The Babysitter: Killer Queen
netflixIt was inevitable that a sequel to 2017’s The Babysitter would surface one way or another, it was a fun and violent horror comedy with a star making turn from Samara Weaving who stole the show. Even without her involvement (For the most part), The Babysitter: Killer Queen is a blast from start to finish that doubles down on the gore, humour and over the top antics.
Killer Queen picks up two years after the first and continues the story of Cole (Judah Lewis) who is suffering from PTSD after the traumatic events he endured and focusing on surviving high school, but when things take a turn he’s forced into another battle against a cult made up of faces old and new.
Emily Alyn Lind’s Melanie takes over from the sadly missed Samara Weaving as the head of this new cult looking to sacrifice Cole due to his purity. She manages to pull off an impressive tongue in cheek menace in her performance to the absurdity of events while staying totally aware of what kind of film she is in. It’s a step down from Weaving’s screen presence but manages to pull off a worthy and fun villain role.
McG returns to direct and crafts a sequel that never loses sight of what it is: A dumb horror comedy. Even so, it does expand the mythology of the series and fills in the background to answer questions that did linger from the first. There is much more insight into the cult, their supernatural powers and how they work, making for a more interesting sequel that packs a few surprises that will not be spoiled here.
The gore is just as outrageous and over the top as you’d expect, helped by a much more creative, violent and on the offensive Cole who has learned a few more tricks in the past two years. Killer Queen makes solid use of practical gore at times to make some truly disgusting and often hilarious kills that left a very solid impact. Sadly, while there are a lot of impressive practical effects on display, they do reduce themselves to cheap and fake looking CGI effects that really diminish the impact at times.
Being a meta and self-aware sequel means the script is constantly filled with references to other sequels, most frequently mentioned is Terminator 2. As Cole constantly makes reference to the fact he is now a battle hardened survivor like Sarah Connor during the events of T2. None of it is very clever, but it’s all fun, never obnoxious and feels in line with both these films.
The Babysitter: Killer Queen is exactly what you’d expect from a sequel to The Babysitter. It’s silly and a ton of fun if not quite as memorable but is sorely lacking Samara Weaving presence. McG has announced plans for a third film and based on the out the ideas presented in this sequel, there’s plenty more here for Netflix to play with.
