76) Better Watch Out (2016)

"What delusional infant thinks a break-in is going to get him to second base?"

Director

Chris Peckover

Cast

Olivia DeJonge - Ashley

Levi Miller - Luke Lerner

Ed Oxenbould - Garrett

Patrick Warburton - Robert Lerner

Virginia Madsen - Deandra Lerner

While reviewing the horror film "Friday the 13th" back in 1980 on his and Gene Siskel's old program "Sneak Previews," critic Roger Ebert asks, “Why is it open season on women? What did these female victims do? What was their crime?”
Siskel replies, “I'm convinced it has something to do with the growth of the women's movement in the U.S. in the last decade. I think these [slasher] films are some sort of primordial response by some very sick people saying, ‘Get back in your place, women.’
Siskel notes that women in horror films are generally depicted as independent and enjoying life. Meanwhile, the killer in the movie is typically a sexually frustrated man—frustrated by these liberated women.
Siskel and Ebert cite titles such as "Don't Answer the Phone" (1980), "Silent Scream (1979), and "I Spit on Your Grave" (1978) as examples of horror movies where innocent women are brutally murdered for, I guess, the sake of being brutally murdered.
They do, however, praise the movie "Halloween" (1978) as a “groundbreaker” for “women in danger” films.
"Halloween" tells the story of babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), who fights back against the knife-wielding masked maniac Michael Myers.
I'll add a sort of annotation here. With earlier horror movies such as "Dracula" (1931), for instance, it's true that women were often portrayed as being in distress as a looming monster threatened their very lives. Siskel and Ebert argue that in “classic” horror movies, the audience normally sees the story unfold through the victim's eyes rather than the killer's, as in "Friday the 13th." This forces the audience to identify with the victim rather than the killer.
Anyhow, these critiques of theirs came to mind after watching the overlooked independent Australian-American holiday horror flick from 2016, "Better Watch Out."
You know, a perk of watching not-so-well-known horror movies is finding that one gem every so often—a gem that I proudly display in my mental curio cabinet of highly esteemed and favorited films, which I manifest in the form of a horror movie blog and podcast.
"Better Watch Out" became one such movie. 

Levi Miller and Olivia DeJonge in "Better Watch Out."

It's the pre-Christmas season when teenager Ashley (Olivia DeJonge) is hired to babysit 12-year-old Luke Lerner (Levi Miller).
She's well aware of the crush Luke has on her, but she certainly doesn't share those feelings. Still, she treats Luke as respectfully as a 17-year-old girl can treat such a kid.
Before she arrives, Luke chats with his geeky friend Garrett (Ed Oxenbould) about trying to entice Ashley to make out with him while his parents are gone. It's typical sexually curious teenage banter.
As he and Ashley order pizza and watch a horror movie while his parents are out for the night, Luke tries to pull some corny moves before eventually attempting to take advantage of her.
Ashley doesn't go for it. Suddenly, they hear strange noises coming from outside, and Ashley keeps finding the back door open.
As she investigates to see who's outside, it turns out to be Garrett.
After a few moments of berating him for scaring her, they hear a window break upstairs. The three of them investigate and find a brick on the floor that reads, “U leave and U die.”
Garrett panics and tries to run through the backyard as Ashley and Luke watch him get shot by an unseen sniper.
The two run upstairs and hide in the attic. They can hear movement down below in the house.
After a while, when it doesn't sound like there's anyone near the attic entrance, they try to climb out as quietly as they can.
But Ashley falls and almost breaks her neck. Luke catches her, and they sneak into his bedroom closet.
They can see an intruder with a gun and a flashlight enter the room as they peer through the slits of the closet door.
This is when Ashley notices something unusual yet familiar about the man in the room.
The premise then takes a completely unexpected turn.
And boy, did it pull me in.

SPOILER

There's clearly an underlying narrative in this movie that males believe they have an unconquerable dominance over females. The movie uses stereotypes to depict this point, which I didn't care for.
In the end, males appeal to the powers that be to save them from the consequences of their crimes.
It's a hard pill to swallow, especially in this day and age. With movies, I'll add that it's easy to interpret narratives that may not actually be there—or may not have been the intention of the writers. So I'm speculating on whether this is actually the movie's intended narrative.
One thing is for sure: male sexual frustration, an attempt at absolute dominance, and pulling the strings of the system to escape consequences are strong elements in this movie.
On top of all that, there's a scene that takes inspiration from the 1990 Christmas movie "Home Alone" where this time we see the bodily damage a paint can swung from a second floor and slammed into someone's face can do.
As a horror movie, it's absolutely fantastic as far as story goes. Entertainment is the top priority for me when I watch a horror movie, and this movie doesn't fail in that department. Not in the least.
Better Watch Out is a satisfying thriller that hits the horror-fandom spot. It deserves to be mentioned alongside other popular holiday horror titles such as "Krampus" (2015), "Black Christmas" (1974), and maybe even "Silent Night, Deadly Night" (1984). Hopefully, the latter doesn't stray too far from the wise cinematic observations of Siskel and Ebert.
Perhaps it should also be found among other babysitting horror flicks such as "When a Stranger Calls" and, of course, "Halloween."

Watching this made me wonder how actors manage to stay terrified for an entire movie. Olivia DeJonge's performance brought this question to mind, as her character has to maintain anger and fear through the majority of the movie. She does it convincingly well.
While the “open season” on strong, independent women that Siskel and Ebert said was too common in the sloppy slasher pics of the 1970s and into the 1980s seems to be over—or, at least, its glorification seems to be—I would love to hear what they would have thought of "Better Watch Out." I don't know for sure, but I highly suspect Siskel and Ebert would have seen the babysitter Ashley as being as edifying as Laurie Strode.
The year before, DeJonge and Oxenbould worked together with M. Night Shyamalan on his refreshingly enjoyable thriller The Visit.
Here, she and Levi Miller, whose character is hellbent, terrified, arrogant, and juvenile, work well off each other to create such a different kind of babysitter movie. Should these two ever make another horror movie together, I'd pay to see it.
This movie pulls inspiration for its story from "Home Alone," but the twist in the first act takes it someplace else—someplace much more sadistic and evil than Kevin McCallister ("Home Alone's" main character, played by Macaulay Culkin) comedically attacking two burglars through unique traps at Christmas.
The tagline even reads, “Home Alone meets The Strangers.”
I appreciate movies that take an idea audiences are familiar with and go somewhere else with it. The horror/thriller film "Happy Death Day" (2017) did that, too. It took the premise of 1993's "Groundhog Day" and made it its own. Clever!
If movies like these became a new trend, I'd be okay with it, so long as those movies are as creative and entertaining as "Better Watch Out" and, for that matter, "Happy Death Day."