Better Watch Out
“Better Watch Out” is a horror “comedy” about a deranged 12-year-old boy with a script that feels like it was written by a deranged 12-year-old boy.
Possibly it is billed as a horror “comedy” because it is relentlessly sarcastic and ironic, aware of its own supposed cleverness. Instead, it is just another depressing, nihilistic horror flick.
The setup: It’s Christmas Eve, and 12-year-old Luke (Levi Miller, Peter Pan in 2015’s “Pan”) gets one more night with his favorite babysitter Ashley (Olivia DeJonge), who is soon heading off to college. His mom and dad (Virginia Madsen and Patrick Warburton, barely in the film) leave for a party, and Luke, who clearly has a crush on Ashley, splits a bottle of wine with the teenager.
Suddenly, they hear noises, and are soon terrorized by an intruder. Turns out it’s Luke’s friend Garrett (Ed Oxenbould), playing an elaborate trick on Ashley that he and Luke cooked up.
Except that Luke has one more surprise, one that shocks even Garrett: He makes Ashley a prisoner, the beginning of a twisted revenge plot to get back at her for her lack of interest. Miller, considering he was 14 when he made this film, gives it a pretty good go as a psycho kid; his over-thetop condescension to Ashley is part of the supposed humor, as is the irony of Christmas carols in the background. Ho, ho, ho.
Actually, considering the mind-numbingly stupid script by director Chris Peckover and Zack Kahn, Peckover shows much more maturity in directing the film. “Better Watch Out” is set mostly in a two-level house and despite such a confined space, Peckover keeps it consistently visually interesting and moving along.
Maybe this is one of those films that plays better with a packed audience, but considering we are in a mini-golden age of horror films, “Better Watch Out” isn’t a very well wrapped present.
More like a gag gift.