BETTER WATCH OUT (2017) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

better watch out (2017) movie

Genre              |   Horror Thriller

Classification   |   MA 15+

Running time   |   89 minutes

Released         |   23 November 2017

cast

Darce Montgomery as Jeremy
Patrick Warburton as Robert
Virginia Madsen as Deandra
Olivia DeJonge as Ashley
Ben Oxenbould as Garrett

director

Chris Peckover

writer

​Zack Kahn ... (screenplay by) and
Chris Peckover ... (screenplay by)
 
Zack Kahn ... (story by)

cinematographer

​Carl Robertson

music

​Brian Cachia

film editor

​Julie-Anne De Ruvo

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box office result

Worldwide               $155,919

Australia                 $5,444

North America        $20,369

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MOVIE MINUTIAE

The position of door handles in Australia has even been a source for fascination for overseas visitors. When filming the 2017 horror movie in Australia American director and writer Chris Peckover mentioned door handle height in an online interview. He claimed they were so abnormally high, his eyes were constantly drawn to them, they were a source of frustration and detracted him from filming.

A lot of references to HOME ALONE (1990) throughout the movie. Christmas carols, spiders, and paint cans being thrown.

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BETTER WATCH OUT (2017) MOVIE IMAGES

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BETTER WATCH OUT (2017) STORY SYNOPSIS

When you think the suburbs, you think safety, but this holiday night the suburbs are anything but safe. Ashley (Olivia DeJonge) thought this babysitting job was going to be an easy night, but the night takes a turn when dangerous intruders break in and terrorize her and the twelve-year-old boy, Luke (Levi Miller), she’s caring for. Ashley defends her charge to the best of her ability only to discover this is no normal home invasion.

BETTER WATCH OUT (2017) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 10 November 2017
Pop ​Movee Rating ⭐⭐⭐½

​BETTER WATCH OUT is not family-friendly Yuletide viewing. Nor is it the movie that its own trailers suggest; a hardcore “HOME ALONE” home invasion thriller. BETTER WATCH OUT is, in fact, a psychological thriller. Director Chris Peckover has fashioned an intriguing 89 minutes of adolescent emotional mayhem. With Co-writer Zack Khan, Peckover shows how a person, in this case a near-teenage boy by the name of Lucas, played by Levi Miller, can become so consumed in measuring their own self-worth that they become a textbook case for Freudian analysis.

The Freudian themes apply not just to the character of Lucas, they extend into every relationship he has and the film looks at the way in which EGO and ID battle it out for psychological supremacy in the absence of an emerging SUPEREGO. The result is a sly commentary about what drives society’s current descent into individual needs for absolute entitlement in every interaction. All this set against the backdrop of the Christmas spirit gives Better Watch Out a sharp sense of immediacy.

BETTER WATCH OUT opens with Miller’s Lucas and Ed Oxenbould’s Garrett hanging out in the former’s bedroom. Lucas has concocted a plan to try and romantically woo his babysitter Ashley, played by Olivia DeJonge. Lucas has been crushing on her forever and he needs to make his move before she moves away to College. Garrett thinks it’s a lame plan as says as much in an unflattering fashion, unaware that Lucas’s Mother, played by Virginia Madsen, is standing in the bedroom doorway. Peckover and Khan cleverly work their character’s dialogue at this point to set Garrett up as the “bad influence”, with Madsen complaining to her husband Robert, played by Patrick Warburton, that their son’s friend is not her favourite person in the world.

The arrival of the gorgeous Ashley doesn’t just bring out the charmer in Lucas. Robert engages in a one-man charm offensive that demonstrates just how close the young lady is to the entire Lerner household. Again, the scripting and the direction work hard at misdirection, pushing the audience to believe that the film’s early scenes are about establishing a tight knit triumvirate between Lucas, Garrett and Ashley as they are forced to confront an unknown, invading force of masked individuals determined to take whatever they want and do their worst to the three youngsters.

To say more is to say too much. There’s definitely a sense of “What the fuck just happened?” as the story collapses in on itself and transforms into something completely unexpected. The success of the twist is down to the performances of Miller, DeJonge and Oxenbould. As the story heads off in a different direction, each actor is required to transform their performance.

DeJonge and Oxenbould are already well-versed in the “twist” surprise, having anchored M. Night Shyamalan’s return-to-form movie THE VISIT back in 2015. Miller, who showed he could act when given the chance in 2016’s Pan, more-than-matches his colleagues. The addition of Aleks Mikic, as Ricky, and STRANGER THINGS' Darce Montgomery, as Jeremy, late in the piece add a whole new dimension to the Final Act as events seemingly spiral out of everyone’s control. With the clock ticking on the film’s short runtime, the Final Act seems like it’s going to come up short, but it’s a credit to Peckover that he and Film Editor Julie-Anne De Ruvo piece together a finale that delivers not just a one-two, but a one-two-three as the credits come to a close.

BETTER WATCH OUT has a very American feel to it, but the young cast of Australian actors is a sign the movie was shot at Fox Studios in Sydney. Storm Vision Entertainment, the production company of Australian filmmaker Shane Abbess, was responsible for bringing BETTER WATCH OUTto the screen and many of his frequent collaborators were involved in the film. Brian Cachia provided the score, Carl Robertson the cinematography, with Sidonie Abbene handling the overall producing duties.

BETTER WATCH OUT was also extremely fortunate to land Emmy Award-winning Art Director Richard Hobbs as its Production Designer. Despite its limited settings, the film genuinely feels like it’s taking place somewhere in suburban America on a snowy night leading up to Christmas. For a movie that is a small-scale endeavour in the scheme of feature films, Chris Peckover certainly feel on his feet with the ability to tap into Australian production experience that covers big screen blockbusters such as THOR: RAGNAROK (2017) and MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015) through to the likes of gold standard television production such as THE PACIFIC and the UNDERBELLY series. It may not be the most “feel good” movie set during Christmas, but BETTER WATCH OUT is a quality feature film that deserves to find an audience both in Australia and overseas.

BETTER WATCH OUT MOVIE (2017) USEFUL LINKS

​Better Watch Out (2016) - IMDb
​Better Watch Out - Wikipedia
​Better Watch Out (2017) - Rotten Tomatoes

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