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Better Watch Out

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Watch Better Watch Out with a subscription on Peacock, rent on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

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Carried by its charismatic young cast, Better Watch Out is an adorably sinister holiday horror film.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Chris Peckover

Levi Miller

Olivia DeJonge

Ed Oxenbould

Dacre Montgomery

Aleks Mikic

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Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, better watch out.

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The Christmas-themed home-invasion movie "Better Watch Out" starts out as one kind of unpleasant, then switches gears to a higher level of unearned nastiness. This is the kind of lousy horror movie that hinges on a twist that comes about 30 minutes in: protagonists you thought were innocent are now implicated, leaving viewers with a completely different understanding of their prior behavior and their general nature. I won't tell you more about the twist because it is, realistically, the film's only novelty. But after it has played out, the film runs on the cheap fumes of "Betcha Didn't See That Coming" shock tactics. If you do, in fact, see it all coming, or if you simply do not enjoy having characters' malicious behavior rubbed in your face for a solid hour, you'll check out, unless you can convince yourself that stock horror movie characters become interesting simply by virtue of having been turned upside-down.

The movie follows two examples of horror archetypes, pubescent "nice guy" nerds and a " final girl " babysitter, as they are stalked and harassed by mysterious home invaders around Christmas-time. Horndog teens Luke ( Levi Miller ) and Garrett ( Ed Oxenbould ) contemplate losing their virginity behind closed bedroom doors. Luke wants to put the moves on five-years-older sitter Ashley ( Olivia DeJonge ), who gets left alone with Luke when his pushover dad ( Patrick Warburton ) and control freak mom ( Virginia Madsen ) head out to a party. Luke desperately tries to walk Ashley to second base by drinking his parents' booze and awkwardly putting his head on her shoulder. Thankfully, Ashley doesn't have to peel Luke off her leg for long: somebody has slipped into the house while nobody was paying attention. And they have a mask and a gun. Simple so far, right?

Well, buckle up, dear reader, because things are not what they seem! The zeal with which writer/director Chris Peckover and co-writer Zack Kahn turn the tables on viewers' understanding of this scenario is obnoxious unto itself. What's worse is the way that Peckover and Kahn demand that you stay invested in paper-thin characters as they proceed to terrorize each other and/or ineffectively strain against victimization. Every possible contrivance is thrown at viewers, from a booby-trapped backyard to a cell phone dropped in a fish tank. The baddies are always somehow faster and more agile than the good guys, and the victims are only interesting because of the mitigating circumstances that humanize them long enough to make you root for them. We're given no reason to care about these characters, beyond simple "Run away faster!" or "Beat him up!" impulses.

"Better Watch Out" is an infuriating sit because it requires you to invest in the programmatic bullying of a certain type of character, then cheer on that same stock type as he or she defies expectations and refuses to be pummeled into oblivion. It's the kind of movie that pushes your buttons at every turn, and casts actors based solely on their ability to play to your snap judgments of what they're   "really" like off-screen. Peckover and Kahn run with those notions, then let you fill in the blanks of what their characters are actually like, drawing on decades of other genre films that sold you the same bill of goods: sexual repression bad, token female empowerment good. When the film ends, we've been traded one set of unchallenging cliches for another. 

Simon Abrams

Simon Abrams is a native New Yorker and freelance film critic whose work has been featured in  The New York Times ,  Vanity Fair ,  The Village Voice,  and elsewhere.

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Better Watch Out (2017)

Rated R for disturbing violent content, language throughout, crude sexual references, drug and alcohol use - all involving teens.

Virginia Madsen as Deandra

Patrick Warburton as Robert

Olivia DeJonge as Ashley

Ed Oxenbould as Garett

Dacre Montgomery as Jeremy

Aleks Mikic as Ricky

Tara Jade Borg as Caroler

Levi Miller as Luke

• Chris Peckover

Writer (story by)

Cinematographer.

• Carl Robertson
• Julie-Anne De Ruvo
• Brian Cachia

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Film Review: ‘Better Watch Out’

Nice rapidly turns to naughty in this Christmas-set black comedy horror film.

By Dennis Harvey

Dennis Harvey

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“Home Alone” meets “The Bad Seed” in “Better Watch Out,” a clever black comedy-cum-horror pic in which the apparent home invasion that traps a babysitter and her charges turns out to be something else entirely. This macabre Christmas movie, a co-production shot in Australia but set in Anytown USA, seems destined to become one of those Yuletide perennials for people who like their holiday-themed entertainment as perversely un-wholesome as possible. It’s already sold to numerous territories (including Well Go for North America) with an eye toward a seasonally appropriate late-2017 release.

Squabbling as usual before leaving for a dinner party, the Lerners (expert comic turns by Virginia Madsen and Patrick Warburton, seen again just briefly at the end) leave only-child Lukas ( Levi Miller ) in the care of Ashley (Olivia DeJonge). At age 12, you might expect Luke to chafe at still requiring a sitter. But in fact he has high expectations for the night with this very pretty teen who’s minded him for years now — absurd expectations, perhaps, of declaring his love and even consummating it.

When, after having sneaked some champagne, he duly commences such overtures, Ashley’s reaction is exactly as bemused and appalled as any grownup might expect. However, the awkward standoff is interrupted by mystery phone calls, signs of disturbance both inside and out the house, then finally a clear threat of menacing intruders.

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It would be spoiling the first major surprise to reveal more, beyond noting that the rapidly escalating events soon involve Lukas’ geeky playmate Garrett (Ed Oxenbould), as well as luring Ashley’s current boyfriend (Aleks Mikic’s Ricky) and past one (Dacre Montgomery as Jeremy) into the mix. Phones and computers are conveniently disabled even before people starting being duct-taped to dining room chairs. What starts out looking like a prank run amuck gradually grows more sinister, with director Chris Peckover (“Undocumented”) nicely handling the swerves toward dramatic peril and fatal consequences while still maintaining a confectionary “family entertainment” veneer of antic doings in a glossy suburban setting.

