When McG announced he was making a horror-comedy for Netflix about a kid whose hot babysitter belongs to a literal satanic cult, nobody really expected a masterpiece. It sounded like a standard B-movie setup. But then the movie dropped in 2017, and it became this weird, bloody, stylistic hit that basically lived or died on the chemistry of its actors. Honestly, the cast of the movie The Babysitter is the only reason that film didn't just sink into the endless abyss of the Netflix "Recommended" scroll.
Most horror movies use their cast as fodder. You know the drill: the jock, the cheerleader, the nerd, and they all die in order. This movie did that too, but it cast people who were clearly having too much fun. Judah Lewis, who was just a kid at the time, had to carry the whole thing against a group of actors who were quickly becoming huge stars in Hollywood. It’s wild to look back now and see how many of these people are now leading their own massive franchises or winning awards.
The Bee Factor: How Samara Weaving Anchored the Chaos
You can't talk about the cast of the movie The Babysitter without starting with Samara Weaving. She played Bee. Bee is charismatic, cool, and actually seems to like Cole, which makes the whole "I'm going to sacrifice you to the devil" thing hit a lot harder. Before this, Weaving was mostly known for Home and Away in Australia or her brief stint in Ash vs Evil Dead.
She has this specific ability to flip from being the "dream girl" to a terrifying predator in a single frame. It’s a tonal tightrope walk. If she were just a generic villain, the movie would be boring. Instead, she’s almost a mentor figure to Cole, even while she’s trying to kill him. Weaving’s performance here basically paved the way for her role in Ready or Not, which cemented her as a modern scream queen. She’s got that 90s energy—think somewhere between Alicia Silverstone and a young Courtney Love.
The Kid Who Survived: Judah Lewis
Judah Lewis played Cole Johnson. At the time, he was mostly known for Demolition. He’s got these huge, expressive eyes that make you actually root for him. Most child actors in horror are annoying. That’s just a fact. But Lewis played Cole with this genuine vulnerability that made his eventual "leveling up" feel earned.
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It’s interesting to note that Lewis was actually one of the finalists for the role of Spider-Man in the MCU before Tom Holland got the gig. You can see that "awkward but capable" energy in his performance here. He had to spend half the movie covered in blood, screaming, or hiding in a crawlspace, and he never made it feel like a caricature.
Robbie Amell and the Cult of Personality
If Samara Weaving was the heart of the villains, Robbie Amell was the comedic engine. Playing Max, the shirtless, hyper-masculine jock who is oddly supportive of Cole, Amell stole every scene he was in. There’s a specific moment where Max is chasing Cole and literally stops to give him advice on how to stand up for himself. It’s absurd. It makes no sense in a traditional horror context, and that’s why it works.
Amell has been a staple in the CW-verse and Upload, but this might be his most memorable role because he leaned so hard into the stupidity of the character. He wasn't just a meathead. He was a meathead with a bizarrely strict moral code about bullying.
- Bella Thorne (Sonya): She played the stereotypical "mean girl" but with a dark, culty twist. Thorne was already a household name by then, and her presence gave the movie immediate Gen Z street cred.
- Andrew Bachelor (John): Better known as King Bach from his Vine days, he brought a specific type of frantic energy. His character’s obsession with how he was going to die—and the logistics of the ritual—added a layer of meta-humor.
- Hana Mae Lee (Allison): She’s the goth/emo member of the group. If you recognize her, it’s probably from Pitch Perfect. In The Babysitter, she’s mostly silent and creepy, which is a total 180 from her comedic roots.
Why the Chemistry Was Different
Most people get this wrong: they think the movie worked because of the gore. It didn't. The gore was fine, but the cast of the movie The Babysitter worked because they felt like a real, albeit psychotic, group of friends. They had shorthand. They bickered. When they were sitting around the living room playing Spin the Bottle before things turned murderous, you actually believed they hung out.
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That’s a credit to McG’s casting director, Mary Vernieu. Vernieu is a legend in the industry, having worked on everything from Knives Out to Black Swan. She has an eye for "ensemble chemistry." She didn't just pick five people who looked good on a poster; she picked five people who had distinct comedic rhythms.
The Supporting Players You Forgot
Don't overlook Leslie Bibb and Ken Marino as Cole’s parents. Ken Marino is a comedy god—if you haven't seen Party Down, go watch it immediately—and he plays the "trying too hard" dad perfectly. His interactions with Judah Lewis at the start of the film set the tone. It told the audience: "Hey, this is a comedy first, a horror movie second."
Then there's Emily Alyn Lind as Melanie, the girl next door. She’s the only one who really believes Cole. Lind would go on to star in the Gossip Girl reboot, but here, she provides the grounded emotional stake that Cole needs to actually want to survive the night.
Impact on the Horror-Comedy Genre
Looking back at the cast of the movie The Babysitter, it’s clear this film was a turning point for Netflix’s original content strategy. Before 2017, their original films were hit or miss (mostly miss). This movie proved they could do "elevated genre" content. It wasn't trying to be Hereditary. It was trying to be The Goonies but with a high body count.
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Success like this is rarely about the script alone. Honestly, if you read the script for The Babysitter (which sat on the Black List for years), it’s pretty lean. The actors filled in the blanks. They added the "kinda" and "sorta" moments that made the dialogue feel less like a writer's room and more like a backyard.
What to Do With This Information
If you’re a fan of this specific ensemble, there are a few logical next steps to take to see how their careers evolved after this 2017 breakout.
- Watch the Sequel: The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020) brings back almost the entire original cast, including the villains (through some creative writing). It’s even more over-the-top and leans further into the "meta" aspects of the first film.
- Follow Samara Weaving’s Career Path: If her performance as Bee was your favorite part, your next stop should be Ready or Not. It’s effectively a spiritual successor where she plays another woman trapped in a deadly game with a weird family.
- Check out "Upload" on Prime: For fans of Robbie Amell’s comedic timing, this series shows he can carry a show as a lead while maintaining that same charm he had as Max.
- Track Judah Lewis in "The Christmas Chronicles": If you want to see the "growth" of the lead actor, he plays a very different kind of teenager in these films, showing his range outside of the horror genre.
- Re-evaluate the Black List: The Babysitter was a Black List script (the annual list of Hollywood's best unproduced screenplays). If you like this style of writing, looking up other horror-comedies from the 2014-2016 Black Lists will point you toward similar cult hits.
The legacy of the cast of the movie The Babysitter isn't just that they made a fun movie. It's that they took a potentially forgettable streaming release and turned it into a franchise through sheer force of personality. They proved that even in a movie about devil-worshipping teenagers, you still need characters people actually want to watch for ninety minutes.