The unexpected sequel to 2017’s The Babysitter was just released by Netflix… called The Babysitter: Killer Queen. I thought that original horror comedy film was good gorey fun but I couldn’t imagine anyone would need a part 2. That said, you know, I kind of enjoyed this sequel more.

Set two years later, everyone (including his parents) thinks the kid from the first film (now in high school) is crazy. Nobody believes his story of a satanist cult and a killer babysitter. To avoid getting sent away by his parents, the kid heads out to a lake for some partying. And, wouldn’t you know it, a satanic cult is waiting for him with a whole new set of loony toon maniacs.

Like the first flick, this is more comedy than horror with multiple over-the-top splattery deaths… all played for ewww gross laughs. It’s in no way actually scary… but it certainly is funny. In fact, I laughed out loud a number of times. The movie is just nuts… and possibly excessively full of pop-culture references, recognizable musical cues, and callbacks to better movies. Some of this is great, some might go just a little too far into farce. And ultimately the “we’re just goofing” attitude gets in the way of any actual investment into the characters or situations.

But I ultimately laughed a lot and had good fun with most of the over-the-topness of it all. The cast is having fun, the FX and blood squib techs are giving it their all, and the editing and writing are going for it. It’s not all successful but I surprisingly had more fun with this compared to the first.

Score: 82