A familiar suspension of disbelief is required by Zack Kahn and Peckover’s script — the kind that requires you accept that someone very young might already be a diabolical mastermind and that no one in their life would have noticed. But the slightly cartoonish air (from variably caricatured supporting roles to a soundtrack full of ironic Christmas cheer) enables that leap, just as the eventual grimly serious moments are impactful without straying into bad taste or cynical misanthropy.

Aussie thesp DeJonge of “The Visit” (sporting an American accent, like everyone here) provides grit and resilience as the principal victim, who never stops trying to re-assert her authority as the designated adult (or near-adult). Miller (from “Pan” and “Jasper Jones”) is quite startling as a seemingly ordinary brat whose precociousness gets ever more alarming. Many movies in this general realm fail because the juvenile actor can’t quite summon a full, convincing depth of malevolence. It’s surely a testament to this actor’s resources that eventually we can conceive of no fate too cruel for a character at once so monstrous and infuriatingly childish. Oxenbould and Mikic also impress, dimensionalizing smaller, potentially one-note roles.

Shot in a Sydney studio for a hyperreal, snow-globe look that subtly sends up more conventional Christmas movies, the film’s design contributions add up to a deceptively bright, cheerful widescreen package. Brian Cachia’s orchestral score likewise goes for a subversive effect by aping the sounds of mainstream family seriocomedies, though the content here is more grand guignol than “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” The now more cannily titled “Better Watch Out” was called “Safe Neighborhood” during its production and initial screenings last year.

Reviewed at Seattle Film Festival, June 11, 2017. (Also in Fantastic, Sydney film festivals.) Running time: 89 MIN.

• Production: (Australia-U.S.) A Well Go USA release (U.S.) of a Storm Vision Entertainment and Best Medicine Prods. presentation. (International sales: Versatile, Paris.) Producers: Sidonie Abbene, Brion Hambel, Paul Jensen, Brett Thornquest. Executive producers: Steven Matsuko, Shane Abbess. Co-producers: Matthew Graham, Matthew Jennison.
• Crew: Director: Chris Peckover. Screenplay: Zack Kahn, Chris Peckover, from a story by Kahn. Camera (color, widescreen, HD): Carl Robertson. Editor: Julie-Anne De Ruvo (confirm). Music: Brian Cachia.
• With: Levi Miller, Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Dacre Montgomery, Aleks Mikic, Patrick Warburton, Virginia Madsen.

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Better Watch Out review – deranged mind games and faultless performances in Christmas horror

Three young Australian actors lead the action in Home Alone gone bad-style thriller, with a big and cheeky twist

Better Watch Out is hardly the first scary movie to juxtapose festive season merriment alongside gnarly thrills, involving menacing phone calls, sharp instruments and various applications of duct tape.

Watching it reminded me of the, shall we say, morally dubious 1984 slasher flick Silent Night, Deadly Night – a cinematic experience I was sure I had repressed. A smattering of other films over the years – most of them junk, with titles like Happy Helladays and Slaughter Claus – have put the “yell” in “yuletide”, the “slay” in “sleigh” and the, er, “nnnnoooooo!” in “Noel”.

Nor is Better Watch Out the only gooseflesh-raising, Christmas-set Australian film to be released this year. Director Craig Anderson’s low-budget debut, Red Christmas, the subject of a recent ABC TV documentary , charmed genre enthusiasts with the tale of an aborted fetus that returns to murder its family. Anderson’s bloodbath was set in Australia but starred an American, scream queen Dee Wallace.

Better Watch Out, from the director Chris Peckover, is an Australia/US co-production set in America (but filmed in Sydney, Australia) starring three young Australians in the lead roles.

Olivia DeJonge (from ABC TV’s Hiding) plays teenage babysitter Ashley. She is assigned the – as it turns out – not so easy job of looking after 12-year-old Luke (Levi Miller, from Red Dog: True Blue and Jasper Jones ) and tolerating his best buddy, Garrett (Ed Oxenbould, from Paper Planes and The Butterfly Tree ). The trio deliver faultless high-impact performances, joined by Dacre Montgomery and Aleks Mikic as Ashley’s past and present love interests and Patrick Warburton and Virginia Madsen as Luke’s parents.

One of the characters – to avoid spoilers I won’t say which – reminded me of Brandon (John Dall), the key antagonist in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 classic Rope: a slick but despicable creature who believes he is morally entitled to murder people who are less intelligent than him.

It’s as if Peckover, who co-wrote the screenplay with Zack Kahn, caught up with this foul fellow at a different point in his life, his cruelty present but the intellectual justification for it – however flimsy – yet to be developed.

You’ll pardon the elusiveness, because this is a film in which any description of the plot, and what role the characters ultimately play in it, needs to be tiptoed around. Things begin ordinarily enough, in so far as standard home invasion thrillers go, with requisite fake-outs and jump scares as Ashley and Luke potter about in Luke’s home, watching a scary movie. Out of nowhere a pizza delivery man – who we don’t see the face of – arrives with dinner, which unsettles Ashley given nobody placed an order.

A big and cheeky twist arrives relatively early on, transforming this largely single-setting film – which clocks in at a lean, pressure-packed 99 minutes – from a generic Home Alone gone bad squeaker into something considerably more interesting and playful.

At one point characters partake in a round of Truth or Dare, one of the actors delivering the words “it’ll be dare, of course” with a slithering, serpentine wickedness. The screenwriters must have had big, sick smiles on their faces when they heard that on ordinary-on-paper line delivered so squeamishly effectively, such is the calibre of the acting.

In this scene, and others as well, characters are embroiled in deranged mind games. Or, to borrow the title of two Michael Haneke films (a 1997 original and his own remake a decade later), which Better Watch Out has been compared to, Funny Games.

