Written by Zack Kahn And Chris Peckover
Directed by Chris Peckover
Ashley (to Luke): "What delusional infant thinks that staging a break-in is going to get you to second base?"
Is it too early to review a Christmas movie? Maybe but this one's in the horror genre so that's my excuse and I was looking for a random movie to watch and stumbled on to this one.
I'm guessing the general behind this one was something in the lines of "what if Kevin McCallister really was just a psychopath?" Because that's pretty much what we got here. Except instead of would be home invaders, it was a babysitter and the child she had the misfortune to look after that night.
Starting with an obnoxious rich couple played by Virginia Madsen and Patrick Warburton, babysitter Ashley (Olivia DeJonge) thought she would have an easy night in looking after precocious kid Luke (Levi Miller) before going to college. Oh, how she was mistaken on that one.
Instead not only did she have to fend off a clumsy advance from the smitten Luke but it wasn't long until the latter's dim witted friend Garrett (Ed Oxenbould) arrive and then it appeared the three of them had to fend off a burglar in the house. Except it was actually Luke contriving a scenario to get Ashley to fall in love with him and it gets creepier from there.
By the time we get into the second half of the movie, Luke's revealed himself to be a rather psychotic pre-teen who had no problem keeping Ashley tied up and drugging her. The arrival of Ashley's boyfriend, Ricky (Aleks Mikic) only made Luke even more dangerous than before with a gag from Home Alone shown to be more fatal than comical.
As things further escalated, Luke not only killed Ashley's former boyfriend, Jeremy (Dacre Montgomery) with the intent to frame him but even Garrett and Ashley themselves aren't safe from Luke's increasing bloodlust. The movie does end with a rather decent twist that clearly was meant to set up a sequel.
- There's a mid credit scene where Luke feigned concern for Ashley and wanted to see her in the hospital.
- The original title for the movie was Safe Neighborhood.
- Standout music: Nice use of The Ramones Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight).
- Chronology: Christmas time of course. This movie despite being set in America was actually filmed in Australia with the majority of the cast being Australian themselves.
Better Watch Out was an unexpected delight. It's basically just an evil Home Alone but it's an effective one. Great cast, nice amount of horror and a nice ending. Definitely worth a watch for Christmas horror fans.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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