so great. The trailer’s great, but it ruins the best scene in the movie. Average, but good concept. Someone try again soon.