Better Watch Out

One big pet hate of mine is when a good film is let down by a poor ending. It's a bit of a heartbreaker. All the good will a film builds gone in an instant. I don't know why it happens so often either? Writers front loading a film with goodness and then running out of ideas? Or plain just not caring? Or maybe studio interference? Whatever the reason it's a nuisance because no matter how good the film is, it's the ending you'll remember when you're leaving the cinema.

You can probably see where this look at Better Watch Out is going...

Luke is a 12 year old boy who's parents leave him in the charge of babysitter Ashley while they go to a Christmas party. This suits him down to the ground as he's mad about her. Ashley is 17 and has boy troubles of her own and no time for Luke's childish advances. Things start getting odd and slowly they realise someone is trying to get into the house and they must now rely on each other to get through the night.

I thoroughly enjoyed this up to the ending. It's well put together, well acted by the leads Olivia DeJonge and Levi Miller, it's funny and it does a fine job of subverting genre expectations. It's worth your while going into it knowing as little as possible about as it goes places you will not expect if you've avoided the trailers. It's also fun watching hints dropped earlier in the film coming to fruition in juicy ways. A Chekov's gun moment with a writing implement, a Kevin McAllister inspired piece of crunchy bloodshed. Characters with obvious motivations who turn out the exact opposite way. Moments designed to give you a knowing smile. The baddie is inspired too. With their odd voice and strangely moral and hypocritical stance on petty crime considering what they've been up to all night. Look at this paragraph, add it all up and we have the makings of a fine comedy horror right?

Nope. The ending ruins it all. A frustrating and insipid turn of events that will leave you thinking "So what?" when it's all over. I get the feeling the film makers may be gunning for a sequel but in doing so piss away any bit of goodwill they've earned. In a film like this we need a crowd pleaser of an ending. A bit of exhilaration and release. A real moment of "haha that was fucking deadly" instead of a "Seriously, is that the end?" 

84 minutes of fun ruined by 3 minutes at the end. Disappointing.