Alternative Christmas films are in vogue now more than ever, with the unexpected likes of gnarly horror Krampus, Mel Gibson thriller Fatman, David Harbour actioner Violent Night, and Shane Black crime caper Kiss Kiss Bang Bang joining the regular roster of favorites on the annual rewatch list, but let’s not forget about Chris Peckover’s Better Watch Out.
The instant cult classic arrived to very little fanfare in late 2017, with a very limited theatrical release yielding a mere $188,000 at the box office, even if word-of-mouth among genre aficionados was strong. Throw in a Certified Fresh score of Rotten Tomatoes that’s currently sitting at a hefty 89 percent, and it’s clear we’re talking about an under-the-radar gem, and not a lump of coal.
Better Watch Out takes a familiar setup from several disparate genres, and throws them into a melting pot of madness to deliver a gloriously unhinged yuletide treat that finds Olivia DeJonge’s Ashley traveling to suburbia to babysit a 12 year-old kid over the holidays, before things take a turn for the worse when a violent band of home intruders arrive on the scene.
Part slasher, part single-location actioner, and part home invasion thriller, fans have been demanding a sequel for years. In a most welcome turn of events, director and co-writer Peckover hinted that he’s got something in mind.
Is it too much to ask for Better Watch Out to get the sequel treatment? Plenty of worse films have gotten a cavalcade of continuations, but one of the most criminally overlooked festive treats of the last decade still sits as a one-and-done, which simply will not do.