The Babysitter: Killer Queen - Not what I was expecting

It's rare that, when reviewing a sequel, I find myself more wanting to talk about the original, but bare with me.  In the first film, a boy gets a babysitter who turns out to be part of a 'blood cult' who worship the devil and want to sacrifice him to become Tik Tok influencers (no, really - I'm only being mildly sarcastic).  Anyway, the lad has other plans and the night becomes a fight for his life.  However, the stand-out (and star) of the show is the babysitter herself, played by Samara Weaving (niece of Elron and Agent Smith, I believe).  And, without wishing to give too much away about the first film, I was kind of expecting her to return for the sequel - that shouldn't be too much of a spoiler as her name was attached to the marketing for 2020's 'Killer Queen' addition.

Anyway, 'Part II' kicks off a couple of years later where the boy is trying to live a normal life, despite no one believing him about what happened on that fateful night (I started to moan about a reason why he had a witness, but this 'plot hole' actually gets cleared up later).  He then takes a trip with some friends to a lake to get away from it all (or rather with ONE friend, the others seem to hate him, but never mind).

Guess what?  Bad things start to happen and much blood gets sprayed in many characters' faces.

Now, I know the original was about devil worshiping, but I never really considered it a 'supernatural' film, more standard horror/teen slasher.  However, 'Killer Queen' leans heavily into the supernatural element, so be prepared for a severe tonal shift in the gore.  Secondly, the story does kind of change some characters' motivations from what we once thought they were (again, if you saw the original).  I didn't really like the change because I thought it was a bit out of character, but in the end I just went with it (and had a much better time when doing so).

And, finally, if - like me - you were expecting a major return from Samara Weaving, you'll be bitterly disappointed.  I'd describe her screentime as little more than an extended cameo, which is a shame as the film would have been better with more of her.

Now, if I'm sounding a little negative it's because the first time I tried to watch this film it was a few years after I'd seen 'The Babysitter' and I'd sort of forgotten the original story.  I therefore turned it off midway through.  However, because I enjoyed the first one so much I watched it again and then decided to watch the sequel back to back.  And that certainly makes it a more enjoyable experience.

Part II is a good film, but feels very different from the original.  It does retain a lot of the black comedy and gore - which is good, but you have to be prepared for many changes to the overall feel if you're going to really get the most out of it.  I kind of think of the two films as two completely separate tongue in cheek horror movies, both with their good points (only the first is probably better).

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that