The Night Sitter

The 2018 movie "The Night Sitter" from directors and writers Abiel Bruhn and John Rocco definitely had potential. But it ended up as being a very scrambled mess of a movie, and I lost interest in it fairly quickly given the fact that the characters were essentially as interesting as the tarmac of a rundown airport.

The concept idea of "The Night Sitter" had some interesting ideas and elements, but it was just brought to life on the screen in a very lackluster manner, and the movie suffered terribly from that.

And it didn't help to boost the movie or its enjoyment one bit that the storyline was so prolonged and slow-paced. It literally felt like you were getting nowhere while watching the movie. It took writers Abiel Bruhn and John Rocco so long to get from A to B, and managed to cram in very little of interest along the way.

Yes, I managed to endure "The Night Sitter" to the very end, hoping that the movie would do a 180 and become interesting. It just never happened, and I must also admit to be using my phone frequently throughout the course of this movie.

Definitely not a movie I can recommend that you waste your time, money or effort on. Nor is it a movie that I will ever be returning to watch a second time around.

It's as if 2016's Better Watch Out met 2017's The Babysitter and had an average child the following year as 2018's The Night Sitter.

Think Die Hard's the only "Is It a Christmas Movie?" debate out there? You haven't seen this. They practically shove Christmas down our throats with Christmas lights and lighting everywhere along with one throwaway "Merry Christmas" and a theory only Kirk Cameron would like to rebut, but that's it. If it were minor, like you see a Christmas Tree in the unfocused background or the opposite: it had everything to do with Christmas, I could see it relevant. Instead, it's just distracting.

Okay, so this movie's trying to be funny, and it is...occasionally. This movie is trying to be edgy and it isn't...ever. And it's trying to be just as cool as it's parents, the aforementioned Better Watch Out and The Babysitter, and...it's sorta. It's just way too complex for its own good. In fact, so many of the subplots either wither away, or they literally cut away from them to get to another subplot. Or the main plot? There's so many of those circling around. At least the neighbor's super cute and the best character in the movie.

Hard to break down the synopsis, but I guess the very basic story is: the title character takes on two boys for a babysitting gig and while there's more about her than we'd like to know, the kid's being terrorized by "three mothers" after his own mother's passing. These could be part of his imagination when he's trying to sleep, but the idea sure wreaks havoc on the Title's own plan.

I did my best to not spoil anything there and be warned: I only gave maybe a tenth of the plots involved here. It's almost like they had 10 writers all trying to one-up the other. And all stoned, of course.

Now, it doesn't seem like I'm giving this movie a positive review. I liked it. I really didn't have too much of a problem except, as stated, the jokes MOSTLY fell flat and when the plots deflated like an untied balloon does, I kind of cringed. It was a well-worth it horror and REALLY stepped it up in the final act. Especially with a lot of gore and good special effects. Definitely a recommendation.

***

Final thoughts: And now, for the next reboot of The Addams Family, I give you the next Pugsley! The kid who played Ronnie: spitting image and while his screen time here was short, it does look like he has a future. I hope he pursues it.

Not worth the watch, but not terrible if you just want something on; maybe at a Halloween party where no one is really watching it closely. Torn between 4-5/10, but the production quality and the second half were alright so I bumped it up.

Beginning *way *too overacted with the dad, and the annoying kid was just insufferable to have on screen.

The premise was good, but that's about it. The story was bad, the dialogue was bad, and it felt unfocused. The way the robbers acted was so *outlandish* and didn't track at all: Picked a lock fast? Better take a sex break in another room, who needs to rush?

By the middle of the movie it would have made more sense if they were all college kids who happened to be crashing a house party or something. Ignoring that part, it became a fine horror movie at the middle mark, but it was nothing special and I can't recommend it.

The "twist" was lame and predicable, but the end 30m had a few chaotic demon scenes that were fun to watch. The weird occult-nerd neighbor actually was pretty funny once they started using him too.

If you want a mindless late night movie to watch, this may do it for you. Nothing new here, but enough of the scenes work for me to stay for the whole thing. Not bad :) 6/10

Not a classic, but it's an enjoyable fun film. I enjoyed the nods to Dario Argento with the 'Three Mothers' and the use of different coloured lighting. As a horror film it perhaps lack real scares, and as a comedy it's not really full-on belly-laugh funny, but it kept me interested and I enjoyed it.