At the risk of sounding like a pretentious, high minded, movie dweeb, I don’t take Netflix original movies very seriously.

This may be due to Netflix’s huge breadth of awesome, original television shows, with an unfortunate selection of homegrown movies (excluding the award-winning documentaries) limited to low budget, Adam Sandler or Kevin James centered family “comedies.”

However, despite my doubts, “The Babysitter” was not, to reference the movie itself, “the Big Bad.” The plot at its essence boils down to nerdy, worrywart Cole’s discovery of nefarious happenings during a night when he decides to wait up after Bee, his weekend babysitter (the ultimate 12-year-old’s dream girl), goes to sleep.

A clear homage to classic 80s horror, the campy, heavily stylized nature of the movie gave what could’ve been a bland plot rehash substance and charm. This can be credited to the excellent prop setup more so than the writing, which uses practical effects and prop set ups to set the atmosphere; a refreshing alternative to the jump scare heavy, CGI laden horror of recent movies.

The movie is “Scream” levels of self-referential, but takes itself less seriously, amping up the comedy and pop culture references to raunchy teen comedy levels. This can make the movie feel more “Wet Hot American Summer” or “Not Another Teen Movie” satirical than legitimate horror at times, and Andrew Bachner’s (better known as vine star “King Bach”) watered down, knock off Kevin Hart performance is not at all needed.

His “comedic” success on a 7 second vine does not transfer over to a feature length movie, unfortunately. Similarly, Bella Thorne’s performance often falls a bit flat, and so much screen time is given to her run of the mill, dumb, redhead (instead of blonde this time: true originality!) cheerleader character that it is clear that the director (if not the audience) is a fan of her work.

Fortunately, the performances by Samara Weaving (the titular Babysitter) and Judah Lewis, as the 12-year-old, infatuated nerd, Cole, are so surprisingly well done that the sins of Bachner are ALMOST forgiven.

Weaving and Lewis seem to have a genuine and sweet connection, and their bantering relationship forms the cornerstone of the movie, carrying the plot through many of the more fantastical and abstract scenes, especially towards the end.

Despite the movie’s plot somewhat unraveling towards the end, I was surprised by the amount of standout scenes that truly captured the nature of the campy classics the movie was emulating, while putting a bit of a twist on the old to make it new.

In particular, the movie’s ending scene shows the ability of “The Babysitter” to turn a trope on its head, while displaying emotional depth not usually seen in such a lighthearted, horror comedy.

While by no means an instant classic, if you’re looking for a cheerful Halloween flick that doesn’t take itself too seriously, “The Babysitter” is a safe bet.