Hello there and welcome to Spooktober 2026! This is our second official year doing this event where we review all sorts of horror themed movies, television shows and video games all month in October. I actually knew spooky season was coming up last month because our malls here in the Philippines were already putting up Christmas decorations. Yeah, we tend to do that over here and skip out of the spooky season. But that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate it in our own way, can we?

While there are more than a few films to pick to start of Spooktober 2026, I decided to go and see Netflix‘s The Babysitter for a couple of reasons. One, ever since I saw the first Ready or Not, I’ve become a Samara Weaving fan but I will have to admit I haven’t still seen a lot of her other works. Well, we can at least chalk this one off the list! Two, I actually saw the trailer for The Babysitter years ago and I wanted to watch it back then. The thing is, we didn’t have a Netflix subscription back then because we still had cable TV during that time period. So, I never did get to see it way back when and I just forgot about it. But I did remember it recently and I purposefully saved it to watch for Spooktober!

Before I do get into the review itself, let me just say that this will be a SPOILER FREE review. Granted, there’s not really much to spoil about The Babysitter as there really isn’t any major twist or big plot points to discuss. Still, I’m just letting you guys this will be SPOILER FREE. With that out of the way, onto the review!

The Babysitter follows Cole, a young boy who’s afraid of everything and is constantly bullied. He does find solace in the fact that his regular babysitter, Bee, is incredibly hot and cool and genuinely nice to him. However, things turn terrible for Cole when he discovers that Bee and her friends are a part of the demonic cult. Now Bee and the other cult members are hunting him down since he knows this fact.

Although The Babysitter does have a horror premise, it’s more of like a dark comedy. Sure, there’s some incredibly gory moments but they’re just too over the top to take seriously. There’s also a really surreal atmosphere here as, aside from Bee oddly enough, everyone comes off as a stereotypical trope of what you would expect them to behave. Nerdy but quick witted hero? Check. Superficial cheerleader who’s really into her looks? Check. Testosterone filled jock? Check. Goth chick who’s into death? Check. Fast speaking and wisecracking black teen? Check. Cute girl next door best friend? Check. Now, that’s not actually a bad thing because everyone does play their roles really well. And that’s what makes watching them incredibly entertaining.

Additionally, everyone does behave very unrealistically and, once again, that’s not a bad thing here. When they do do things that come off as really stupid, it does fit their characters and personalities. Of course, the best performance comes from Samara Weaving as Bee. She’s supposed to be the super cool babysitter at the start and she does come off as someone you want to hang out with, especially if you’re a young boy like Cole. When she does remove the mask and we find out about her more devilish side, she does have some stature and show she’s not to be messed with. Now, I’m not sure if this was intentional but what I really liked about Samara Weaving here is, even though Cole figures out what kind of person she really is, there’s still a hint that he really cares for Cole. If it was done purposely (which I’m pretty sure of), that’s some really good acting right there.

I also have to give props to Judah Lewis, the kid who plays Cole. He does a remarkable job here as the nerdy scared kid who somehow has to manage to get over those fears in order to survive. He also has to react to some of the more crazy/funny things the cult members do while they’re chasing him down. While this does come down to him mostly being kind of the straight man to a bunch of crazies, his performance was effective in getting me to laugh along with the insanity.

Speaking of laughing, I will say The Babysitter is incredibly funny. They humor is pretty absurd as, like I said, everyone here behaves like a stereotype. The jokes may come off as rather predictable but, as they really lean into how dumb they can be and they don’t take things too seriously, it actually elevates the gags to a degree. Even the dialogue comes off as witty even though it can come off as rather stupid at the same time. I do know it’s not going to be for everyone but, hey! It’s my kind of funny!

Now, while I did enjoy most of The Babysitter’s breezy 85-minute runtime, there were some moments I actively didn’t like and most of that had to do with some of the direction choices. Or rather, the plethora of directing choices. The Babysitter was directed by McG and it does look like he tried to stuff a lot of cinema styles in this movie and they just don’t blend well. It’s like he tried to make a lot of “cool” and “radical” choices as if he was directing a music video. That does track as McG did hone his directing chips by directing music videos early on. While I’m okay with doing more experimental stuff, he’s just doing too much here. Things do taper off by the midpoint of the film and, after that, it looks like he finally got it out of his system by then, which I’m thankful for. I also have to mention there are some really noticeable ADR sprinkled throughout and I really wish McG did a better job of hiding it.

Despite those momentary odd directorial decisions, I really did enjoy The Babysitter. Sure, it helps that Samara Weaving is such a joy to watch but I did really like how funny this was despite it having a lot of horror trappings. If you want more funny in your horror, this won’t miss. Strict horror fans should avoid it, though.

Have you seen The Babysitter (2017)? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments section below!