babysitter

A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting: How to Craft a Scary Story For Children

In the U.K., the pop culture phrase “behind the sofa” is used to refer to media that is scary enough to prompt kids to hide behind the nearest piece of furniture, but engaging enough to keep them from out-right fleeing the room. Strongly associated with Doctor Who, “behind the sofa” is a concept that can be applied far beyond the long-running science fiction series to speculative fiction (in particular horror) media targeted toward children and families. It’s perhaps a phrase British-American director Rachel Talalay, known for her work on some of NuWho’s most visually-ambitious installments, had in mind when directed…
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A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting

When high school freshman Kelly Ferguson (Tamara Smart) reluctantly agrees to babysit Jacob Zellman (Ian Ho) on Halloween, the last thing she expects is to be recruited into an international secret society of babysitters who protect kids with special powers from monsters. In order to keep Jacob safe from harm, Kelly teams with no-nonsense chapter Vice President Liz Lerue (Oona Laurence), tech genius Berna Vincent (Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson), creature expert Cassie Zhen (Lynn Masako Cheng) and potions master Curtis Critter (Ty Consiglio) to defeat a Boogeyman known as "The Grand Guignol" (Tom Felton), a glamorous witch named "Peggy Drood" (Indya…
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A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting Review: A So-So Supernatural Babysitters Club

It’s Halloween night, and the thing that most terrifies teenage misfit Kelly Ferguson (Tamara Smart) is making it through the popular kids’ party without being called “Monster Girl.” After the ill-advised choice to tell her peers about a traumatic incident of almost getting snatched by a monster as a child, the unfortunate nickname has stuck and tanked all hope of ever joining the in-crowd. It’s useful, then, that her mother (Crystal Balint) promised Kelly’s babysitting services to her ice queen boss Ms. Zellman (Tamsen McDonough) and her problem child Jacob (Ian Ho). But when that adorable child gets snatched by…
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A Babysitter’s Guide To Monster Hunting Trailer Teases Family-Friendly Scares

You’ve heard of the Babysitter’s Club, but have you heard of The Order of the Babysitters? It’s the super secret society babysitting society at the heart of Netflix‘s upcoming family horror film: A Babysitter’s Guide To Monster Hunting. The streamer just dropped the trailer for the film, which features Harry Potter’s Tom Felton as a very creepy nightmare man, aka Boogeyman, who kidnaps teenage protagonist Kelly’s (Tamara Smart) babysitting charge and promises to “unleash your nightmares on the world.” Yikes! Check it out… A Babysitter’s Guide To Monster Hunting is based on a series of books by Joe Ballarini, and…
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The Babysitter: Killer Queen Review

Just when you thought it was safe to check out Netflix tonight, the streamer has dumped a sequel to its 2017 hit The Babysitter into its endless river of algorithm-calibrated goo. But while some critics apparently found the first movie charming–and appreciated the presence of rising horror-comedy star Samara Weaving (Ready or Not)–The Babysitter: Killer Queen fails on every level to make even a perfunctory case for a follow-up. For one thing, Weaving is not the lead baddie this time around, even if most of the rest of the cast from the original encore here. Now you may ask how…
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