Netflix Original The Babysitter: Killer Queen is killer fun

Netflix has begun streaming The Babysitter: Killer Queen, its follow-up to 2017’s The Babysitter. So, how does it stack up against the original?

If you’re like me, you absolutely loved The Babysitter, and had mixed feelings about The Babysitter: Killer Queen. What are the odds that a sequel could match the sheer action-packed, blood spewing, funny craziness of Samara Weaving and her strange pals versus a boy who was afraid of almost everything?

Judah Lewis’s Cole was a neurotic mess in The Babysitter, but he faced down many of his fears: spiders, needles, and driving a car, like a champ. By the end of the movie, he was able to confidently tell his parents that he didn’t need a babysitter anymore, even a cool, sexy sitter like Bee.

Though The Babysitter: Killer Queen is supposed to be set two years later, the timeline is a little wonky, because Cole was twelve in the first movie, and he seems to be about 16 in the sequel. Cole and his cute friend Melanie are in high school now, and are still friends.

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While the rest of his classmates still take pleasure in teasing and bullying him, Melanie (Emily Alyn Lind) is a steadfast friend, and invites him to go to the lake with her, her boyfriend Jimmy and their friends Boo Boo and Diego.

The opening scenes in Killer Queen are familiar territory. Just as in The Babysitter, we see Cole talking to the school nurse/counselor (played by the very funny Carl McDowell), getting hit in the head with a basketball, and talking to Melanie in front of the school while everyone else around them is in slow motion.

Cole’s parents, along with everyone else, don’t believe his crazy story about Bee belonging to a blood cult, and they are worried about his mental state. After all, Bee was nowhere to be found when the dust settled, and the whole thing seemed far fetched. When Cole won’t admit that it was all in his head, his parents arrange to admit him to a psychiatric hospital, and he decides to take off for the lake with Melanie when he finds out.

Joining in on the fun is new student Phoebe (Jenna Ortega), who shows up at the lake just in time to witness a “WTF” incident. Ortega is a nice addition to the cast, by the way, and she keeps things from feeling too much like a repeat.

That’s where things get bloody and dangerous again, and Bee’s fellow cult members come back from the dead to once again to obtain Cole’s “pure” blood. We have Allison, the conceited, dim-witted cheerleader, the perpetually shirtless Max, dark and intense Sonya and wanna be singer John.

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I don’t think these characters could have possibly been better cast. Bella Thorne, Robbie Amell, Hana Mae Lee and King Bach are extremely likeable, even as the resident villains, and they are so much fun to watch in action! They get a little more screen time in Killer Queen, and that time is put to very good use.

We get to see Allison chasing Cole in stilettos, and Max gets towed behind a boat in an inner tube. John channels his inner Eddie Murphy, complete with red leather suit, and Sonya goes after Cole with a blow torch. The talented cast members go all-out in their efforts to harvest Cole’s virgin blood, and it’s so much fun to watch.

It’s all very fast paced, with copious amounts of body fluids being tossed around in the mix, and the ending is slightly kooky, yet satisfying. Director McG manages to fit a few Easter eggs in the film, along with a ridiculously fun dance montage and an homage to video games, and the soundtrack is fantastic.

It says a lot about McG that nearly all of the actors from The Babysitter were more than happy to return for The Babysitter: Killer Queen, and they seem to be having a blast. Even Ken Marino and Leslie Bibb are back as Cole’s parents, and Chris Wylde returns to his role of Melanie’s oddball father.

Look, I know a lot of fans were put off by the initial trailer for Killer Queen, and were moaning about how it couldn’t possibly be good without Samara Weaving’s Bee.

And I am not going to give any spoilers, but I suggest you give The Babysitter: Killer Queen a shot. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Have you watched The Babysitter: Killer Queen since it began streaming? What are your thoughts? Tell us all about it in the comments section.