The Babysitter: Killer Queen is now available to stream on Netflix, and while the audience has welcomed it with arms wide open, critics haven’t been nice to it. In 2017, the teen comedy horror movie The Babysitter was released on Netflix and got very positive reactions from critics and audiences, praising its blend of horror and comedy even if the story wasn’t the most original. Fast forward to 2019, when Netflix announced a sequel was in the making, and it was finally released in September 2020.
The Babysitter: Killer Queen reunited director McG with the main cast of the first film, including those whose characters died. The movie picks up two years after the events of The Babysitter, with Cole (Judah Lewis) still dealing with the trauma from that particular night, made even worse because no one believes him as Bee (Samara Weaving) managed to get rid of all evidence. In order to avoid further problems, Cole and his best friend Melanie (Emily Alyn Lind) go to a lake party, where some familiar forces of evil return for revenge. Cole comes across Bee’s resurrected cult members – Sonya (Hana Mae Lee), Allison (Bella Thorne), John (Andrew Bachelor), and Max (Robbie Amell) – along with some new threats.
Although the movie has the same tone as the first one and continued to reference other horror movies (including its predecessor), it wasn’t as well-received. A week after its release, The Babysitter: Killer Queen has a 41% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics calling it unfunny, creatively lazy, unmemorable, and even stupid. Many critics don’t feel that the movie brings anything new to the genre or the world of The Babysitter, and it doesn’t live up to the quality of the first movie. Here are some samples of negative reviews The Babysitter: Killer Queen got:
The any-dumb-idea-that-occurs-to-us-makes-final-cut approach can be liberating when at least some of your jokes land. But here they almost never do, making this the kind of movie where a sense of the filmmakers’ helpless hilarity at their imagined wit only makes its near-complete absence more painful. When a bit does hit a note of pleasing goofiness (as in a brief retro-dance/sex scene montage), it’s a rare pearl among general swinishness.
No one expects “The Babysitter: Killer Queen” to be anything other than your basic escapist entertainment, but it fails even at this modest goal. It's a defiantly stupid movie, with references so bizarrely dated that it verges on fascinating. McG and co-writer Dan Lagana pepper their script with nods to things that make it seem like they haven’t talked to an actual teen since 1999.
But if “The Babysitter,” was charming, entertaining, funny, irreverent and featured a magnetic performance by its lead (Weaving), the sequel, which is not written by Duffield, and barely features Weaving outside of an obligatory, presumably handsomely paid cameo at the end, is the exact opposite of all the aforementioned descriptors, a hamfisted, pedestrian and cheap sequel that feels like one of those cheapo knock off made to cash in from a surprise success that none of the original creative principles want to have anything to do with and aren’t involved with.
However, some critics also pointed out some of the movie’s strengths. Though most critics seem to agree on the story not being the best, they have praised the simple yet important fact that it is, after all, an entertaining movie. Among the strong points of the movie are the performances of Bee’s friends and cult followers as well as Jenny Ortega as new character Phoebe. To some, the perhaps over-the-top gory and bloody style of The Babysitter: Killer Queen was a strength, though it’s definitely not something that will appeal to all viewers.
As obnoxious as the humor gets, there’s some fun to be had despite itself. Amell is a welcome return; jock Max is an affable villain that manages to endear with his supportive nature even during bloodthirsty moments. And Jenny Ortega steals the film right out from under Judah Lewis. Phoebe may start as an eccentric but quickly proves far more formidable, intelligent, and genuine. Then there’s the splattery fun; Killer Queen ups the body count and the explosive viscera along with it.
Halloween is started early this year, and Netflix just made sure it’s in on the ground floor with The Babysitter: Killer Queen. With a breakneck pace, the entire experience rides on greased rails, leaving the audience to enjoy the surprises around every turn. As Cole continues to grow into a man, this potential franchise finds itself becoming more confident and assured with what it’s good at. Not every sequel gets to know itself as well as The Babysitter: Killer Queen does in its second outing, but when they do, they become memorable romps that keep fans talking for a while to come.
CBR:
A freewheeling love letter not just to '80s slasher movies but to an entire era of pop-culture history, The Babysitter: Killer Queen is even more fun than its predecessor, largely because it takes bigger, more self-aware chances and manages to stick the landing more often than not. This is a movie that knows exactly what it is and embraces it with gruesome glee, resulting in another bloody rollercoaster ride that rises above conventional genre constraints for a cinematic cocktail that is sure to thrill fans of '80s cinema.
The Babysitter: Killer Queen repeats the first movie’s formula, which to some was a good decision and to others was proof of the creative team’s laziness and over-confidence on what they already had. Ultimately, the tone, story, and characters of The Babysitter: Killer Queen might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it does have some elements that make it entertaining – though whether more than its predecessor or not is up to every viewer.