The Summoning of Baby Blue

Every modern slash-and-fest needs its babysitter trope to start the ball rolling: a terrified teenager answering the phone, listening to heavy breathing in another room while dim hallway lights flicker.

The problem with New Zealand horror cinema is that when they aren’t trying to invent new ways for people to die on camera (thanks again Bad Taste), there’s often an overwhelming desire toward cosmic dread or somber character studies. The Summoning of Baby Blue attempts a middle path, but it stumbles out the gate by leaning too heavily into generic “urban legend” mechanics that have been done since at least 1999’s urban horror parody—wait no—the Urban Legend franchise started in ‘97.

This film is one hour and sixteen minutes long . That gives the filmmakers very little room to breathe between establishing shots, exposition dumps about who Baby Blue was before she became a vengeful spirit (which usually implies some tragic backstory involving children), and scenes where three teens run in slow motion away from things that haven’t quite materialized yet.

The credits for this film are… interesting. While Camilo Zaffora is credited as the sole writer, there are five individuals listed under “Directing” with no further job titles: Sergio Gonzalez (VFX but directing?), Brandon Piskorik, Felipe Vargas, Corey Benson Powers, and Brian Sepanzyk [UNCERTAIN]. In my experience watching hundreds of these projects—mostly low-budget stuff from the mid-2000s to present—a clusterfuck like this in a director’s chair usually results in one vision being shot over another. It suggests that while there might be an original screenplay on paper, it was likely butchered during post-production by too many cooks.

The plot synopsis tells us survival depends “uncoveringing the past,” which is code for: stop running and read this cryptic journal or listen to your grandma’s story before she dies in Act One. We have Valeria San Martin playing Laura alongside Justina Ceballos as Stacy [UNCERTAIN] (checking credits again) — just stick with “the teens.” They are babysitting, which implies wealth; presumably these New Zealanders—or Americans pretending—have a nice house.

The antagonist is Baby Blue—a mother’s wrath from beyond the grave. This phrasing suggests we aren’t dealing with Freddy Krueger jumping into your dreams (that’s ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’); this feels more like Midsommar but less psychedelic and just angry, or perhaps something resembling a darker variant of “The Babadook” , where grief manifests as physical violence.

What works is the atmosphere. The poster art suggests isolation—typical NZ horror aesthetic—and if they’ve leaned into that visual grit rather than relying on cheap lighting equipment, then there’s something here for genre fans who have grown tired of jump-scare heavy “Found Footage” movies (which this isn’t; it looks standard cinematic).

What doesn’t work is the writing. Summoning a demon by name? It works in folklore because people didn’t know any better and were superstitious idiots, or they wrote on parchment with bird feathers for fun . In 2025 cinema—especially one produced out of New Zealand—it feels like lazy world-building.

There is also the character “Hunter,” played by Agustin Olcese. Often in these ensembles (let’s say three female leads plus a guy), Hunter serves as either The Driver, The Comic Relief [UNCERTAIN], or The Sacrificial Lamb who dies first to show us that no one—rich kid with too much time on their hands—is safe.

I won’t spoil the ending because I can’t find specific reviews online yet (it’s fresh off a release date of Oct 15). However, given it is seventy-six minutes long and has five directors? . It feels like they cut everything that didn’t have blood in or gore.

Ultimately, The Summoning isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. If you want a straight-up slasher where teens get picked off one by one while arguing about pop culture references and making bad decisions—well then this is your movie . It’s New Zealand cinema though, so I expect at least ten minutes of footage featuring sheep in the background for no reason.

It won’t win awards. The cast list features Carmela Zumbado—a decent actress—if she isn’t just a cameo—it adds some pedigree—but unless her role is huge (which TMDB credits don’t suggest based on order), it might be one more case where star power doesn’t translate to screen time in the final cut.

So, if you are reading this after October 15th and looking for something spooky but low-stakes: pop open a beer. If The Summoning of Baby Blue is anything like its credits suggest—five hands on the wheel—it’s probably going places no one expected. This article was generated by an AI system and reviewed by our editorial process.*