Better Watch Out (2017)
Rated R for disturbing violent content, language throughout, crude sexual references, drug and alcohol use - all involving teens
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Score: 4 out of 5
I can't really say much about Better Watch Out in my review, as it is not what it seems at first glance. The basic setup of the film is a bag of horror cliches -- a pretty teenage girl named Ashley is babysitting a young boy named Luke during the holidays while his parents are out for the night, only for an armed, masked intruder to put the house under siege, cutting the phone lines, slashing the car's tires, and shooting the kid's friend when he shows up at the door. At the end of the first act, however, there is a twist. It is a big one, it completely changes the type of movie this is, and it is virtually impossible to avoid talking about when reviewing the film. I can allude to some of the fucked-up shit that happens after the twist, and I can say that I figured out what was really going on about ten minutes before they dropped the bombshell, but for the sake of not ruining one of the best little surprises of the year, I will instead tell you to go into this movie blind. Hell, I suggest you stop reading this review right now and go watch it, just in case I give away too much.
. . .
Okay? We're good?
Got it.
Anyway, what starts out as a home invasion thriller turns out to have something much more interesting going on beneath the surface. At its core, this is a film about entitlement, with the real villain being a young man obsessed with Ashley who, influenced by the toxic machismo of his friends and the world he grew up in, won't take "no" for an answer. This is where I fell in love with this film. The villain here is utterly chilling, a human monster who you would not suspect just from looking at him, treating what he does to Ashley and the people around her like a sick game. The subtext of why he wants to be with Ashley hangs in the background -- a little too far back at times -- but it is present from the point of the reveal onward, adding an extra layer of slime to everything he does. Even his accomplice, a guy who's strongly hinted to have helped forge the villain's sick outlook on life, is shocked by what he does, and I was right there with him. This is a film where the villain really makes the movie, and as such, it's hard trying to avoid going into more detail on him.
So instead, I'll talk about everything else, starting with the cast. I was surprised to learn that this was an Australian-American co-production with a mostly Australian cast (save for Patrick Warburton and Virginia Madsen in small roles as Luke's parents), because the quality of the accents was such that I never once guessed that the characters in this film were anything but all-American kids -- especially impressive on the part of the child actors playing Luke and his friend Garrett. All of them turned in very impressive performances, especially young Levi Miller as Luke, a kid who finds himself in a horrible situation and a role that could've gone so wrong but, without spoiling anything, turns out to be this film's secret weapon. Olivia DeJonge gets a lot to do given the circumstances in which her character spends most of the film, acquitting herself admirably, as does Ed Oxenbould (her co-star in The Visit, oddly enough) as Luke's dumbass friend Garrett, Aleks Mikic as Ashley's boyfriend Ricky, and Dacre Montgomery as her shifty ex Jeremy. Director Chris Peckover (who co-wrote the film with Zack Kahn) does great work in the director's chair, establishing a sense of place within the house as characters move around, while also imbuing the film with a twisted, black comedy air as the villain's antics grow increasingly outrageous. The film gets a lot of mileage out of the Christmastime setting, especially given the many allusions to Home Alone that this film serves up. Ever wonder what would actually happen if somebody dropped a paint can on somebody else's face from upstairs? Well, we don't actually see the poor sucker's face afterwards, but if the villain's comments and the mix of red blood and yellow paint pooling at the victim's feet are any indication, it's not pretty. Peckover doesn't actually show a lot of the gore, but he shows enough to allude to some very sick scenes.
. . .
Okay? We're good?
Got it.
Anyway, what starts out as a home invasion thriller turns out to have something much more interesting going on beneath the surface. At its core, this is a film about entitlement, with the real villain being a young man obsessed with Ashley who, influenced by the toxic machismo of his friends and the world he grew up in, won't take "no" for an answer. This is where I fell in love with this film. The villain here is utterly chilling, a human monster who you would not suspect just from looking at him, treating what he does to Ashley and the people around her like a sick game. The subtext of why he wants to be with Ashley hangs in the background -- a little too far back at times -- but it is present from the point of the reveal onward, adding an extra layer of slime to everything he does. Even his accomplice, a guy who's strongly hinted to have helped forge the villain's sick outlook on life, is shocked by what he does, and I was right there with him. This is a film where the villain really makes the movie, and as such, it's hard trying to avoid going into more detail on him.
So instead, I'll talk about everything else, starting with the cast. I was surprised to learn that this was an Australian-American co-production with a mostly Australian cast (save for Patrick Warburton and Virginia Madsen in small roles as Luke's parents), because the quality of the accents was such that I never once guessed that the characters in this film were anything but all-American kids -- especially impressive on the part of the child actors playing Luke and his friend Garrett. All of them turned in very impressive performances, especially young Levi Miller as Luke, a kid who finds himself in a horrible situation and a role that could've gone so wrong but, without spoiling anything, turns out to be this film's secret weapon. Olivia DeJonge gets a lot to do given the circumstances in which her character spends most of the film, acquitting herself admirably, as does Ed Oxenbould (her co-star in The Visit, oddly enough) as Luke's dumbass friend Garrett, Aleks Mikic as Ashley's boyfriend Ricky, and Dacre Montgomery as her shifty ex Jeremy. Director Chris Peckover (who co-wrote the film with Zack Kahn) does great work in the director's chair, establishing a sense of place within the house as characters move around, while also imbuing the film with a twisted, black comedy air as the villain's antics grow increasingly outrageous. The film gets a lot of mileage out of the Christmastime setting, especially given the many allusions to Home Alone that this film serves up. Ever wonder what would actually happen if somebody dropped a paint can on somebody else's face from upstairs? Well, we don't actually see the poor sucker's face afterwards, but if the villain's comments and the mix of red blood and yellow paint pooling at the victim's feet are any indication, it's not pretty. Peckover doesn't actually show a lot of the gore, but he shows enough to allude to some very sick scenes.
The Bottom Line
This is a movie that gets very dark, very fast, and while I think it could have taken its subtext further than it did, it otherwise makes for a beautifully brutal holiday horror flick. Check it out, but don't read any spoilers first.
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