The Babysitter: Killer Queen
Director: McG
Writer: Dan Lagana, Brad Morris, Jimmy Warden, McG
Sequel to: The Babysitter
Cast: Judah Lewis, Jenna Ortega, Emily Alyn Lind, Samara Weaving, Robbie Amell, Hana Mae Lee, Bella Thorne, Andrew Bachelor, Leslie Bibb, Ken Marino, Bear McCreary
Seen on: 2.1.2023

Content Note: sexism/misogyny

Plot:
Cole (Judah Lewis) has had a hard time readjusting to life. Everybody, including his parents (Leslie Bibb, Ken Marino), believes that he is insane for talking about what happened with his babysitter Bee (Samara Weaving) two years ago. They assume that the satanic blood cults is his delusion. Only Melanie (Emily Alyn Lind) is still willing to be his friend, even if she, too, seems to have her doubts. In an effort to become a little more normal, he lets Melanie drag him to a big party. But it is just there that Cole has to face the demons of his past again – literally.

The Babysitter was fun, all things considered. The Babysitter: Killer Queen is… not. It makes no sense whatsoever and just generally fails up to the standards that the first one set. And the first one was no masterpiece, so you can imagine how bad this one was.

[SPOILERS]

Sequels are not so easy, even if you get pretty much the entire original cast together as they did with this one. But you have to find a somewhat fresh angle on the characters and – more often than not – the same story. And that is not something that The Babysitter: Killer Queen managed to do. Instead, when it tries to subvert expectations, it goes completely off the rails, story-wise, and nothing makes any sense anymore.

I mean, I had my issues with Bee’s evilness in the first film (it played into sexist tropes), but the attempts to rehabilitate her in this one are just strange and, again, it just doesn’t make sense (plus, there is still more than enough sexism here). Neither did the fact that they went after Cole AGAIN, when he is practically the only person who has been forewarned and knows what he’s up against. That there should be a particular thing about Cole that would make him special is not an option anymore when the film shows that Cole foiled their plans by having sex (Extra Ordinary did that particular joke much better, by the way). It was just about him being a virgin? I am pretty sure this town has more than one virgin.

But okay, you might say, don’t overthink this. This is not the kind of film one should think a lot about. And that is absolutely true. Trouble is, the rest of it doesn’t work either. The jokes feel tired and that the film apparently could afford Weaving only for a short appearance, hurts it more than I can express. She was the best thing, if not to say the only good thing, about the first film and there is nothing here that fills that gap.

It’s just a tired film that feels dated before it’s even over. You certainly won’t miss much if you don’t watch it. I probably shouldn’t have wasted my time on it in any case.

Summarizing: They should have left it at the surprise hit that the first one turned out to be.