Format: Streaming video from NetFlix on Fire!
I have to make some real decisions with Better Watch Out when it comes to what I want to actually write about. This is a movie that very much trades on having a shock moment. More than that, the shock moment is one that appears about a third of the way into the movie, which (in my mind), is the right place to put the twist. Put the shock at the end, and often it will work and the audience will love it, and might even watch again to see any clues. But, frequently, this means there won’t be anything for the audience after that second watch. Put the twist early, though, and while the movie turns on it, the conclusion doesn’t, and the movie is a lot more rewatchable.
What this means is, like it or not, I have to make a choice. I can either talk about 25 minutes or so of the film or I can put most of this review under a spoiler tag. The thing of it is is that there’s a lot here I want to talk about, so I’m going with option 2. I’m going to talk about this whole movie, spoilers and all. You should consider everything after this paragraph to be potentially in spoiler territory, although the real spoilers probably won’t show up for a bit. You’ve been warned, and you proceed at your own peril.
As the name implies, Better Watch Out is a Christmas horror movie. Luke Lerner (Levi Miller) is 12, going on 13 and he certainly feels like he’s a lot older than that. He confides in his friend Garrett (Ed Oxenbould) that his goal is to find a way to have sex with Ashley (Olivia DeJonge), his 17-year-old babysitter. And, tonight’s the night. His parents (Patrick Warburton and Virginia Madsen) are heading off to a holiday party.
That’s our set up. Luke’s plan is to watch scary movies with Ashley in the hopes that she’ll be scared enough to, essentially, turn to him. Assisting him in this will be Garrett, who creates some disturbances around the house. He’s caught by Ashely, who pretty quickly twigs to the fact that Luke is trying to get with her. And then things turn very dark. A window upstairs in the house is broken in with a brick. Inscribed on the brick are the words “U leave, u die.” Garrett tests this and is shot running away from the house.
And just so you know, this is where the spoilers are going to start.
Luke and Ashley run away and hide in the house only to have an intruder break into the house and start hunting them. And it turns out the intruder…is Garrett. All of this was a set up to get Ashely scared enough to have sex with Luke. The moment she figures this out, Luke knocks her down the stairs and then duct tapes her to a chair.
For lack of a better way to put it, Better Watch Out is basically “Incel: The Movie.” Luke, for all of his being precocious, is also insufferable, smug, and carrying a massive chip on his shoulder. He is the absolute picture of privilege. Luke doesn’t want to have sex with Ashley. He feels completely entitled to it, and when she doesn’t fall into his arms, his retaliation is swift, brutal, and merciless. And again, remember that this retaliation is because a 17-year-old girl who has a boyfriend won’t have sex with him, a 12-year-old boy.
As the movie continues, it gets darker and darker and Luke’s entitlement and rage spin further and further out of control. Ashley’s current boyfriend Ricky (Aleks Mikic) and her previous boyfriend Jeremy (Dacre Montgomery) are invited to the party where Luke’s rage is going to be released on them as well. Throughout all of this, Luke has a plan to cover himself (and Garrett to a lesser extent) that will get him whatever revenge he feels he needs without any consequence to him. As his revenge spirals further and further into murderous territory and Luke’s psychopathy is put clearly on display, the question becomes not so much what is going to happen, but whether or not he’ll get away with it.
Better Watch Out is R-rated for the situation, not so much for any actual on-screen violence or gore. There’s very little of this; most of what would normally be shown in technicolor is kept just off screen. The focus here is far more on what is going on in Luke’s head and what that causes him to do to the people around him.
This movie is unpleasant in a lot of ways, but it’s supposed to be unpleasant. Luke is a nasty character, and he’s very much the poster boy for the incel movement. You don’t need a lot to flesh out this kid’s personality. He’s the type who spends his money on manliness lessons from Andrew Tate. This makes Better Watch Out a difficult watch, but one that feels accurate and on the edge of believable. There are plenty of guys who would act exactly the same way if they could figure out a way to get away with it.
Why to watch Better Watch Out: It’s a very good exploration of a particular toxic mindset.
Why not to watch: The smugness.
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