film review of the baby sitter killer queen

 the babysitter killer queen review

[SPOILERS]

Released on Netflix on September 10th 2020, 'the babysitter killer queen' is a fun and unique comedy/horror adding its own twist to the genre, creating a fun and fresh feeling that you'll either love or hate.'The babysitter killer queen' is directed by McG (Joseph McGinty Nichol) also known for his work on Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle in the early 2000's; with the babysitter killer queen's screenplay written by McG, Dan Lagana, Brad Morris and Jimmy Warden with co-financing and producing done by Wonderland Sound and Vision, and Boies/Schiller Film Group. Principle photography for 'the babysitter killer queen' took place in locations across Los Angeles, California throughout 2019. Sadly the film was mostly a flop amongst critics, being met with mostly negative critical responses. Despite this I generally the film enjoyable and fun as a contemporary viewer with a few flaws and over played gore making the film feel more childish. However, I'm assuming this was mostly done on purpose, rather low production cost due to the film being rated 15 and put on a streaming platform that's used by a wide variety of age groups, so catering for everyone's needs and wants is an immense challenge. 

The film takes place exactly two years after Cole had defeated the satanic cult once led by his beloved babysitter Bee. He's having a rough time adapting to his surroundings in high school and no-one other than his best friend Melanie believes any of his stories from that night. He accidentally stumbles across some news which could completely mess up the way his life is going now, so in a fit of rage and confusion he spontaneously decides to join Melanie and her new group of friends on a trip down to the lake to spend the weekend on their boat. Once night time falls, the group decide to go onto the boat to play a typical teen party game, but Melanie suddenly kills her friend "Boom-Boom" thus revealing she is part of the same satanic cult that tried to murder Cole two years prior. Cole now knowing he would once again become a sacrifice for his blood being "the blood of the innocent" goes into a state of shock and confusion but most notably the overwhelming feeling of sadness and betrayal at Melanie. The importance of this scene is that its the first time in the movie that the cult take action. The director achieves this through the use of mostly medium shots, but most importantly there's a distinct use of camera angles to present which characters are in more power. The director uses a high angle shot when the camera is facing Melanie to show that she has more power over the other characters in the scene, but  specifically more power over Cole due to the fact that the director uses a low angle shot to show that he is the inferior character in the scene with less power or influence over the other characters around him. 

To add to Cole's panic, original cult members from the first movie are resurrected to also take part in this fright night. As these scenes of distress and fear take place, new mysterious student Phoebe who shows up to the boat completely, unaware of what's happening, asking for gas. Cole uses this time to escape by jumping onto Phoebes jet ski. Once on land, Cole frantically explains what's going on to Phoebe, which to his surprise, she believes. However, the cultist soon take chase and thus the night of murder begins. Sonya is the first to attempt to kill them, but she fails and ends being pinned to the mountain side by a car driven by Cole, causing the surfboard onto to fly forward and decapitating her. In this scene, the director uses a series of close up shots of all three characters faces; the purpose of this is that it makes the characters emotions more obvious to the audience. The characters emotions and thought processes are what are most important to view during this scene so the director makes it easier for us to notice this by framing each shot around the characters faces.

 Shortly after, the other cultist arrive to the scene but Cole and Phoebe are hidden so the original cultist and the new trio decide to go in opposite directions, now turning this into sort of a game for them. Allison is the next to catch up and find them, but to the two trap her between a narrow wedge between two mountains and then proceed to rip her head off. Cole and Phoebe board a boat and drive off, but Max catches the small raft attached to the rear of the boat and after a short chase across the lake, he is able to pull himself onto the boat. However, the duo are able to defend themselves once again, using silly string and a lighter to burn his face causing him to fall into the lake and become tangled in the line attaching the raft to the boat then is pulled into the propeller of the boat, finally killing him. After witnessing this, Diego and Jimmy try to run away but supernaturally disintegrate as the back away. Cole and Phoebe eventually arrive at her old family cabin, where they take refuge and hope to wait out the night to end the ritual.

 Now comfortable around one another, the pair start talking and Phoebe reveals that her parents died in a fatal car crash. Cole comforts her and tells her that he admires her, this then leads to the two having sex, causing Cole to lose his innocence, but the cultists are unaware of this so they continue their pursuit for the two. Melanie calls Cole's father, who has been frantically searching for Cole alongside Melanie's father. She fakes being drunk and asks for the fathers to come pick her and Cole up (the fathers are unaware of her true intentions). Cole's father arrives and manages to lure Cole and Phoebe out of their hiding spot in the cabin, but two come out armed with crossbows. A series of events then take place causing a chandelier to fall on to and kill John. Cole and Phoebe then flee from the cabin, after Cole's father chases after them; with no-one else in the cabin, Melanie takes this time to kill her father. Cole tells Phoebe to escape so that he can face his father for himself, Cole and his father have a small chat and cuddle to deescalate things but it all turns out to be a trick to allow Cole's father to drug him and take him home (due to Cole's father believing he is just having a psychotic episode).

Whilst this takes place, Melanie and Phoebe face off in a fight which looks like it game straight out of the world of Scott Pilgrim with video game type editing to make the scene look as though it had come straight from street fighter. The writer uses both close up and medium shots at the start of the scene when the two are taunting each other then into a wide angle shot as the fight begins. The fight scene is slowed down, presumably to give it an authentic 90's fighter game look. In my opinion this is one of the most cinematically pleasing parts of the film as well the transitions used before a character flashback sequence.

However, this ends with Phoebe being captured and held at knife-point and is used as bait to bring back Cole. Cole regains consciousness and manages to steal his father car and drives back to the lake to save Phoebe. Cole shows up to the cove by the lake where Phoebe is being held hostage and volunteers to sacrifice some of his blood for the ritual. Suddenly Bee (Cole's former babysitter, who tried to kill him in film one and was proposed as dead by the end of the first movie) emerges from the water and through a series of flashbacks and dialogue, it is revealed she was also Phoebe's babysitter and was also who was responsible for Phoebe's parents accident which killed them. Then all of the original cultist who had been killed on this night had once again been resurrected. The four alongside Melanie drink the blood of Cole and "Boom-Boom", but Because of Cole losing his innocence earlier on the film, the ritual fails leading to a painful death for all of those who had drunk the blood. Bee who did not drink the blood then reveals she orchestrated everything so that Cole and Phoebe could unite and finally defeat the cult (having had a change of heart after Cole confessed his love to her in the first movie moments before she 'died'). Bee is then forced to also drink the blood since technically she is a demon and is still technically part of the cult, she dies like the others finally saving Cole and Phoebe. Cole's father shows up as the happens, witnessing the cult and now finally believes his sons stories. the movie ends with a kiss between Cole and Phoebe and a few scenes of their life back at school.

Ultimately, i believe 'the babysitter killer queen' is a fun film for both a casual viewer and an analytical viewer. It may not be the most original or best film to be made but it is a fun and pleasing viewing experience and i recommend it to anyone who just wants to chill have something easy to follow.