We’re finally into spooky month, aka my favorite time of the year, which is full of treats and plenty of spooky decorations. The cherry on top is the abundance of new horror movies that come out during the season. It’s a perfect time for ghosts, ghouls and plenty of scares. The Halloween season blesses us with cinnamon flavored everything and way too many rewatches of Hocus Pocus.
The newest movie to come out on Netflix is The Babysitter: Killer Queen. It is a sequel to the 2017 horror-comedy, The Babysitter. It is a continuation of main character Cole’s story as he has grown up into his teenage years. He experiences all the growing pains of being different in a harsh world.
But first, let’s go back to the original movie (spoilers included!). The Babysitter is about a kid named Cole who, despite being thirteen, still has a babysitter. He is an anxious child who has a phobia involving almost everything. His babysitter is the tall, blonde, gorgeous, Bee, played by the phenomenal Samara Weaving. She’s everything a teenage boy dreams of but is still badass enough to scare off Cole’s bullies. The pair have a great relationship considering Bee is Cole’s only friend. Although, Cole has an unrequited crush on his neighbor Melanie who is the only one of his classmates that shows him kindness.
The main plot of the story is set during another weekend when Bee is watching Cole while his parents are out. The real fun happens after Bee sends Cole to sleep for the night. Bee invites over a group of her friends. Each of them fits a different stereotype for teenagers. They’re hanging out and indulging in the joys of being a teenager. Cole is witness to all of this as he has snuck from his bedroom to see what’s going on. Cole witnesses Bee, in cold-blood, murder one of her friends. Cole realizes he is awake and tied up. Bee reveals that they are all part of a blood cult, and that they need Cole’s blood to complete their ritual. He spends his night evading his captors. The main character inadvertently ends up facing each of his phobias throughout the night and overcoming them. He eventually kills off the group of teenagers that are hunting him and escapes with his life.
The sequel picks up years later. Cole is now a gangly young man with an interesting style. Cole has been labeled as insane after the events with his former babysitter, Bee. The authorities believe Cole made up the whole thing, and that Bee has gone missing. Cole struggles to get through a day without being ridiculed. His only respite is his friendship with his neighbor, Melanie, who Cole obviously still holds a torch for, despite her bumbling boyfriend.
The movie also introduces a new transfer student named Phoebe. Phoebe is brash and unapologetically herself. Cole is thrown by her confidence and attitude in comparison to his meek personality. Cole comes home after a long day of school to worried parents. We witness the sheer amount of medication that Cole has to take due to his parent’s disbelief of the incident with Bee. Cole still insists that everything he told them was true, and his parents decide that it is best to put Cole into a mental institution. They see him as unstable since he won’t admit that the incident didn’t happen. Cole stumbles across the institution’s pamphlet the next morning with an appointment time marked by a sticky note. He is conflicted with the idea that his parents would put him away, and that he could truly be insane. Cole ultimately decides to skip school with Melanie to avoid being put away. He joins Melanie and her group of friends on a weekend trip to a nearby lake. Cole hopes that it can be his chance to start a relationship with Melanie. The group parties on Melanie’s boyfriend’s houseboat, and they question Cole about his incident with the blood cult. Melanie lets a piece of information slip about the blood cult that she couldn’t have possibly known. Cole is automatically suspicious. Melanie drops the pretense and kills one of her friends in front of Cole. She then admits that she is part of the same blood cult.
And we are once again face-to-face with the blood cult that attempted to kill Cole in the last movie.
They have risen from the dead to once again hunt Cole. Phoebe stumbles in on the scene and immediately nopes out of the situation when she witnesses the blood-covered scene.Our male lead sees this as his chance to get away from the homicidal group of demons and teenagers. He is pretty quick to dodge their attempts at capturing him and scurries out the door. Cole manages to narrowly escape the blood cult on the back of Phoebe’s jet ski.
Initially, Phoebe isn’t thrilled by Cole’s appearance, as he almost gets her killed several times. But after saving her from a less than honorable man, she starts to take a shine to our awkward protagonist. The pair combats the blood cult and manages to come out unscathed.
Overall, these movies are great as a double-feature. Although, they’re definitely not Oscar worthy. These movies are gory and often wacky, so they’re great for something to watch with friends. This is as spoiler-free as I can get without ruining the entirety of the two movies. But I would highly recommend these movies as a lover of campy horror movies.