Mini Review
Day 17: ‘Catch Up’
The Babysitter (2017)
Another day, another film that I didn’t get to on a previous 31 Days Of Horror list, with McG’s The Babysitter (2017), a film that has been on my radar and now finally watched. McG has a very mixed filmography as director, generally there is something enjoyable about his films even if they are a little silly. There’s a certain flair that sticks out with his films and with The Babysitter it’s absolutely there and then some!
Young Cole (Judah Lewis) is a bit of an outcast, gets bullied regularly but still hangs out with his best friend Melanie (Emily Alyn Lind). Besides his best friend, he has formed a bond with his babysitter Bee (Samara Weaving) and has a bit of a crush on the older woman. However when Cole stays up past his bedtime whilst his parents are away, he learns a sinister secret about Bee and must fight to survive the night.
The Babysitter packs a punch, it really doesn’t apologise for being over the top, violent and darkly funny. The cast are all great, bringing their own flavour to each character with the stand outs being Judah Lewis, Samara Weaving with Robbie Amell, Hana Mae Lee and Bella Thorne (who play ‘friends’ of Bee’s) really delivering the gold. This is a fun time, you could even say a horror/comedy take on Home Alone (1990) that brings in the laughs and shocks.
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Mini Review
Day 18: ‘From the 2000s’
A Snake Of June (2002)
I am not overly familiar with the works of Shin’ya Tsukamoto, perhaps best known for the controversial Tetsuo (1989) and for 31 Days Of Horror this year I figured it would be a good time to get more familiar with Tsukamoto’s work. For the 2000s film, I chose A Snake Of June (2002) and whilst on the surface it may not seem to fit horror but in the hands of Tsukamoto it truly is a horror film on many levels.
A married couple Rinko (Asuka Kurosawa) and Shigehiko (Yûji Kôtari) are both stalked and blackmailed by a stranger (played by Taukamoto) The stranger knows Rinko from her job where she works in a call center for suicide prevention and he becomes obsessed with her and her life after he calls the line and speaks with her. He sends her photos in compromising situations and makes demands of her promising to give her the negatives. The spiral that the three characters go down is going to show each one who they truly are.
The characters are complex, Rinko and Shigehiko have a boring marriage, he’s older than her and his OCD keep him more occupied with cleaning than spending time with his wife. They don’t sleep in the same bed and their own desires in life aren’t being fulfilled. Enter the stranger who plays with their lives and this journey into sexual repression is surreal and oddly erotic with some intense visuals. The film is shown in a blue monochrome, with no colour, the coldness of the blue really adds another layer to the film. After this experience with A Snake Of June, I may need to explore more films from Tsukamoto.
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Reviews written by Marcella Papandrea
The Super Network 