Delayed Reaction: The Babysitter: Killer Queen

Premise: Cole again is targeted as a sacrifice for a satanic ritual.

 

The problem with most sequels is that there are normally three elements to a movie that make it special, and the filmmakers only scale up two of them. For example, a blockbuster will amp up the action then increase the comedy to match, but they won't focus on the story. That's the most common formula problem. I'll admit, I didn't care that much for The Babysitter, but the things to like about it were the crazy characters, the comic violence, and the nice story about growing up at the center. Killer Queen has even more fun with the character and violence excesses. It doesn't make a central story to match though. As a result, it's much more of a B-movie than even the first one: best enjoyed by drunk people at a midnight showing, maybe.

 

For me, the biggest mistake of the movie was bringing back the cult members from the original. The basic formula of this series gives the freedom to make colorful and crazy characters. You can have stability with Judah Lewis at the center. Samara Weaving becomes the mascot of it to an extent. The heel turn for Emily Alyn Lind is quite wonderful. Bringing back the same cult members is really boring though. Bella Thorne, Hana Mae Lee, and co. were fun enough in the first movie, but they aren't designed as characters that need any rounding. Simply building a new cult for Lind to have a pact with fills the movie with a lot more creativity and frees it from having to spotlight the returning cast even more.

 

It's also weird seeing a movie sexualize actual teenagers so much. Lewis, Lind, and welcome newcomer Jenna Ortega were all 17/18 when this was shot. I really don't know how I feel about that. On one hand, it's nice to see people who are so close to the right age for the roles. On the other hand, this is awful leering of women who are that young. I'm not saying this from some moral high horse. I mainly comment because the movie made me feel like a dirty old man, and it feels weird that my take away from this was "Well, the movie was awful but at least the cast was nice to look at."

 

Verdict: Strongly Don't Recommend