There isn’t as much going on underneath the bonnet as in that Austrian auteur’s self-reflexive narrative but, in a sense, Peckover’s challenge was harder: how to innovate when everybody thinks they have seen it all before, while adhering to the rules of “reality” – i.e. no meta touches or stylistic flourishes that remove us from the world of the characters.

This year has been a big one for scary movies, some say the biggest in horror history . It has also been a vintage year for spooky Australian films, Better Watch Out joining other notable skin-crawlers including Cargo , Killing Ground and Hounds of Love .

Of all of them, Peckover’s film is the least thematic and the most reliant on plot and characters. Working within a heavily codified structure, he’s found a way to keep it fresh and exciting.

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Review – Better Watch Out

Director: Chris Peckover

Writer(s): Zack Khan, Chris Peckover

Release Date: October 6, 2017

What’s this?

It’s a Christmas-themed home-invasion thriller that rather quickly reinvents itself as a deceptively novel and clever subversion of a Christmas-themed home-invasion thriller. It’s also incredibly tricky to review, because there’s a huge plot twist at the end of the first act that completely upends everything you thought you knew about the characters, their general nature and their prior behaviour.

Oh. What’s the plan, then?

As much as I’d like to spoil it just to talk about all the stuff I liked, I’ll refrain. The film has already been released in various territories, but it only hit streaming platforms in the U.S. earlier this month, and it might still see a timely theatrical release in December, which means that there’s a substantial untapped audience for Better Watch Out that I’d very much like to see it impress. You’ll excuse me, then, if this review is a little shorter than usual, but it’s for your own good.

Okay. What’re the basics?

The Lerners (Virginia Madsen and Patrick Warburton) are a squabbling middle-class suburban family in Anywhere, USA, who frequently leave their precocious 12-year-old son, Lukas (Levi Miller), in the care of his regular babysitter, Ashley (Olivia DeJonge). You’d assume that the young lad would bristle at the necessity of a minder, but no – Ashley is a hottie, and Lukas, naively, believes she has a thing for him. We meet him in his bedroom – immaculate, full of expensive grown-up toys and the odd tell-tale childish leftover – concocting a scheme with his pothead chum, Garrett (Ed Oxenbould), to confess his feelings for her and, hopefully, get his end away.

Lukas’s attempts at seduction are hilarious and squirm-inducing and vaguely, uncomfortably reminiscent of all your failed attempts to get laid as a teenager. He affects a slightly deeper voice (it still cracks into a squeal when he shouts) and a swaggering, tough-guy walk. He pops a bottle of his parents’ champagne and chugs it without a glass. Ashley’s reactions run the gamut from amused to bemused to appalled, and the very pretty DeJonge seems to draw from what I assume is a wealth of real-life experience with moronic young boys – and, let’s be frank, moronic not-so-young men.

This spectacularly awkward standoff is predictably interrupted by mysterious phone calls, signs of interior and exterior disturbance, and eventually the clear and present threat of menacing, masked, armed intruders.

That sounds pretty familiar.

Yeah, well, don’t get used to it. As phones and computers become conveniently unusable and rolls of duct tape start being unpeeled, Better Watch Out quickly and efficiently morphs into a wholly different type of experience. The director is Chris Peckover, and what he’s able to do with well-worn scenarios and tropes is fairly striking; the film has the glossy, seasonal veneer of family entertainment like Home Alone , replete with caricatured supporting characters (among them Aleks Mikic and Dacre Montgomery as Ashley’s current and ex-boyfriends) and a soundtrack full of ironic Christmas cheer, but it descends into grimly serious moments that are impactful and often quite shocking without straying into the realms of exploitation and bad taste.

Oh. That sounds interesting.

It is. And it’s made even more so by a handful of solid performances, particularly from DeJonge and Miller. Both have a lot to play; it’s a tough gig, this, with the Aussie (last seen in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit ) having to sell herself as both a determined protector and a gritty, resilient victim, and the Pan star serving up several courses of oddly effeminate strutting, macho posturing and childlike vulnerability. You’re expected to buy some character turns that are a bit of a stretch, but I guess that’s par for the course in a film with this one’s ambition.

Isn’t this a Christmas movie?

Ostensibly, but it’s more a send-up of traditional holiday fare. The film was shot in a Sydney studio, but it shakes the glossy suburban setting for an authentically over-the-top snow-globe effect. The picturesque family home is festooned with garish decorations; twinkling multi-coloured lights, rows of wire reindeers across the awning, and giant candy canes wedged into the fallen snow. It’s believable in its ridiculousness. The Lerners have that loveable compensatory festive spirit that you see a lot in light-hearted, mainstream Christmas comedies, and Brian Cachlia’s orchestral score, which effectively apes the sound of such things, makes you believe you might be watching one.

Believe me – you’re watching something else entirely.

What doesn’t work?

There are a few things, most of them either a consequence of the genre or the film’s own ambition. The screenplay by Zack Khan and Peckover requires a suspension of disbelief, especially as it descends into the more outlandish territory, and it’s littered with contrivances that aren’t all necessary. The central conceit of turning stock horror characters upside-down simply won’t offer enough novelty for some viewers, and for all the film’s effective shock tactics, if you fail to buy into the concept or the unlikely villain, then Better Watch Out doesn’t really offer anything beyond that.

Recommendation?

Check it out if you can. So often moviegoers lament the lack of originality in genre filmmaking, seemingly without realising that by turning their noses up at stuff like Better Watch Out they’re hampering the ability of ambitious filmmakers to have their work made and distributed. It’s undeniably flawed and certainly not for everyone, but it’s a fun take on the seasonal slasher that is well-worth the time of anyone who’d like more blood and guts with their turkeys.

