The Babysitter

"The Babysitter" (2017, McG, Netflix) is a comedy horror with plenty of gore.


Cole (Judah Lewis) is a 12 year old kid who gets bullied a lot at school. His only solace is that his babysitter, Bee (Samara Weaving), is super hot and pretty cool. And she also plays down the part where she's his babysitter. When his parents go on a weekend away, Cole creeps out of bed to spy on Bee and her friends having a party in the living room, but he soon discovers that the teens are up to something much worse than drinking alcohol.... human sacrifice. Can Cole get over his crippling fear of, well, everything in time to save himself? And will he finally get his first ever kiss? Only time will tell in this gory flick.


While it's far from a genre-defining, ground breaking innovation, the film delivers exactly what it needs to; humour, gore and a host of disposable characters who get to die in a bunch of gruesome ways. Our collection of would-be Satan worshippers cover all the usual stereotypical bases (eg. jock, cheerleader, etc...). Only Bee and Cole truly stand out as characters who break stereotype.


The film spends a good while setting up the relationship between Bee and Cole. He fancies her. He's awkward. She's easy going and a little wild. Cole tells Bee all of his secrets, while unbeknownst to him, she uses this against him any way that she can.


When the murder and mayhem begin the film does not scrimp on the gore and we see a lot of innovative kill scenes which expertly mix humour and ick-factor without becoming too silly.
Gore aside, the film also makes use of interesting camera perspective, a lot of 80s-feeling tropes (despite being based in present day) and just enough character depth to instil a sense of betrayal from Bee when we find out her intentions.


All in all, I found "The Babysitter" to be a fun and worthwhile watch which I've even revisited on occasion.

[Image: Netflix]

Hani

Bloody New Year

"Bloody New Year" aka "Timewarp Terror" (1987, Norman J. Warren, Lazer Entertainment, Target International) is a British New Year themed, supernatural horror movie.

A group of unruly friends find their way onto a strange island which is trapped in a time-loop where it is always New Year's Eve 1959.

A fun premise that suffers from just too much going on. Is it about evil science experiments? Is it about ghosts? Is it about zombies? Is it about a British version of The Shining? The answer? Apparently all of the above.

Our group of pals are pretty unlikable and our ghostly hotel could have done with a bit more build up but all in all the film is entertaining for its 50s party atmosphere. The film is pretty silly and suffers from some directionless story-telling, but if you're looking a cheesy late-night New Year's romp, then look no further.

[Image: Lazer Entertainment, et al]

Hani

The Asylum

 "The Asylum" aka "Exeter" and "Backmask"  (2015, Marcus Nispel, Studio Canal releasing) is one of the films I missed by not attending Glasgow Fright Fest earlier this year. And I have to say, I must be missing something because I didn't think it was really anything special, but I seem to be in the minority here!

We open to a woman committing suicide before we are introduced to the "Exeter School for the feeble minded", an asylum which has been abandoned for some time. The place is about to be renovated by Father Conway (Stephen Lang), but his young friend, Patrick (Kelly Blatz), puts a stopper in the works by being unable to convince his pals not to have a big ol' party in the place. Knowing Exeter School has a dark past, the gang of course decide to play some vinyl backwards and play "light as a feather, stiff as a board", while also drinking, shagging and taking some drugs.... And this brings some demons to the surface who then go all "Evil Dead" on their asses by possessing them one after another.

Now let's get this straight, there are some good things going on in this film. It's a good setting, the kill scenes are admirably gory, very realistic and creative, the demonic effects are effective and the acting is good enough. My main problem with this film was that I was bored and felt like I was watching a remake of several other possession movies merged together.

Whilst it's nigh on impossible to make a possession movie without paying coincidental (or completely on purpose) homage to "The Exorcist", this film felt like they'd also lifted chunks of scene from "Evil Dead", "Night of the Demons" and many other possessed-teen films. It was way too tropey to fully appreciate and played out as a remake, despite not actually being one...

All in all, it's a perfectly serviceable horror film and there's nothing at all wrong with it, it's just not anything new or special. The fact that people are raving about it online kind of indicates to me more that we've had a serious lack of new and original horror recently!

[Image: Studio Canal Releasing]

 

Hani

 

Night of The Demons (1988)

"Night of The Demons" (1988, Kevin S. Tenney, Republic Pictures, International Film Marketing) is a Halloween party favourite and a must have for any cheesy horror movie night!

A group of teens decide to have a Halloween party in an old abandoned mortuary. Goth outcast, Angela (Mimi Kinkade), who's throwing the party, believes that the place is possessed by demonic spirits and wouldn't you know it, she's right! Soon everyone's getting possessed or trying to escape while their possessed friends get all kinky and weird around them.

It's all just good fun and delivers everything promised: boobs (and more... Any Linnea Quigley fans will be happy), gore, demoniacally possessed teens and some Scooby Doo Style chase scenes!

Some really cracking physical effects allow for that sought after 'ewww!' moment, including an eye popping scene that is really nasty in the best kind of way!

If you're looking for originality you're in the wrong place, but it's certainly sheer 80s awesomeness not to be missed!

[Image: Republic Pictures]

 

Hani