Netflix tip: McG's THE BABYSITTER mashes genres for a funny, gory, sweet 'n nasty treat

Looking for a guilty pleasure that will really pleasure you -- in a number of ways -- if you don't mind an unusual mix of sweet-family-feel-good, blood-guts-and-gore, a very young coming-of-age tale, devil worship and murder, all wrapped in one of the most rambunctious, well-paced, pull-out-all-the-stops tales in quite some time? Then THE BABYSITTER, a new film from McG that's available now via Netflix streaming, may be just your cup of tea. The filmmaker (shown below) has had a rather spotty, up-and-down record over the years -- from Charlie's Angels to We Are Marshall, Terminator Salvation and Three Days to Kill -- but this new film is one of his most throwaway yet simultaneously his most oddly delightful ventures.

The mix-and-mash of genres here works surprisingly but wonderfully, beginning with McG's choice of leading boy: the terrific Judah Lewis, who gets a role in which he is allowed to do practically everything and does it all to a fare-thee-well. He handles fear and smarts and action and attraction and so much more with such believability and aplomb that he'll win you over in a flash and keep you with him all the way.

As written by Brian Duffield, who clearly has a good understanding of each of the genres he uses and abuses, the movie begins as a bullied young adolescent tale before morphing into a kind of Home Alone (with murdering satanists), and then into -- well, just hang on for the very wild ride.

Young Master Lewis (above, left) plays Cole, and his co-star is that gorgeous and clearly pretty talented Australian actress Samara Weaving (above, right, whom you can also see currently as the co-star of Mayhem and in the juicy little role of the ex-husband's current squeeze in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri).

Ms Weaving begins the film as that titular movie icon: the beautiful, kind, helpful babysitter you can turn to for just about everything. And then the nastiness and gore begins. How all this goes down -- helped along marvelously by McG's and Duffield's sense of humor -- is full of both the expected and the un-, and the pacing is so on the mark that the film's energy, as well as our attention, never flag. There is always something funny or gory or ridiculous (but clever) around the next corner.

The supporting cast is quite well-chosen, too, with every role (and actor in it) a kind of stand-out of sorts. That's Andrew Bachelor under all the blood, two photos up, and Bella Thorne (above, left) and Robbie Amell (above, right). Mr. Amell, with his to-die-for torso, has the movie's best line said about him by young Cole: "Why does he have his shirt off?" Cole asks this question more than once, and while it never gets answered, it manages, in wonderfully ironic fashion, to speak volumes about everything from sex in slasher movies to the gay gaze, the male "fitness" imperative, the Adonis/ Narcissus complex, and the need to undress, come hell or high water.

The movie's second best line -- an on-the-mark humdinger -- is spoken by the cute little girl (Emily Alyn Lind, above, right) who lives across the street and to whom our Cole is attracted. That line should rightly remind males about rational thinking and making intelligent judgments despite a current individual event or disappointment.

All this melds together with such bizarre finesse that The Babysitter takes its place as one of this year's best guilty pleasures. If you're of a mind for this sort of thing, add the movie to your Netflix list now. (I don't think the film is currently available anywhere else.)

SiREN: the nifty new horror/thriller from Gregg Biship and David Bruckner

Stealing (or maybe homaging) from all sorts of earlier efforts in the horror genre -- most noticeably in the lead creature's special effects via Vincenzo Natali's Splice -- the new monster/horror/ Satanist/boys-behaving-badly movie, SiREN (and, yes, that lower case "i" is intentional) turns out to be a very nice example of what can be done in the fantasy genre when you couple a low budget to some free-wheeling and creative minds. We may have seen all these various pieces previously, but the manner in which screenwriter David Bruckner and director Gregg Bishop have assembled them works like gangbusters.

Misters Bishop, shown at left, and Bruckner hand us two very different situations/ scenarios -- the Satanic calling-up of some sort of evil creature (first seen as a frightening little girl, and then as a sexy, scary adult) and the bachelor party of a nice young man (Chase Williamson, below) about to be married to a nice young woman -- and then jam the two together into a fast-paced, frightening 83 minutes in which the now grown SiREN of the title sets her sights on that hunky young man, making his and his mates' lives more than a little miserable in the process.

If that were all, it would be plenty, but the movie offers some other nice treats (well, treats for fans of horror films, at least): subsidiary characters imagined with more than the usual, run-of-the-mill motives and visuals. First there is a fellow named Mr. Nyx, played by Justin Welborn, below, who seems to best understand what is going on here and also to be able to control it. Then there is Nyx's assistant, Ash, played with sly relish by Brittany S. Hall, a looker in a blue wig. (What we get when that wig is removed proves one of the more creative special effects.)

The bachelor party bros are also well cast and characterized, with each registering swiftly and strongly in his role. (That's Michael Aaron Milligan, below, as our hero's extremely stupid-but-caring brother.)

SiREN's special effects, in fact, are surprisingly good, given the film's relatively low budget. These are not offered non-stop -- as in so many of our current Marvel (and other) blockbuster schlock  -- but are dished out quite selectively. They are also well-chosen, often surprising, and done with imagination and skill.

In the title role is an actress -- Hannah Fierman (above and below) -- whom I first saw in the segment of the horror anthology, V/H/S, from which the current film has been expanded. That short segment was impressive, all right, and the full-length movie that has resulted from it is, too. (This is not a case, as often happens, of an expansion outstaying its welcome.) Ms Fierman is as impressive here as she was in short form: weird and weirdly beautiful, she'll sweep you off your feet, just as she does, quite literally, our hero.

For a film that takes you places you've already been, SiREN manages this with unusual flair and even some surprise. Its fast pace seldom lessens, right up to the climax that, while it paves the way for a sequel, offers a perfectly fine and fixating finale all its own.

From Chiller Films, the movie opens in New York (at the Cinema Village) and Los Angeles (and the Arena Cinelounge) this Friday, December 2. For anyone not located in these two cultural capitals, SiREN will hit VOD, DVD and Digital HD this coming Tuesday, December 6th.