‘The Babysitter’: Here are the Netflix Originals that wasted an awesome idea
At this stage in the content growth of Netflix we’re starting to see a terrible trend unfold – great ideas with a disappointing execution. The past couple years have seen a clusterfuck of mediocre (and worse than mediocre) Netflix Originals shows & movies that have completely missed the mark on what they appeared to initially promise.
Here’s our ranking of nine of the worst Netflix Originals that wasted an awesome idea.
9. Psychokinesis (2018)
Sang-ho Yeon’s follow up to Train to Busan had a lot to live up to and sadly Psychokinesis didn’t quite deliver. Following an unlikely superhero using his newfound skills to save his estranged daughter from an evil construction company deadset on gentrification at any cost, the film isn’t bad by any means, but it isn’t great either.
Despite boasting some big ideas, Psychokinesis comes off as being less super and more generic.
8. Everything Sucks! (2018)
S1 of this 90s set teen comedy wasn’t perfect, but sometimes shows need a little more time to find their groove (rather than just cancelling it outright). The show starts to come into its own by the midway point (even if it still doesn’t quite offer what it promises).
With standout performances from a cast including Peyton Kennedy (American Fable), Jahi Di’Allo Winston (Proud Mary), and Patch Darragh (The First Purge), the show had a lot more potential. Netflix would have been smart to nurture and pursue Everything Sucks! for another season.
7. Sense8 (2015 – 2018)
The Wachowskis’ cult series about a bunch of strangers around the globe who mysteriously share the power to connect with one another has a solid and unique idea at the heart of it. Sadly, the show explores it clumsily and without nuance within a story scale so grand and epic it swallows up every ounce of poignancy the show strives for.
6. Little Evil (2017)
Starring Evangeline Lilly (Ant-Man and the Wasp) & Adam Scott (Ghosted), Eli Craig’s Little Evil is a parody of The Omen made a few decades too late. Still, that shouldn’t matter too much except the film doesn’t utilize its central idea properly (the “I think my kid is the antichrist!” joke grew old in sitcoms around 1993) and is stale, forgettable, and over familiar as a result.
5. Evil Genius (2018)
After the impressively bingeable Wild Wild Country, we expected great things from the next docuseries production from the Duplass Brothers. Instead we got Trey Borzillieri and Barbara Schroeder’s Evil Genius – centered around the truly compelling and chilling story of the Pizza Bomber heist – that left a muddled four-part story in its wake.
The series says in four episodes what could have been explored in a standalone movie, circling the same points and recycling the same archival footage and quotes while only ever speculating on the subject (and providing no real answers).
4. Girlboss (2017)
Based on the true story of Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso, Girlboss had potential to be a fun, irreverent, and invigorating exploration of a young woman hustling her way to greatness. Instead the show (which starred Britt Robertson, Ellie Reed, and Johnny Simmons) was obnoxious and one dimensional, offering a superficial look at a story that could have had some real depth to it.
3. The Defenders (2017 – )
Seeing Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter), and that other one we refuse to remember the name of (Finn Jones) finally team up to fight bad guys and bicker among themselves should have been the best thing in the world. Instead it’s an absolute slog, leaning on the most predictable plotting, character development, and dialogue possible.
2. The Babysitter (2017)
Maybe we shouldn’t have expected much from a film by McG (Terminator Salvation), but The Babysitter is quite possibly one of the worst Netflix Originals movie yet. But it could have been great!
The basic premise of the movie in which a kid stays up past his bedtime only to discover his babysitter and her pals are secretly part of a satanic cult (who proceed to hunt him down for it) has the potential for some great subversions of horror movie tropes and gory comedy. Instead the film plods along as though nobody in the production has ever seen a horror movie or would know what one looks like.
1. Mute (2018)
Whatever we said about The Babysitter we take back – this is the worst Netflix Originals film in recent years. It wounds us to say that Duncan Jones’s epic sci-fi misfire is an utter catastrophe because by all accounts it shouldn’t be.
Mute is visually stunning and boasts an incredible cast including Alexander Skarsgård (Big Little Lies), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), and Justin Theroux (Mulholland Drive). Yet the film is a staggering failure full of baffling dialogue, bloated subplots, one-note characters, and a dire lack of momentum, making the two hour running time feel more like six.