Article by Jonathon Wilson

Jonathon is one of the co-founders of Ready Steady Cut and has been an instrumental part of the team since its inception in 2017. Jonathon has remained involved in all aspects of the site’s operation, mainly dedicated to its content output, remaining one of its primary Entertainment writers while also functioning as our dedicated Commissioning Editor, publishing over 6,500 articles.

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Film review: Better Watch Out

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★☆☆☆☆ This is a profoundly unappealing Christmas-themed horror flick about Luke (Levi Miller), a rich and seemingly oversexed 12-year-old boy who decides to kidnap and torture his 17-year-old babysitter, Ashley (Olivia DeJonge). Luke has read a study (of course he has) that suggests that women get turned on by fear (of course they do), so he slaps Ashley in the face, pushes her down the stairs, ties her to a chair with duct tape, then feels one of her breasts and decapitates her boyfriend with a swinging paint tin. Not scary, not provocative, just depressingly, unremarkably crass. 15, 89min

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Better Watch Out – Movie Review (5/5)

Posted by Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard | Oct 13, 2017 | 3 minutes

Better Watch Out  is the perfect horror comedy for the Holiday season. It could easily become my Christmas tradition to watch it yearly!

Better Watch Out  perfectly sets the Christmas mood with carol singers and decorations. However, there’s no real “spirit of Christmas” otherwise.

Instead, we get a  real Christmas gift in this perfect horror comedy.

While my love of the horror comedy genre is no secret, neither is my immense disappointment when a movie doesn’t deliver. With  Better Watch Out I get everything I could wish for. Or rather, I get even more than I wished for.

The thing this movie  really has going for it is the fact that it keeps surprising. And while it may be horror comedy, it’s also very intelligent.

Also, there’s drama and violence which is often served with a perfect dash of satire. Just to keep us on our toes, but not ruin the horror comedy vibe.

Yes, I am  very happy  with this movie. In fact, I can’t wait to watch it again though I will wait till we’re closer to Christmas.

This cast is a Christmas miracle

The right cast is important for any movie, but for a horror comedy, the need for comedic timing and kick-ass characters suddenly become even more important.

From the very beginning, the mood is set when Virgina Madsen ( Candyman ) and Patrick Warburton (Netflix’s Lemony Snicket ) are introduced as “the parents”. The dialogue between them is so sharp, dark, and funny that I  knew I was in for a treat with this movie.

Their son is portrayed by Levi Miller ( Pan ), who is  brilliant in this movie. You have to watch it to really enjoy all the nuances in his performance. Personally, I wish he would do horror comedies (or any kind of horror) regularly from now on.

His best friend, Garrett, is played by Ed Oxenbould, while his babysitter, Ashley, is portrayed by Olivia DeJonge.

All three younger actors are Australian, but their accents are spot-on, so you’d never know.

Also, you’ll probably recognize Ed Oxenbould and Olivia DeJonge from M. Night Shyamalan’s  The Visit . They stared in the movie as siblings. And trust me, they’re just a perfectly cast in  Better Watch Out as they were in  The Visit .

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About The Author

Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard

I write reviews and recaps on Heaven of Horror. And yes, it does happen that I find myself screaming, when watching a good horror movie. I love psychological horror, survival horror and kick-ass women. Also, I have a huge soft spot for a good horror-comedy. Oh yeah, and I absolutely HATE when animals are harmed in movies, so I will immediately think less of any movie, where animals are harmed for entertainment (even if the animals are just really good actors). Fortunately, horror doesn't use this nearly as much as comedy. And people assume horror lovers are the messed up ones. Go figure!

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‘Better Watch Out’ review — Nothing is what it seems in this Holiday horror

Better watch out  is the kind of smart and witty horror movie that fans will love to watch and dissect.

You’d better watch out. You’d better not cry. You’d better not shout, I’m telling you why… Because there are armed invaders attacking the home you’re babysitting in.

That’s the horrifying premise of  Better Watch Out ,  an Australian horror movie that takes place in the American suburbs around Christmas time. However, this is no holly jolly Christmas movie. 17-year-old Ashley ( Olivia DeJonge , quite good here) is babysitting 12-year-old Luke ( Levi Miller ), your typical preteen boy who is going through that awkward stage of puberty where his voice is a little lower but squeaks and is having sexual urges but is still seen as a kid.

However, that’s not stopping him from trying to seduce Ashley while she’s watching him. That storyline is already played for laughs as he tries and fails to prove that he’s more adult than she thinks. But then, a brick comes crashing through an upstairs window that reads, “U leave and U die.”

It’s difficult to talk about the rest of the movie because part of its success comes from the effectiveness of its twists and turns. So I’m going to warn you now. If you haven’t watched  Better Watch Out , go on and watch it, then come back to this review. If you are a fan of psychological horror with an edge of wit to it, then this one is for you.

I’ll try and tread lightly, so you thrill seekers that want to risk reading the rest can do so generally spoiler free.

Better Watch Out   reveals the movie it’s really trying to be in almost a split second. And it’s that change that will make or break this movie for audiences because it asks you to very quickly reevaluate your feelings toward characters without exactly earning it. For me, it was an incredibly effective twist that makes this movie a stunning watch.

For the rest of the running time,  Better Watch Out   plays like  Home Alone  mashed together with  Funny Games.  It may be one of the oddest descriptions of a film, but it is actually adept at explaining the mood and plot beats. At one point, the characters play a demented game of truth or dare that ends with one of the most twisted horror movie kills in recent memory, but director Chris Peckover doesn’t glorify the gore. It’s present, but he doesn’t linger on it.

In general, he doesn’t linger on the violent side of what is happening. Instead, the movie is a pretty sensible commentary on privilege, as one of the characters feels justified in their actions because they believe they deserve it. Halloween  was a commentary on how our suburbs aren’t safe. Better Watch Out   is an updated view on that topic that makes the danger a little closer to home.

