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{{Infobox film
| name           = A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting
| image          = A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = Official release poster
| director       = [[Rachel Talalay]]
| producer       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Ivan Reitman]]
* Amie Karp}}
| screenplay     = [[Joe Ballarini]]
| based_on       = {{Based on|''A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting''|Joe Ballarini}}
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Tamara Smart]]
* [[Oona Laurence]]
* Ian Ho
* Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson
* Lynn Masako Cheng
* Ty Consiglio
*[[Tom Felton]]
}}
| music          = [[Matthew Margeson]]
| cinematography = [[Gregory Middleton]]
| editing        = Stein Myhrstad
| studio         = {{Plainlist|
* [[The Montecito Picture Company]]
* [[Walden Media]]
}}
| distributor    = [[Netflix]]
| released       = {{Film date|2020|10|15|}}
| runtime        = 94 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = 
| gross          = 
}}
'''''A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting''''' is a 2020 American [[dark fantasy]] [[Comedy horror|comedy horror]] film directed by [[Rachel Talalay]] and distributed by [[Netflix]]. The film was written by [[Joe Ballarini]] and is based on his book trilogy of the same name.<ref>{{Cite web|title='A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting' Netflix Movie: Release Date, Plot, Cast, Director, And More|url=https://trinikid.com/a-babysitters-guide-to-monster-hunting-release-date-plot-cast-and-more|access-date=September 22, 2020|website=trinikid.com|archive-date=October 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001205351/https://trinikid.com/a-babysitters-guide-to-monster-hunting-release-date-plot-cast-and-more|url-status=dead}}</ref> It stars [[Tom Felton]], [[Indya Moore]], [[Tamara Smart]] and [[Oona Laurence]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=September 21, 2020|title=Harry Potter star Tom Felton is unrecognisable in new film|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/harry-potter-tom-felton-babysitters-guide-monster-hunting-netflix-draco-malfoy-b512628.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201004211047/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/harry-potter-tom-felton-babysitters-guide-monster-hunting-netflix-draco-malfoy-b512628.html |archive-date=2020-10-04 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|access-date=September 22, 2020|website=The Independent}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title='Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting' Sets Cast With Indya Moore, Tom Felton (Exclusive)|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/babysitters-guide-monster-hunting-sets-cast-indya-moore-tom-felton-1236294|access-date=September 22, 2020|website=www.hollywoodreporter.com|date=September 4, 2019}}</ref>

==Plot==
[[Rhode Island]] teenager Kelly Ferguson is cruelly nicknamed "Monster Girl" as a high school freshman because a monster had attacked her when she was young. Although planning to attend a senior's [[Costume party|Halloween party]] that night, Kelly's mom has told her boss Ms. Zellman that Kelly can [[Babysitting|babysit]] her son Jacob so she can attend their office party. She gives her pages of information, of do's and don'ts. Once they're alone, Jacob tells Kelly about the monsters that plague him, showing her drawings of them.

Kelly tells him that he'll stop dreaming of them in the future, like she did, then she checks for monsters under the bed and in the closet before handing him a little light to ward off dark things. A few minutes later she hurries back, only to find three small monsters abducting him. After an unsuccessful [[Public safety answering point|911 call]], Kelly meets Liz Lerue, who is part of a [[Secret society|secret society]] of children-protecting babysitters, and she calls the small monsters who carried off Jacob "Toadies". They go on a mission to find Jacob, who has been kidnapped by the [[Boogeyman]].

Liz uses the infant she cares for to lure out the Toadies, after tracking them down. However, the shiny object she offers it for Jacob doesn't tempt it as it normally would. The Toadies deliver Jacob to the Boogeyman, who gleefully explains how he plans to collect an army of monsters, thanks to Jacob's ability to imagine a large variety of them. He sets up Jacob in a bed, hooks his head in a helmet designed to extract his nightmares, and tries to lull him to sleep. Meanwhile, after Liz returns the baby to her home, the girls go to [[Brown University]] to the Rhode Island Order of Babysitters headquarters. As the vice president, she tasks the trainees (SITs) with emptying the pouch of the Toadie they've captured and searching for Jacob.

