In these dark times, we can all use something fun to distract us from the pre-apocalyptic hellscape slowly catching fire outside our windows, and such an offering has arrived in the form of A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting, a trailer for which is now available.
The story follows teenager Kelly (Tamara Smart, Artemis Fowl) as she reluctantly agrees to babysit on Halloween. Unfortunately, her young charge Jacob’s belief that monsters are coming for him proves correct, and the young boy is kidnapped by a Boogeyman named the Grand Guignol (Tom Felton, Harry Potter). Kelly is subsequently inducted into the Order of the Babysitters, a worldwide secret society of teenagers who protect young children from the things under the bed that want to steal their special powers, and they set out to rescue Jacob before his mum gets home.
The movie, which after this year’s The Baby-Sitters Club and The Babysitter: Killer Queen could well cause havoc with Netflix’s search algorithms, is adapted from Joe Ballarini’s YA novel of the same name, the first in a trilogy that will likely continue to be brought to life should this prove successful enough. Although the basic setup is a little familiar (there will be few comments about it that don’t reference Labyrinth), the premise promising a story focusing on kids being able to sort out their own problems that adults remain oblivious to will result in something younger viewers can enjoy.
A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting will most probably be as harmless and light-hearted as the trailer makes it look, and its bright, energetic and extremely mild peril will provide something suitably scary that kids can watch with their parents before more hardcore stuff is brought out once they’ve gone to bed, hopefully safe from the monsters hidden in the darkness.