The Babysitter (2017)

Directed by McG. Starring Judah Lewis, Samara Weaving, Robbie Amell, Bella Thorne, Andrew Bachelor, Hana Mae Lee, Emily Alyn Lind, Ken Marino, Leslie Bibb, Miles J. Harvey, Doug Haley. [TV-MA]

Young Lewis may get picked on by bullies, but at least he has good rapport with his fun, pretty babysitter (Weaving); their relationship isn’t going to be the same, however, after he sneaks downstairs one night and sees what she’s up to while he’s supposed to be fast asleep. Dexterous and flashy horror-comedy has a promising premise, an appropriate helping of attitude and referential faux-irony, and a solid cast, but it’s not as inventive as it ought to be, suffers from sketchy incentive/reasoning for the cultists, and runs out of steam long before the end (despite a brisk pace and compact running time). Features a good amount of gore, but even though the kills are often intentionally illogical and over-the-top, at least two of them are notably unsatisfying (one by rope, another by fire). Able to at least brag about having two of the most mentally ill-equipped police officers to ever appear in a horror movie, a genre known for law enforcement stupidity.

61/100