Using a magic dust to recover memory, Kelly recalls the Boogeyman telling her at five that she has the ability to bring her dreams to life. She realizes he's the Grand Guignol, a stealer of dreams and bringer of nightmares. All of the SITs share scars from their own run-ins with boogeymen as small children. They will have to imbed Angel Hair potion in the Boogeyman with a monster punch. Curtis searches the globe for the ingredients. In the meantime, he provides Kelly with a few tools to help her on their quest. Feeding the Toadie a tracker, they let it escape in hopes it will lead them to the Boogeyman.

The Toadie finds the tracker and informs the Boogeyman, who sets up a trap. Led to the Halloween party Kelly had wanted to attend, Liz and an unenthusiastic Kelly enter, seeking the tracker. A shadow monster awaits them in the basement. Chasing it around the house, they eventually realize they were led to a dead end. Next, the girls try to prevent a cat's eye amulet from being used by the Boogeyman, but are unsuccessful. Kelly escapes, but he captures Liz. Simultaneously both Curtis is concocting the Angel Hair potion while Kelly finds and breaks into the condemned lighthouse where Jacob is being held and the nightmares are starting to be extracted.

The Toadies try to cage Kelly, but she outwits them. A hypnotised Liz locks her up, but she uses a multi-functional tool from Curtis which knocks her down and snaps her back to normal. In the chamber where the nightmare creatures are about to be released by the Boogeyman, Kelly knocks the Angel Hair given to her by a SIT into him with a monster punch and an awakened Jacob dissipates the nightmare monsters.

Getting Jacob home before Ms. Zellman arrives, Kelly is commended for getting Jacob to sleep. Not only is she asked to babysit the next night, but Liz tells her she's going to recommend her to the Order of Babysitters and her crush Victor asks her out.

==Cast==
{{cast listing|
* [[Tamara Smart]] as Kelly Ferguson
** Isabel Birch as Young Kelly
* [[Oona Laurence]] as Liz LeRue
* Alessio Scalzotto as Victor Colletti
* [[Indya Moore]] as Peggy Drood
* [[Tom Felton]] as Grand Guignol/Boogeyman
* Ian Ho as Jacob Zellman
* Tamsen McDonough as Ms. Zellman
* Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson as Berna Vincent
* Lynn Masako Cheng as Cassie Zhen
* Ty Consiglio as Curtis Critter
* Ashton Arbab as Tommy
* Crystal Balint as Alexa Ferguson
* [[Ricky He]] as Jesper Huang
* Anisa Harris as Deanna
* [[Cameron Bancroft (actor)|Cameron Bancroft]] as Pete Ferguson
* Kelcey Mawema as Veronica Preston
* [[Mithila Palkar]] as Babysitter from Mumbai (India)
* [[Momona Tamada]] as Babysitter from Japan
}}

==Release==
The film premiered on Netflix on October 15, 2020.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3631162/freddys-dead-director-rachel-talalay-back-babysitters-guide-monster-hunting-images/|title='Freddy's Dead' Director Rachel Talalay is Back With 'A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting'|work=Bloody Disgusting|first=John|last=Squires|date=September 9, 2020|access-date=September 25, 2020}}</ref>

==Reception==
On review aggregator [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film has an approval rating of {{RT data|score}} based on {{RT data|count}} critic reviews, with an average rating of {{RT data|average}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_babysitters_guide_to_monster_hunting|title=A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting (2020)|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Fandango Media|Fandango]]|access-date={{RT data|access date}}}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], it has a weighted average score of 31 out of 100 based on 4 critic reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-babysitters-guide-to-monster-hunting |website=[[Metacritic]] |access-date=October 20, 2020 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of films set around Halloween]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|tt4844150}}
* {{Netflix title}}

{{Rachel Talalay}}
{{Ivan Reitman}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting}}
[[Category:2020 films]]
[[Category:2020 horror films]]
[[Category:American monster movies]]
[[Category:Films about witchcraft]]
[[Category:English-language horror films]]
[[Category:Netflix original films]]
[[Category:The Montecito Picture Company films]]
[[Category:Walden Media films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Rachel Talalay]]
[[Category:Films produced by Ivan Reitman]]
[[Category:Films scored by Matthew Margeson]]
[[Category:Halloween horror films]]
[[Category:2020 English-language films]]
[[Category:2020 American films]]
[[Category:American dark fantasy films]]
[[Category:Films about Bogeymen]]
[[Category:American supernatural horror films]]
[[Category:Comedy horror films]]
[[Category:American comedy horror films]]
[[Category:American children's films]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting|access_date=2026-02-24}}