Deck the halls people! I checked out the new Christmas thriller / horror flick “Better Watch Out” last night as I was beginning to crave me some holiday themed mayhem! I really had no idea just what to expect, but had heard this one had a few twists and turns under it’s belt and of course I love creepy Christmas movies so why the hell not kick off the holiday season with a possible bang. ‘Better Watch Out’ is indeed an interesting movie, especially because it of it’s clever mind game it plays at it’s nasty core. More thriller than horror, with it’s fair share comedy and seemingly lighthearted holiday seasoned set up.

We get a familiar feeling here, two tween boys hang out around Christmas time awaiting the cute babysitter to arrive while the parents head off to a holiday gathering. Of course the main character is seriously crushed out on her and has a “brilliant” idea of finally letting her know he feels later that night. As the night progresses though, strange things begin happening around the house and soon it’s clear there’s a devious intruder stalking them. Nothing too outside of the norm here huh? Well things get interesting sooner rather than later as it’s evident this is not your average home invasion survival movie.

I enjoyed this one and as I said earlier, wasn’t sure just what to expect, so when the shit hit the fan I ‘ll admit, for the most part I was a bit surprised. I was hoping for something a bit more mind bending to go down but once I’d accepted the movies direction I was more than happy to see how it played out to it’s blood soaked end, becoming much more of a thriller comedy more than a horror movie.  There’s still some pretty intense moments but most of the movie’s “gore” takes place largely off screen. Still it somehow manages to keep a fairly light tone throughout despite it mean villains. We also get some pretty decent performances out the young cast as well as a lot of fun cat and mouse style chase scenes.

You might recognize the babysitter Olivia Dejonge & the pot smoking tween buddy of our main character, Ed Oxenbould , both from M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Visit” another movie I liked een more than this. Better watch Out does a great job keeping it’s big secret and it’s tough these days to try and pull the wool over anyone’s eyes as most of us at this point have pretty much seen it all. The movie also wraps up in a great way which again showcases it’s strength in yet another good gotcha moment. Overall this here’s a nice solid installment to the offbeat holiday movie genre if you’re tired of the same old same old. Check it out! Christmas is right around the corner!