Like  The Cabin In the Woods , which stands as one of the best horror movies of the decade,  Better Watch Out   has a razor wit to its storytelling. It has a surprisingly light mood considering the subject matter and plays well as a comedy, albeit the darkest of comedies, and a horror.

Although, its success as a horror and a comedy rely on your buy-in to the characters. And Miller and DeJonge make that easy with two beautifully realized performances. Miller, in particular, feels like a star in the making. Which might happen with  A Wrinkle in Time  on the way.

Better Watch Out   is like a puzzle that horror fans get to dissect, which makes it a true joy to watch. Even better, it’s a movie that demands you react to it. You’ll laugh. You’ll yell at characters. You’ll cringe. It’s just another indication that we’re in a golden age of horror. But not only that. It’s a golden age of original horror. The kind that you never see coming. And trust me, you won’t see what Better Watch Out  has in store coming.

Better Watch Out is available to stream on Shudder!

Karl’s rating:

Karl Delossantos

Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.

• Karl Delossantos https://smashcutreviews.com/author/karldelogmail-com/ 12 Years A Slave Movie Review — A Beautiful, Unflinching Film
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Review: ‘Better Watch Out’ delivers nasty holiday fun

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In the long, sordid history of the “Christmas horror” sub-genre, there’s never been a movie quite like “Better Watch Out,” a consistently surprising and unusually well-acted thriller, which says pertinent things about suburbia, holiday entertainment and toxic masculinity.

A cast of veteran Australian child actors credibly evokes upper-middle-class Americana, with Olivia DeJonge playing Ashley, a teenage babysitter who takes a last-minute gig to look after 12-year-old Luke (Levi Miller). What Ashley doesn’t anticipate is that Luke — who’s long had a crush on her — has enlisted his nerdy friend Garrett (Ed Oxenbould) to scare her into his arms.

The plan almost immediately takes some unexpected turns, as other guests drop by. Gradually, Ashley figures out what’s happening, and has to use her wiles to protect herself and the household she’s been hired to safeguard.

“Better Watch Out” wowed audiences on the festival circuit (under the title “Safe Neighborhood”) with jarring twists (best left undiscussed here), polished performances and director Chris Peckover’s accomplished style. But what’s likely to make it an enduring cult favorite is how attuned Peckover and his co-writer, Zack Kahn, are to the treacly nonsense of Christmas movies and the perverse fantasies of adolescent boys. From the shockingly raunchy dialogue to the ironic yuletide pop songs, this movie is a fun kind of nasty.

-------------

‘Better Watch Out’

Rating: R, for disturbing violent content, language throughout, crude sexual references, drug and alcohol use — all involving teens

Running time: 1 hour, 29 minutes

Playing: Arena Cinelounge Sunset, Hollywood

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Better watch out.

• Parents say (15)
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Based on 15 parent reviews

Clever but Rapey

This title has:

• Too much sex
• Too much swearing
• Too much drinking/drugs/smoking

Report this review

• Too much violence

Door knobs at eye level

Not appropriate for kids, amazing not very violent, not that violent really funny.

• Great role models

Okay If You Can Handle It

Better Watch Out

Where to Watch

Olivia DeJonge (Ashley) Levi Miller (Luke) Ed Oxenbould (Garrett) Aleks Mikic (Ricky) Dacre Montgomery (Jeremy) Patrick Warburton (Robert Lerner) Virginia Madsen (Deandra Lerner) Alexandra Matusko (Scary Movie Girl) Georgia Holland (Scary Movie Girl) Beau Andre (The Mangler)

Chris Peckover

On a quiet suburban street, a babysitter must defend a twelve-year-old boy from intruders, only to discover it's far from a normal home invasion.

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Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

Movie Review – Better Watch Out (2016)

December 6, 2017 by Rafael Motamayor

Better Watch Out , 2016.

Directed by Chris Peckover. Starring Olivia DeJonge, Levi Miller, Ed Oxenbould, Virginia Madsen, and Patrick Warburton.

On a quiet suburban street, a babysitter must defend a twelve-year-old boy from intruders, only to discover it’s far from a normal home invasion.

I’m going to do something that every reviewer advises against, and that is tell you not to read this review. I am reviewing this movie because it is great and want to tell everyone about it, but to even talk about the movie would be to give something away. I will try to avoid writing about more than the first 5 minutes of the movie, but if you’d rather experience Better Watch Out to it’s wicked fullest, just go see it right now. Don’t watch the trailer for it spoils the big surprise at the end of act 1. Just know this movie is really good and I’m giving it 4 out of 5 stars.

Chris Peckover – who also directed the political horror about border crossing, Undocumented – directs this Christmas-horror-comedy that has been described as both “An R-rated Home Alone ” and “A John Hughes movie written by Tarantino”. Better Watch Out is that and more. You have seen “home invasion” thrillers before, you have seen Christmas horror movies before. But Chris Peckover and co-writer Zack Kahn (from the animated Mad series) have many a surprise in store.

Despite Patrick Warburton and Virginia Madsen having top-billing as the parents leaving their kid alone with a babysitter, it’s the kids who are the starts of the movie. From Levi Miller playing 12-year-old Luke as your straight, white teenager who feels like the world owes him something. He stumbles during some scenes but is more than up to the task of being the adorable baby-faced kid with malicious intentions. An early scene shows Luke talking to his friend Garrett (Ed Oxenbould) about how horror movies “really makes girls wet.” His goal for the night? Getting some action with his babysitter, Ashley (Olivia DeJonge). DeJonge is the star of the movie. She play’s the 17-year-old babysitter who is just tired of being controlled by her parents, her boyfriend, and the intruders ruining her babysitting job.

Except for a small scene in the beginning of the movie, Better Watch Out takes place inside one location – a house that was entirely built on a sound stage. The house feels lived in, with lots of small details about the plot spread out that will require multiple viewings to really appreciate. Peckover and director of photography Carl Robertson make the house feel like a prison. One thing about the house set. Despite the movie taking place in Anytown, USA, it was filmed in Australia, where apparently the doorknobs are placed really high. This might get a bit distracting because one keeps looking at all the crazy doorknobs!

