Rating: 3/5 stars

“The Babysitter,” directed by McG (“Supernatural”), stars Judah Lewis (“Demolition”) as Cole, a 12-year-old kid whose parents still get him a babysitter. Luckily enough for him, his babysitter is a gorgeous senior named Bee, played by Samara Weaving (“Monster Trucks”), with whom he gets along extremely well. Unfortunately for him, he soon learns that she and her friends are actually part of a cult when they murder someone in his house, turning this film from a fun teen romp to a scarily funny, out-of-this-world goofy and gory romp.

McG has not had the best career when it comes to directing movies, with some examples of work being the “Charlie’s Angels” reboots released in the early 2000s and the critically panned “Terminator: Salvation” released in 2009. Needless to say, the guy has not had that much critical success.

That being said, there is just something about this film that 100 percent  works. Granted, this film is by no means a good film, but it is well made enough, is wildly entertaining and has just enough goofball antics and surprising charm to it, making it a very laid-back viewing experience with some legitimately surprising moments.

In terms of performances, this movie is all over the place. Lewis holds his own again here. He has come around quite a bit for a kid that did not star in “Stranger Things.” He was great last year in the indie hit “Demolition,” alongside Jake Gyllenhaal, and he holds his own again here. He also screen-tested to play the new Spider-Man back in 2015, a role he lost to Tom Holland (“Spider-Man: Homecoming”), but he still does a great job here as a John McClane-esque character who has to use pure instinct, and an insane amount of luck, to survive the night.

The rest of the cast is very few and far between. Weaving is actually very enjoyable as her character. She is also very likeable, even after her character impales two knives in a kid’s head, and her being drop-dead gorgeous does not hurt either. Her friends, played by Bella Thorne (“You Get Me”), Robbie Amell (“Nine Lives”), Hana Mae Lee (“Pitch Perfect”) and former Vine star Andrew Bachelor, aka King Bach (“Meet the Blacks”), are all different kinds of goofy. Thorne is stupidly goofy, Bachelor is just silly (although he does have one legitimately hilarious line), Lee is the silent kind of goofy, and Amell is just having an absolute blast. Seriously, the guy who is best known for getting killed off twice on “The Flash” has some of the funniest lines in this movie.

Without spoiling anything, despite the fact that the trailers did show that this movie was going to be violent, the kills in this movie are great. They are extremely creative, simultaneously hilarious and horrifying, and just a joy to witness.

For a movie pitched as “Scream” meets “Die Hard,” the “Die Hard” elements ended up showing way more than expected. This movie is massively entertaining and will leave viewers in shock and awe until the very end. It is completely ridiculous, but it has that dumb little bit of charm that will really make this one stick with audiences. It will definitely stick with viewers if they watched it for Halloween, but not necessarily for the reasons they might think.

Photo: Netflix via YouTube.com