Brian (Tyler Perry) is called away from home on Halloween night but isn’t crazy about leaving his teenage daughter Tiffany (Diamond White) home alone when there’s a big frat party happening just down the street. And he’s right: that girl is scheming to be up to no good. But Brian’s solution is probably a questionable parenting decision. He calls over Madea and crew to babysit without seeming to actually be babysitting.

Tiffany is IMMEDIATELY on to them of course, and she’s got a plan for that too: make her house seem haunted. Madea (also Tyler Perry, natch) is scared. Aunt Bam (Cassi Davis) is scared. Hattie (Patrice Lovely) is scared. Joe (Tyler Perry once more) is scared. But they don’t vacate. Nor do they fall for the old pillows under the covers trick. No matter how much you wanted to go to a frat party, NOTHING and I do mean nothing can be worth Madea and her posse rolling up on the party. You don’t know embarrassment until your very large great aunt busts out some vintage stripper moves. Anyway, revenge works both ways and the night is still young.

I don’t know if I’ve just seen a string of bad movies or what but Madea in an awful lot more palatable to me right now. I still don’t think this or any of them are great movies, but suddenly I’m not hating it. Is this nostalgia kicking in? Tyler Perry has announced his intention to retire the Madea character, and I’m not exactly mourning what I think of as a tired schtick, especially since I tend to love Perry in almost any other capacity. But in this movie…the fun he’s having is often infectious. The good news is, he has very recently opened Tyler Perry Studios, which means there will be plenty of output to replace the Madea content. Tyler Perry Studios was purchased and established in Atlanta, 330 acres of the former Fort McPherson. Not only is this one of the largest film production studios in the nation, it makes Tyler Perry the first African-American to outright own a major film production studio. Friends including Spike Lee, Oprah, and Beyonce (maybe you’ve heard of them?) came out to celebrate. And I’m guessing pretty soon, we all will.