The long halls and the big living room won’t give you claustrophobia, but will instantly make you feel trapped the horror that the main characters will go through. The story may not give you nightmares, but your blood pressure will go up as soon as Ashley picks up the phone only to hear breathing on the other end of the line.

Better Watch Out knows the best Christmas horror films call for dark humour – bright-red blood on snow, someone tied to a chair with Christmas lights, a Home Alone running gag that will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about the sweet, innocent Kevin McCallister. Miller, Oxenbould and DeJonge have great chemistry (with the latter two having already shown good chemistry in The Visit) and just watching them react to the horrors around them is a lot of fun. The movie’s antagonist is especially delightful, even if their actions are quite disturbing. Even Dacre Montgomery shows up for a pre- Power Rangers and pre- Stranger Things role.

What makes Better Watch Out shine, are the many twists and turns in the story. Just when you feel like you know what’s about to happen, Peckover and Kahn reveal another darker, disturbing layer to the craziness that you’re witnessing – without it ever feeling forced. The cat and mouse game played by the protagonist and antagonist keeps escalating, and one can’t help but smile and stare in awe at how much fun this movie is.

Flickering Myth Rating  – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Rafael Motamayor

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Fun 'Better Watch Out' is for fans of twisted, unhinged horror

• Critic's rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

“Better Watch Out” is the thinking person’s stupid holiday horror movie.

Which means that ultimately it’s not stupid at all.

Co-writer and director Chris Peckover clearly knows his way around both the holiday and horror genres, and while this isn’t the first time someone has blended the two, it is one of the more-effective efforts. It’s scary and fun, if your idea of fun involves occasional gore and torture, things like that. Plus: Christmas decorations!

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Luke (Levi Miller) is a 12-year-old boy hanging out with his best friend, Garrett (Ed Oxenbould), waiting for his babysitter to arrive. Luke’s parents (Patrick Warburton and Virginia Madsen, terrific in acerbic cameos) are going to a holiday party, so Ashley (Olivia DeJonge) is on the way over.

The prospect certainly excites Luke. Ashley is about to move out of town, so, despite the age-and-maturity gap, Luke plans to make his move once his parents are gone.

That goes about as well as you’d expect, especially since Ashley keeps spending time on the phone with her boyfriend (Alexis Mikic). Popping the cork on some champagne doesn’t impress her as much as he had hoped (Luke is 12, after all). But he finally sits on the couch with her to watch a horror movie, hoping that might make her at least need comforting. She’s agreeable to the idea, and is indeed scared by the movie.

They were going to order a pizza, but Ashley forgot to make the call. Then, the pizza delivery guy shows up. But wait, who ordered it? Maybe Luke’s dad? Doesn’t he know Luke hates mushrooms?

Then they hear a noise outside.

From there things take a turn toward horror. And then a sharper turn in the same direction. But there are a lot of curves along the way. Peckover does a really good job of setting up expectations and then subverting them — and sometimes switching things around again.

It would spoil things to say much more, except in generalities. For instance, there is some gleeful sadism on display here, which fits surprisingly neatly alongside the film’s “Home Alone” fixation (both implicit and explicit). One minute you think it might be a triumph-of-the-geeks story. The next, you’re not so sure.

A vein of increasingly dark humor runs throughout the film — again, for those who are able to find laughs in this kind of thing. But if you like your horror unhinged, you won’t be disappointed.

The performances are uniformly good, though no one approaches the expert bickering between old pros Madsen and Warburton. DeJonge and especially Miller are good at what they’re asked to do, although saying more would be unfair.

Peckover doesn’t skimp on the holiday trappings. There are carolers, holiday songs, bright lights and a light-up Santa that keeps showing up unexpectedly. It’s a nice touch — this really does feel like a holiday movie, right up until the point that it doesn’t, unless the holiday in question is Halloween.

Reach Goodykoontz at [email protected]. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk.

'Better Watch Out,' 3.5 stars

Director: Chris Peckover.

Cast: Levi Miller, Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould.

Rating: R for disturbing violent content, language throughout, crude sexual references, drug and alcohol use, all involving teens.

Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★

Fair ★★★ Bad ★★ Bomb ★

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Better Watch Out

Streaming in:

We checked for updates on 248 streaming services on June 2, 2024 at 2:39:50 AM. Something wrong? Let us know!

Better Watch Out streaming: where to watch online?

Currently you are able to watch "Better Watch Out" streaming on Peacock, Hoopla, Showtime Apple TV Channel or for free with ads on The Roku Channel, Tubi TV, Crackle, Pluto TV. It is also possible to rent "Better Watch Out" on Amazon Video, Vudu, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Microsoft Store online and to download it on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu, AMC on Demand, Microsoft Store.

Where does Better Watch Out rank today? The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

Streaming charts last updated: 1:14:37 AM, 06/02/2024

Better Watch Out is 5670 on the JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts today. The movie has moved up the charts by 1871 places since yesterday. In the United States, it is currently more popular than Vanilla Sky but less popular than Gray Matter.

On a quiet suburban street tucked within a 'safe neighborhood', a babysitter must defend a twelve-year-old boy from strangers breaking into the house, only to discover that this is far from a normal home invasion.

Videos: Trailers, Teasers, Featurettes

Streaming Charts The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

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Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 40 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos
• 12-Track Digital Sound
• D-Cinema 96kHz Dolby Surround 7.1
• D-Cinema 96kHz 7.1

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'Godzilla Minus One' Review: The Iconic Monster Smashes His Way to Netflix

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The Big Picture

• Godzilla Minus One takes the iconic movie monster back to his roots and offers a thrilling take on the character, unleashing his destructive force in new ways.
• The film balances sweeping spectacle and tense action with the more complicated themes of war and loss, making it a solid monster movie that hardly ever makes a wrong step.
• While the film patiently builds up the looming threat of Godzilla, every sequence with the monster hits hard and showcases the magnificent craft of the VFX artists, making it one of the best recent entries in the series.

