‘The Babysitter’ Pulls Back the Curtain on Classic Teen Archetypes [The Lady Killers Podcast]

“Things get messy when you make a deal with the devil.”

Babysitters occupy a unique place in society. Somewhere between child and adult, they step into the family system for a brief moment in time to hold the line of parental responsibility. Of course people of all ages and identities can and do babysit, but when we think of the amateur profession, it’s a high school girl that usually comes to mind. She is polite, demure, and responsible, young enough to kick back and have fun with the kids, but old enough to take charge in the event of a crisis. Cosplaying the role of mother, she often becomes an object of sexual desire and stereotypical temptation for discontent fathers and curious young boys. McG plays with this enigmatic archetype in The Babysitter, a satanic horror comedy featuring one of the coolest and most endearing antagonists in recent horror memory.

Babysitter Bee (Samara Weaving) seems too good to be true. This fun high school student not only has a killer sense of humor and doesn’t mind getting a little dirty, she’s smokin’ hot and will defend Cole (Judah Lewis) when neighborhood bullies come to call. But what does Bee do after tucking Cole in for the night? With his parents out of town for the weekend, the curious tween plans to stay up late and find out what goes on in the secret life of babysitters. Unfortunately, what he sees is a hellish game of truth or dare/spin the bottle that leads to bloody murder and human sacrifice. Now Cole must escape Bee and her satanic friends before his own blood can be used in their elaborate ritual.

The Lady Killers continue Back to School Horror month with a film that pits high school cool kids against a middle school boy coming into his own. Co-hosts Jenn Adams, Rocco Thompson, and Mae Shults explore the various teen archetypes present in the film while discussing devil books, crawl space fireworks, and hot bullies who could ruin their lives. Who would they choose for an  intergalactic dream team? How does Bee plan to get the blood out of that rug? Why is Bella Thorne always dressed as a cheerleader and what’s hotter than a non committal handjob while chatting about the butcher block? The Lady Killers dig into teen iconography and cool girl vibes while completing their own podcast ritual on this quasi-feminist film.

Stream below and subscribe now via Apple Podcasts and Spotify for future episodes that drop every Thursday.

Instagram | Twitter