2017's The Babysitter combined a slick look with an all-star cast and a story that blended
a lot of familiar horror tropes into something that has the perfect midnight movie feel.
It's just scary enough to get you excited, but also funny enough to keep you from getting
too freaked out.
"I mean nobody's ever done human sacrifice."
"People have always done human sacrifice."
"Yeah but like, not in America, with hot people."
Now, three years later, the next chapter in The Babysitter saga is about to arrive.
The Babysitter: Killer Queen picks up two years after the first film, and follows the
original hero as he learns that the nightmare he thought was behind him is actually far
from over.
If you're excited for more scary fun, here's everything you need to know before The Babysitter:
Killer Queen hits Netflix.
The Babysitter debuted in 2017 as a horror-comedy that took several key tropes of the genre
and spun them out into something new.
The story follows Cole, a nerdy and withdrawn 12-year-old boy who is nevertheless treated
like a cool kid by his babysitter Bee.
"I'm like your little Protestant."
"What?"
"Because I got...I have to pay you to hang out with me."
"Are you trying to say prostitute?"
While his parents are away for the weekend, Cole decides to investigate his best friend
Melanie's claim that Bee is probably using his family home for wild parties...and finds
instead that Bee is a member of a cult of teenagers who use the blood of the innocent
to fulfill their own wishes with the help of a magic book.
Now that's a twist.
What follows is a terrifying and often hilarious night in which Cole has to grow up fast, defending
himself from Bee and her killer friends.
One by one, either through their own stupidity or through Cole's cleverness, the cult members
fall, until it's down to Cole and Bee.
The tween manages to burn his babysitter's magic book and drive a stolen car through
his own house to crush her to death.
By the end of the night, Cole is bolder and more confident than he's ever been, and it
looks like all the loose ends have been neatly wrapped up.
Right?
Well, The Babysitter ends with a mid-credits scene that seemingly sets up a fairly straightforward
sequel concept.
But while The Babysitter: Killer Queen is a direct follow-up to the original film, it
doesn't necessarily pick things up where you might think.
Once again, the story follows Cole, picking up the thread of his life two years after
the end of the first film.
He's still nerdy and awkward, and now he's trying to navigate high school with the trauma
of the first film hanging over him.
To make things worse, no one actually believes that the events of the first film happened.
That's right: After Bee disappeared at the end of The Babysitter, apparently all other
evidence of the cult and their deaths disappeared too.
Cole is viewed as a kid who apparently hallucinated or made up the whole thing by everyone — except
his best friend and neighbor, Melanie.
In an effort to lift her friend's spirits, Melanie invites Cole to a weekend at the lake,
where typical teenage party shenanigans are interrupted by something very strange.
It turns out the cultists from the first film are back, but not because Cole just hallucinated
their deaths.
"I watched you all die."
"We are dead, duh."
They're back from the grave, and they have just one night to complete a ritual that will
restore them, which means Cole has just one night to survive yet another cult attack.
The Babysitter is a film that works as a horror-comedy in no small part because it's willing to mash
up and play with a lot of different genre conventions.
It sets up the idea of the nerdy teen home alone, trying to snoop for secrets, throws
in the killer babysitter, and then mixes it all up with a demonic cult and the general
spooky suburban vibe to create a thoroughly entertaining concoction.
The next installment in The Babysitter franchise also seems eager to break new ground.
This time, Cole is being taken out of his suburban surroundings and into an unfamiliar
place that will give the film a chance to play with survival horror a bit more.
Plus, while the first film dealt with a cult, The Babysitter didn't actually show us much
in the way of true supernatural events.
This time around, Killer Queen is making it clear that, on some level, the cult's connection
with the devil was very real indeed.
And that opens the door to all kinds of wild new horror ideas that the first movie never
got to explore.
Part of the fun of The Babysitter is that it's a film packed with faces you probably
recognized, and now that Killer Queen is on the horizon, those familiar faces have had
the chance to pop up in even more movies and shows.
Every member of the ensemble has been very busy since the first film.
Judah Lewis, who plays Cole, took on a starring role in The Christmas Chronicles, and continued
racking up horror roles in films like Summer of '84 and I See You.
Emily Alyn Lind, who plays Melanie, has also added to her horror credits with Doctor Sleep,
as well as projects like Replicas.
You may have also recognized The Babysitter's cult-member stars, Bella Thorne, Robbie Amell,
Hana Mae Lee, and Andrew Bachelor.
Since then, Thorne has starred in Assassination Nation and the thriller Ride, while Amell
has added projects like Upload, Code 8, and When We First Met.
Lee reprised her Pitch Perfect role for the third installment, and Bachelor's projects
include To All The Boys I've Loved Before and Rim of the World.
So, to say they've all been busy is a bit of an understatement.
There are plenty of familiar faces returning for The Babysitter: Killer Queen.
But the cast isn't the only place we can look to find a familiar face in the franchise.
The director's chair is also occupied by someone The Babysitter fans, and genre fans in general,
will recognize.
Killer Queen was once again directed by McG, who helmed the original film and has a long
track of genre hits that include the Charlie's Angels film from 2000 and Terminator: Salvation,
to name a few.
After The Babysitter, he directed the alien invasion adventure Rim of the World, and now
he's back for another horror chapter with Killer Queen.
"Oh no, it's all gonna get f---ed up again."
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