Young teen Luke (Miller) has a crush on his babysitter Ashley (DeJonge), and asks his buddy Garrett (Oxenbould) to help get something going before she moves away. Luke's bickering parents (Madsen and Warburton) are too busy with Christmas decorations to notice this, and head out one night for a festive party. Alone in the house with Ashley, Luke makes his move and is quickly rebuffed. But there are strange noises outside that give him a chance to prove himself. Is it one of her boyfriends (Mikic and Montgomery) or something more menacing?

Director Peckover delights in wrong-footing the audience at every opportunity, mixing sarcastic humour with sudden jolts, snappy drama and insinuating suspense that plays on the usual scary movie tropes. Phones go dead, doorbells ring, shadows loom, spiders creep out of the corners, all while Luke tries to create a romantic atmosphere during a night in watching slasher movies with the sitter. As things escalate, the story takes several sharp turns that are both ghastly and bleakly humorous.

Miller and DeJonge are terrific, anchoring the film with an uneasy long-term friendship that's complicated by Luke's overriding lust and Ashley's jitters. Where this goes is impossible to predict, and both ground their characters in realism even as things get increasingly bonkers. And as the events spiral, Miller gets the chance to shine in a seriously full-on performance. That said, everyone in the cast is solid, adding layers of pitch-black comedy, intensity and emotion, often when we least expect it.

Even if there isn't much of a point to all of this, the central premise is clever and twisty, merrily scrambling teen, horror and holiday iconography with elements that the audience is meant to work out before the next plot shift is revealed. Where it goes is dark and messy, as the balance of power shifts in some unexpectedly moving directions. And as things become more desperate, there's a sense that pretty much anything might happen, which is rare in any of these genres.

themes, language, violence

3.Dec.17