Review: "The Babysitter: Killer Queen" Resurrects the Laughs and Story

Over the weekend, viewers flocked to Netflix to view the newest installment of The Babysitter franchise. The Babysitter: Killer Queen picks up two years after the blood cult led by Bee (Samara Weaving) attempted to get Cole’s blood.

Cole (Judah Lewis) and his friend Melanie (Emily Alyn Lind) are now both juniors in high school. We see Cole is once again an outcast because everyone, including Cole’s parents (Leslie Bibb, Ken Marino), believe he made up the entire story of that night. With his parents at a loss as what to do with him, they decide it’s time to send him away to get help. When Cole learns of this Melanie convinces him to go away with friends on a big lake party weekend.

With newcomers Jimmy (Maximillian Acevedo), Diego (Juliocesar Chavez) and Boom Boom (Jennifer Foster) along for the trip they set out before Cole’s parents find out. Once they get to the lake Cole is reluctantly determined to have a good time and forget his encounter with the blood cult. But things aren’t as they seem as all hell breaks loose and a run in with the mysterious new girl in school, Phoebe (Jenna Ortega), only adds to the confusion. It isn’t too long before Cole is once again fighting for survival among some familiar faces.

The Babysitter: Killer Queen will have you feeling nostalgic for the first film. There are many callbacks to the original, good laughs, some gory kills and fun deaths throughout the story. The new additions to the cast add their own unique feel to the continuation and original teens from the first movie only amp up the laughs. Fans of the first film will appreciate the silly good cheesiness of this movie and the over the top horror elements as well.

While Killer Queen delivers on gore and laughs it is lacking in other areas in a big way. Melanie’s character arc was frustrating in this sequel. The story is strung along with some pretty thin plot points and outright ridiculous reasons behind some of the character’s choices.

It feels as if the filmmakers were trying to make a statement about how dumb or easily influenced teens really are, in a satiric way. This movie does feel at times that is struggled with ways to advance the story of the first film. Killer Queen offers more backstory to the main characters, but that extra story was not really needed. One scene that felt particularly out of place, is a fight scene in this movie that looks like an homage to Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. While you can definitely see Director McG’s fun and video-game type style throughout, the scene ultimately feels very out of place in relation to the rest of the story.

All in all this film is a great follow up to the first film and a very fun, good time altogether. The major disappointment for this movie is it fails to really build upon the story or characters of the first film. It rehashes old parts of the story with new characters and settings, but it fails to give us an adequate story worthy of the Killer Queen.

This could have been a great way to take the story in a new direction and build a deeper story for a possible trilogy. However, thanks to a mid-credits scene, we see that they have left the ending open for another film. So if you’re a fan of the first one, you’ll enjoy this movie. Tons of blood, gore, comedy and shenanigans is what awaits you in The Babysitter: Killer Queen. All in all, its fun but don’t expect an amazing new story. 3/5

★★★

You can check out the trailer for The Babysitter: Killer Queen below and the film is now streaming on Netflix. Be sure to follow ScaryNerd for more of all things horror.