I was deeply,
deeply apprehensive about watching the Australian horror/thriller "The
Babadook," despite hearing nothing but praise for it from every corner.
The subject matter sounded right up my alley, but also like something
that could hit too close to home. I'm also one of those people who
can't easily brush off the experience of certain horror media, and I had
no desire to but up at 3 AM jumping at shadows for several weeks. But I
gathered up my courage and watched the thing, and I'm so glad that I
did.
Amelia (Essie Davis) is a widowed single
mother to six-year-old Samuel (Noah Wiseman), a little boy with an
overactive imagination and behavioral problems. One night a picture
book mysteriously appears in Samuel's room titled "Mister Babadook,"
about a dark creature who kills anyone unfortunate enough to let him
into their lives. Samuel becomes convinced the Babadook is real, and he
starts acting out in worse and worse ways as a result. The stress on
an exhausted Amelia, compounded with unresolved issues about her
husband's death, grows to unberable levels. And then the Babadook comes
to call.
My favorite horror films are about
threats to the family unit, especially the ones that take the time to
explore family dynamics and get the audience to care about its
characters, like "The Shining" and "Poltergeist." "The Babadook" is one
of these, which takes its time easing us into Amelia's lonely world,
where she feel trapped and isolated by the demands of motherhood. Her
struggles with her son are plenty daunting before any of the
supernatural elements come into play - and it becomes clear that
the monsters are really allegories for existing problems. "The
Babadook" doesn't become a traditional horror movie until the second
half, and you could just as easily classify it as a febrile psychodrama
in the same vein as "Repulsion" or "Black Swan."
But
when it does become a horror movie, boy is it a treat. I don't know
the last horror film that I've enjoyed so much simply for its
aesthetics. The visuals and the sound design are fantastic. I love the
disturbing drawings of the Babadook book and all the various ways that
the filmmakers find to keep referencing them as the movie goes on. I
love the transitions. The soundtrack makes wonderful use of silence,
muted sounds, and vocal manipulation to reflect Amelia's deteriorating
mental state. Gore connoisseurs may be a little disappointed that the
movie is more disturbing than outright scary, but it does nail some key
moments of nail-biting fright. Nothing in this movie will be keeping me
up at 3 AM, but some of those images are going to be staying with me
for a long time.
"The Babadook" is writer/director
Jennifer Kent's first feature film, and she has proven herself to be a
major talent already. I love how cleverly constructed the narrative is,
the way that it plays with perception and framing. Essie Davis and
Noah Wiseman both give excellent performances that go places you
wouldn't expect them to. And I love that there's so much going on
beneath the surface, how the film is an examination of guilt and grief
and resentment and how a parent-child relationship can go so very, very
wrong. The horror comes from such a real, visceral place and sinks its
claws in deep.
I've just counted up the number of
times I've used the word "love" in this review, and I think it's safe to
conclude that "The Babadook" is one of my favorites of 2014. And I'm
happily reserving it a spot on my top ten list - the one I set aside for
the movie I just plain enjoyed the most.
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