Better watch out

Movie
Original title	Better watch out
Country of production	Australia , USA
original language	English
Publishing year	2016
length	89 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	Chris Peckover
script	Zack Kahn , ; Chris Peckover
production	Sidonie Abbene , ; Brion Hambel , ; Paul Jensen , ; Brett Thornquest
music	Brian Cachia
camera	Carl Robertson
cut	Julie-Anne De Ruvo
occupation
	Levi Miller : Luke; Olivia DeJonge : Ashley; Patrick Warburton : Robert; Virginia Madsen : Deandra; Ed Oxenbould : Garrett; Dacre Montgomery : Jeremy; Aleks Mikic : Ricky; Tara Jade Borg : Caroler;

Better Watch Out (. English for "Better watch", original title Safe Neighborhood ) is an Australian - American r horror film by Chris Peckover , who as part of the 22 September 2016 festival Fantastic in Austin premiered. Peckover wrote the script together with Zack Kahn , who also came up with the idea for the story.

action

Deandra and Robert want to go out on the snowy evening before Christmas and don't worry about leaving their 12-year-old son Luke alone with his babysitter Ashley, because the suburbs are considered safe after all. Luke is secretly in love with Ashley, and although she has a boyfriend, he plans, with the help of his best friend Garrett, to finally convince her that he is the one for her. Time is running out, because this evening may be the last chance for this, as Ashley plans to move the next day.

Luke's plans become obsolete not only because Ashley is constantly on the phone with her boyfriend, but also because a stranger suddenly appears at the door and tries to gain entry to the house. The masked intruder thinks they have an easy time of it, but Luke and Ashley do everything they can to prevent him from entering the house and fight for survival with all their might.

Suddenly Ashley realizes, however, that the intruder is wearing a mask that looks familiar to her and reveals him to be Luke's friend Garrett, who was actually "shot" in the garden in the meantime, which turns out to be a ruse. As it turns out, Luke and Garrett played the entire threat to Ashley to impress on their rescue. Ashley has a violent tantrum and threatens Luke to tell his parents about his perfidious game.

Now it reveals to the viewer that Luke is a thoroughly disturbed character. He ties Ashley up and later also her friend Ricky, who wants to see if everything is going well. First, Ricky is brutally killed by Luke by throwing a paint bucket. Then Luke also calls Ashley's ex-boyfriend Jeremy to the house, whom he uses a ruse in the garden to write a suicide note and then hangs him. Garrett, feeling overwhelmed, tries to save Ashley, but is shot by Luke. Finally, Luke stabs Ashley to death too. It turns out that Luke planned the murders meticulously and wants to blame Jeremy by fingerprinting all murder weapons and faking Jeremy's suicide.

At the end of the film, the parents are back home, the mother hugs her son, who had faked a deep sleep, and the police and an ambulance are in front of the house. One of the paramedics calls out that the girl is still alive and they carry her to the ambulance. While Luke looks perplexed out of the window, Ashley shows him the "finger".

In the last fade, Luke says he's worried about Ashley and that he wants to go to the hospital with her.

production

Staff and cast

Directed by Chris Peckover , who together with Zack Kahn also wrote the script from which the idea for the story came. It is in Better Watch Out for the horror film Undocumented from 2011 to the second Peckovers feature film.

The roles of Ashley and Luke were cast with the young actors Olivia DeJonge and Levi Miller , who became famous in the film Pan in the leading role . Luke's parents Deandra and Robert are played by Virginia Madsen and Patrick Warburton . Dacre Montgomery took on the role of Jeremy, Aleks Mikic plays Ricky, and Tara Jade Borg plays Caroler. Ed Oxenbould plays Luke's best friend Garrett in the movie. Oxenbould and DeJonge had already stood together in front of the camera for the 2015 film The Visit by M. Night Shyamalan , in which they still played a pair of siblings.

Filming and film music

Filming took place at Fox Studios Moore Park in Sydney , Australia

Filming took place at Fox Studios Moore Park in Sydney , Australia .

The film music was composed by Brian Cachia . Mainly ironic Christmas sounds are used in the soundtrack. This contains 15 pieces of music and was released as a download on October 6, 2017.

publication

The original title of the film was Safe Neighborhood , under which it premiered on September 22, 2016 at the Fantastic Festival in Austin . In Germany, the film was shown for the first time as part of White Nights at the Fantasy Film Festival in January 2017 and at the Sydney Film Festival in June 2017 . From July 15, 2017 he was presented at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival. The film was released in select US cinemas on October 6, 2017 and in UK theaters on December 8, 2017. The film was released in Germany on January 18, 2018 as Blu-ray and DVD.

reception

Age rating

In the USA, the film received an R rating from the MPAA , which corresponds to a rating of 17 and over. In Germany the film is FSK 16.

Reviews

So far, the film has won over 88 percent of Rotten Tomatoes critics , received an average rating of 6.8 out of a possible 10 points and is among the best Christmas films of all time.

The Hollywood Reporter's Jordan Mintzer says the film can best be described as a mix of Kevin home alone and Michael Haneke's Funny Games . The sadistic horror comedy is a type of film that is difficult to categorize but is simply enjoyable.