I particularly like watching movies like Better Watch Out for the sole reason that I had no idea what to expect. I hadn’t read or heard anything about it before I rented it, which is a rare treat for me. Usually, movies that I randomly rent don’t turn out to be very good, but every once in a while, you find a diamond in the rough. I’m not sure if Better Watch Out could be considered a diamond, but it’s a shiny pearl.
The first thing that most horror fans will notice about Better Watch Out is that it stars both of the kid actors from M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit. Olivia DeJonge plays the babysitter while Ed Oxenbould supports as the main character Luke’s best friend. Then there is Luke, expertly portrayed by Levi Miller who I predict is going to have a solid career in Hollywood. These three, along with a few others sprinkled throughout the film, deliver nice performances that are deserving of a big screen release.
Better Watch Out is billed as a horror-comedy, but I’m not sure if I would call it that. If I had to categorize it, I would say that this film is more of a thriller with some dark comedic elements. The good news is that it’s hard to categorize because there are not a lot of movies out there like this one. The story starts innocently enough with a boy’s babysitter coming over to sit for him one last time before she moves away. Luke is probably too old to have a babysitter, which is evident by the way he and his best friend are talking about her. Luke plans on taking this last chance to make a move on her, which is a plan that starts off bad and turns worse when the two are threatened by an intruder. What seems like an already scary situation becomes bone-chilling when the truth comes to light.
I have to say that the worst part of this movie has to be the title. There is no other reason that this is a Christmas movie other than they wanted to use the snappy title. I feel like this is the kind of movie that I could watch a few times a year, but now I feel relegated to only watching it once a year because they have marketed as a Christmas film. Apart from that, I can’t take issues with any part of this picture.
Anytime a movie can catch me off guard like this one did, it is an automatic winner. I can’t tell you how many movies I have watched in my life, and being a fan of the horror genre, a lot of them seem to blend into one big ball of blood and guts. Once in a while, a movie like Better Watch Out comes along with a fresh premise that takes you by surprise and reminds you that there are still a few original ideas left in Hollywood. Even if you don’t get to Better Watch Out before December 25th, I would still highly recommend you watch it as soon as possible.