Though not the only movie monster out there, there is perhaps no more iconic figure than Godzilla . Whether you’ve seen merely one of his many movies or all of them, the towering figure has long cast a shadow over the trajectory of cinema itself. A monster of epic scale with atomic breath that he unleashes on the world , he has had the longest reign of any being put to screen. His latest, Godzilla Minus One , sees director Takashi Yamazaki taking the King of the Monsters back to his roots and offering him the chance to smash his way to new heights. Though always a destructive force, this film is the one that sees him being unleashed in new ways. Nothing and no one is safe from his destructive force as he becomes his own all-consuming being in one of the most thrilling takes on the character in recent memory.

Godzilla Minus One

Post war Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, baptized in the horrific power of the atomic bomb.

This isn’t to diminish some of the other recent efforts, as both the surprisingly engaging series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and the spectacular film Shin Godzilla have felt refreshing. In fact, Godzilla Minus One feels like it exists in the middle of the two, both in thematic interest and in quality. It is better than Monarch: Legacy of Monsters in that it doesn’t get too caught up in clunky narrative developments while not quite reaching the heights of something like Shin Godzilla . It ends up having more sweeping spectacle and tense action while also gesturing towards the more complicated themes of the latter as it grapples with the immense destruction of war. Whether you want to read it as a metaphor for immense loss or just get swept up in its thrills as a solid monster movie, G odzilla Minus One hardly ever makes a wrong step, even as these are mighty big feet it is working with . The King has truly returned.

What Is 'Godzilla Minus One' About?

First picking up in 1945 Japan at the end of World War II, this all begins with the troubled young Kōichi Shikishima ( Ryunosuke Kamiki ), who is a pilot making what he says is an emergency landing. Of course, after doing so, he discovers that there is a being on this island that soon attacks him and the soldiers there. The more dinosaur-like creature is initially quite small, at least relative to how we expect Godzilla to normally be, but the military is still no match for him as he gobbles them up. It is a bit of a shaky start , as the early design of this creature feels a little too reminiscent of elements of the disastrous 1988 American film, but it still settles in much better because of the commitment to the effects that will only grow more consistently incredible throughout the film. In this opening, everyone is killed, save for Shikishima and the lead mechanic, Sōsaku Tachibana ( Munetaka Aoki ), who must then try to rebuild their lives over the next couple of years in the aftermath of postwar Tokyo.

What is often already dire gets much worse when the United States conducts nuclear tests that mutate this being into a gargantuan Godzilla, leaving the people of Japan to come together to fight off the monster or be obliterated forever . While very much about history and the loss of war, it is grounded in people rather than being about how great the government is, as one character remarks that there is no one there who “will take responsibility for the chaos.” Though not a robust criticism by any means, as it skirts around some of the more troubling aspects of its history, it still offers up a slight dose of cynicism to chew on.

There is then an element of personal redemption at stake for Shikishima, just as there is an existential threat bearing down on all of them. He first begins working as a minesweeper with an eccentric crew that will then come face-to-boat with Godzilla. It makes for one of the most understated yet still tense sequences, as they must survive in their rather rinky-dink vessel that could easily make for a nice snack for the monster. This is merely the beginning of the outstanding visual effects that are not only impressive in terms of their spectacle but also in how they are deployed . Just seeing Godzilla swimming in pursuit of the boat is as stunning as it is sinister. It feels more like a scene from Jaws than it does an enormous monster movie. However, that makes it all the more effective as it gets more expansive with all that follows.

'Godzilla Minus One' Looks and Feels Like a Monster Movie Should

Though Godzilla Minus One isn’t afraid of showing Godzilla in all his glory, it also doesn’t go all out right away and instead patiently builds up the looming threat that he represents. The moment where they think they’ve defeated the creature, only to see how quickly it regenerates, is perfectly played as a grim stomach-drop of a moment. It’s the type of film that leans into being a hopeful crowd-pleaser, frequently in a way that undercuts its emotional moments, but the craft behind it remains magnificent. Godzilla Plus One is a film that showcases the art in the often undervalued work of VFX artists . They are as much a key to this film as anything.

Every sequence with Godzilla, while often sparing, as is a common complaint of the series that will likely arise with this one, hits hard for those patient enough for them. You feel every thundering step crashing into the ground as he makes his way through a crowded city that is struck with terrifying awe when he begins to build up his explosive power. The film isn’t quite as strong without him, feeling a bit lost in the middle and in some elements of the end, though the monster at the core is enough of the main attraction to smooth over any such flaws. When it all comes down to it and the door potentially left open for more, Godzilla Minus One more than carves out its place among the best entries of this long-running series . Whatever comes next for this refreshingly unique incarnation of the creature and his seemingly insatiable hunger for destruction, one can be glad this beautiful behemoth rose up once more.

Godzilla Minus One is among the best takes on the character not just of recent memory, but in his long reign in cinema.

• The visual effects are magnificent, showcasing the art and critical importance of the craft behind it.
• The film is as often stunning as it is sinister, starting small before getting even more effective as its more expansive.
• It's a truly thrilling experience that balances spectacle with more complicated themes of war and loss.

Godzilla Minus One is now available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

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10 New Movies Our Critics Are Talking About This Week

Whether you’re a casual moviegoer or an avid buff, our reviewers think these films are worth knowing about.

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By The New York Times

Critic’s Pick

A wordless cartoon to love.

‘Robot Dreams’

A dog and his robot friend explore 1980s New York in this wordless cartoon written and directed by Pablo Berger and adapted from the graphic novel of the same name.

