Better Watch Out
Billed as a fun little Christmas home invasion movie where the trailer led you to believe the kids and their babysitter might run a modified Home Alone game on some intruders.
The trailer was misleading. It didn't really play out like that at all.
The movie was interesting, pretty well acted and had a touch of violently sick humor. It wasn't really a "Christmas" horror, per se. The Christmas aspect was really only tangentially connected to the film in any way whatsoever. It could have been Easter, Halloween, Fourth of July or Guy Fawkes Day. "Christmas" played a part only in how the set was decorated.
It comes out of Australia, most of the players were relatively unknown (and Australian) so it missed just a touch in translation, but was still fairly entertaining.
Levi Miller did a really good job playing a kid whose parental pampering left him spoiled and just a little too used to getting exactly what he wants. The joy he took in violence and the whimpering, sniveling brat he became with the tables were briefly turned were well done.
Olivia DeJonge, also Australian and the babysitter, was cute and believable as the intensity of the situation ebbed and flowed.
Ed Oxenbould, who played DeJonge's brother when both were in film The Visit, was the unfortunate nerdy go-along-with-the-plan friend who couldn't find the exit as events spiraled beyond what he anticipated.
A good story, probably aimed more for 15-18 year olds than for me, but I can still appreciate the effort put into the production and the way the actors handled their respective parts.
It's not a cinematic masterpiece, but it was a cheap and easy romp with a couple of twists and turns you'll probably see coming. Or maybe not.
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