Better Watch Out

The Australian-American horror film Better Watch Out is a very specific variation on the home invasion genre, where at times you feel like it's a cross between Halloween and Home Alone. And then suddenly it's all a bit different. Incidentally, though, the references to Home Alone are quite crucial here and only underline the heaviness of the atmosphere, which goes from a children's film to an unpleasant slasher. (06/18/2019)

A teenage Funny Games, with a portion of unpredictability in the well-crafted screenplay, but the directing doesn’t do a good enough job of depicting the growing seriousness of the situation. When the main victim is supposed to be in the greatest shock in the climax, she looks like she did in the first third of the film, when she still had no idea that this wasn’t just child’s play. The villainous brat is both well cast and well acted, and the filmmakers’ goal of spicing up the Christmas family atmosphere with a bit of morbidity is praiseworthy. (11/29/2023)

*Go to this film with the least possible information, don’t watch the trailer and don’t read longer reviews* /// I had it in my sights for quite a long time – about a year and something – and the only thing I knew was that it was supposed to be a creative horror take on Home Alone. The information I got from the first festival responses was that it is better to not know much before watching it, so I restrained myself and tried for a change to go to a film almost blindly. It was a good idea! During the wait, I came up with many possible horror takes on Home Alone (for example, that they would protect the house against Santa Klaus, lol), but what I saw, well, I wasn’t prepared for that. After a long time, something that has really surprised me. And not with only the development of the plot, but also the atmosphere. I was expecting something lighter, but it’s actually pretty brutal. At the end of the year, this will surely be in the TOP 10, and Chris Peckover has another successful notch after Undocumented. (10/06/2017)