From our review:

It’s marvelous how the film is able to sketch so much soul from such simple lines. The characters are drawn bluntly, just as they are in the book. Yet Berger, directing his first animated feature (but not his first silent film ), already boasts the creativity of a master. He frames images from inside a grimy microwave, or looking up from the bottom of a candy bowl as it’s being filled with jelly beans. One dizzying shot comes from the point of view of a snowman who’s popped off his own head and hurled it like a bowling ball.

In theaters. Read the full review .

The sulking dead.

‘handling the undead’.

After the dead are spontaneously reanimated, three families wrestle with the personal ramifications.

Director Thea Hvistendahl wisely takes her time getting to any real action. Instead, with a slow-moving camera and plenty of filtered sunlight, she conjures a dreamlike state, the sense of hanging between planes of existence that tends to accompany those who grieve. There are times when the film veers too near the maudlin for comfort, but it always finds its way back to something spare and meaningful. What would you do, the story gently asks, if your fondest and most impossible wish was granted, and you realized it wasn’t at all what you’d hoped it would be?

Swimming with the clichés.

‘young woman and the sea’.

This Disney drama is inspired by the true story of Trudy Ederle (played by Daisy Ridley), who in 1926 battled sexism and became the first woman to swim across the English Channel.

This is one of those movies that proves, when they’ve got a mind to, they can still make them like they used to. Which is to say, its production values are top-notch, the cast uniformly competent or better (Ridley is particularly winning), and the filmmaking language — the director here is Joachim Ronning, whose last at-bat with Disney was the 2019 critical misfire “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” — is meticulously calculated to deliver a rousing climax and an appropriately heartwarming coda. It’s also rather rich in cliché.

Jessica Lange, stealing the show.

‘the great lillian hall’.

The title character (Jessica Lange) is an aging stage actress who struggles personally and professionally in this melodrama directed by Michael Cristofer.

“The Great Lillian Hall” is not afraid to embrace its classicism; had it been made in the 1940s, it would have starred Bette Davis. Like many of the best golden-age melodramas, this HBO film fully commits to both unabashed emotion and a complicated female lead, a role filled by Jessica Lange with a finely tuned mix of showmanship and nuance.

Watch on Max . Read the full review .

A road trip along a familiar route.

After his son Ezra (William A. Fitzgerald), an 11-year-old with autism, is expelled from school, Max (Bobby Cannavale) kidnaps him from his ex-wife and the boy and his father embark on a cross-country road trip.

Written by Tony Spiridakis and directed by Tony Goldwyn, “Ezra” is standard Hollywood fare. Its mood is often playful, until there’s a hard tug at the heartstrings. Family members reconcile, while tough guys learn life lessons about being generous with their children, and their own inner children. What keeps the story sweet is the chemistry between Cannavale and Fitzgerald, who build a bond worth cherishing.

Viggo Mortensen’s inspired passion project.

‘the dead don’t hurt’.

A Danish sheriff, Olsen, and a French Canadian woman, Vivienne, try to forge a life together in a small Western town but the American Civil War makes that impossible in this sprawling epic starring Viggo Mortensen, who also wrote, directed, produced and scored.

Shooting primarily in Durango, Mexico, Mortensen ably handles the division of perspectives and dramas — when Olsen goes off to war, the movie cedes center stage to Vivienne — without ever losing interest or proportion. Only the ending, a would-be poetic parting note too gentle for the gritty spectacle that has preceded it, and too untethered to its themes, comes across as a weak point. Even then, with performances this good, it’s hard to mind much.

A volley from the small screen to the big screen.

‘haikyu the dumpster battle’.

This film, directed by Susumu Mitsunaka, is a continuation of the sports anime series “Haikyu!!” and follows a heated volleyball match between two high schools, Karasuno, with players like Shoyo Hinata, and rival Nekoma.

As in every match in the series, the Dumpster Battle uses imaginative visual metaphors to depict each team’s offensive and defensive strategies and overall playing philosophies. Karasuno is the crow, with Hinata’s awe-inspiring leaps above the court represented by a crow making an airborne attack. Nekoma is the cat, grounded with solid defense, stalking and manipulating its prey until it can find the right moment to clip the crow’s feathers.

Like if Michael Myers was the protagonist.

‘in a violent nature’.

This slasher takes the killer as its main character, following him through the woods from one murder to the next.

There is a calm implacability to “In a Violent Nature” that’s deeply unsettling and particularly unpleasant. Yet I was also transfixed: Chris Nash’s direction is so persuasively bold — brazen, really — and bloodcurdlingly coolheaded that his unusual shocker is impossible to dismiss.

A queer teen drama without the usual trauma.

When teenager Riley (Devery Jacobs) joins an all-star cheer squad, she must balance her mental health, her relationship with her girlfriend (Kudakwashe Rutendo) and her need to impress her new coach (Evan Rachel Wood).

The nonbinary director, D.W. Waterson, wanted to make the kind of film they wished they had seen growing up in a hockey-obsessed household in Canada. Which may explain why an earnest teen spirit seems to be alive and somersaulting in “Backspot,” a cheer squad tale offering plenty of life lessons. … The double full twist with “Backspot” is that the writer, Joanne Sarazen, and Waterson (who edited and scored the film), don’t center the coming-of-age drama in coming-out trauma.

A bride with cold feet. Cue the chaos.

‘the young wife’.

This comedy-drama directed by Tayarisha Poe follows Celestina (Kiersey Clemons) on her chaotic wedding day.

The film’s cacophony of voices, and a spotlight that roves across the party guests, creates a storm of light, color and sound in the midst of which Celestina ponders existential questions. … These are familiar, even hackneyed themes, which make the film’s relentless theatrics feel gratuitous and somewhat exhausting. Style overpowers substance, though Poe’s fantastic eye for composition and Clemons’s vivacious screen presence are undeniable.

In theaters and available to rent or buy on most major platforms . Read the full review .

Compiled by Kellina Moore .

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