The Babadook:
Six (almost seven) years after the tragic death of her husband, Amelia is struggling. Her career and love life have stalled, she's constantly stressed, and she is the single mother of her son Samuel, who was born the same day her husband died. In fact, he died in a car crash driving Amelia to the hospital while she was in labor. Amelia has since had a strained relationship with her son: she does motherly things for him, but secretly can't stand him. Understandable considering he's one hell of a problem child: socially inept, obsessed with storybook monsters, and doing poorly in school, he's hard to handle for most parents, let alone a single mother still reeling from a tragedy. It is here where an entity is able to make itself at home in their lives. One night, Sam picks a book off the shelf for Amelia to read to him. It's a strange pop-up book she's never seen before. It describes a creature known as "Mr. Babadook", who one cannot get rid of once you "let him in". After attempting to rid themselves of the book, Amelia and Sam realize the Babadook is after them, and Amelia begins lose a grip on her already fragile sanity.
When I heard the hype surrounding this film, I was very skeptical. "The 'Babadook'? What the hell is that?" When I finally saw the film, I was taken aback, but not utterly terrified. But that night, when I was getting ready to go to sleep, the image of the creature and the sound of his eerie musical theme crept into my head and I realized what an effective film The Babadook really is.
Trading in jump scares and excessive monster effects for old-fashioned suspense and psychological horror, this Australian film is one for the history books. Actress-turned-director Jennifer Kent weaves together a genuinely disturbing and smart little horror story that shocks but also makes you think, and this is her first film!
Essie Davis is absolutely perfect in the role of Amelia. Portraying a broken-down woman on the edge of sanity is no easy task, but Davis brings the character to life in a way I don't think anyone else could. This could be a jumping-off point for her and possibly Oscar-worthy. Noah Wiseman is impressive as Samuel. He's able to be extremely annoying and hard to watch, but that's a plus, and the character is supposed to be this way. But towards the end, you're able to begin to care for him and hope he and his mother can rekindle their nonexistent relationship. Although he slips up a few times (as all child actors do), I'm impressed that this six-year-old pulled such an important role off. Daniel Henshall (most famous for his creepy role in Snowtown/The Snowtown Murders, and for his part in AMC's Turn) has a small supporting role as Amelia's co-worker and possible love interest Robbie, who acts as a shoulder to cry on for Amelia. Barbara West has a small part as Amelia's caring and sweet older neighbor Mrs. Roach, who cares for Samuel and her well-being. The entire cast does an excellent job, but Davis is the stand-out.
One of the strongest elements of the films is it's mystery. Kent makes the smart decision to only show The Babadook a handful of times, and only show it's face very briefly about twice. While this definitely will disappoint horror fans in the States, I felt it was a great decision, as it doesn't let you get numb to seeing the creature, and makes his appearances all the more unexpected and frightening. Speaking of which, I cannot praise the creature design enough. With his jerky, insect-like movements, tall, skeletal frame, top hat, black coat, long claws, black-and-white painted face, and unsettling grin, The Babadook would be right at home in a German Expressionist horror film, and like creatures from those films, it's hard to explain what makes the look so scary, it just is, and it's a look that will haunt your dreams for a few nights to come. Even the pop-up book gives me the creeps, with it's twisted, Burtonesque visuals and increasingly dark tone, the pop-up book is just one of the elements that makes this movie one that sticks with me. The entire look of the film is depressing, with a grim color palate of blacks and grays and faded greens and browns, like the tragedy that struck Amelia has sucked all fun and life out of her world.
The sound design and music also play a key role. The Babadook's demonic and unique voice is only heard a few times, but each time it put me on edge. The score by Jed Kurzel, which includes the perturbing and hypnotic Babadook music box theme, sets the tone for the movie and adds to the dream-like atmosphere.
Speaking of dreams, the film plays with your head, never letting you know if the frightening things that are happening are actually occurring physically, or it's just the Babadook fucking with Amelia's head. The movie plays with the idea of the Babadook as a representation of all the grief and misery in the family, and how it's urging Amelia to do what she's subconsciously always wanted to do: kill her son and end her miserable existence. Amelia eventually must fight back against this urge, and this struggle actually provides a touching story of a mother finally learning to love her son and let go of the past, but not coming across as forced or overly sentimental.
Another disturbing element to the story that only heightens the fear factor is that the Babadook is never really given a motive. Even in other great recent horror movies like Sinister or Insidious, the villains are given some sort of motive (i.e. Bughuul needs children's souls to survive, the Red-Faced Demon wants to possess Dalton to spread evil to the world, the Bride in Black wants to re-enter the world of the living, etc.), but the Babadook has no real motive to get him to do the evil things he does, he just does them, which adds another element of mystery to the character. He also seems to be able to enter into anything, even appearing on TV late one night in the middle of a Georges Méliès silent film, and his "true form" is never really revealed, letting the audience project their greatest fear onto it.
The Babadook is an instant horror classic, that I recommend anyone who truly appreciates great psychological/supernatural horror like The Innocents go see immediately, or as soon as they can, as it's being released later in some regions. Essie Davis is mesmerizing, and Wiseman is impressive. It's a film that makes the skin crawl and the viewer think, and that's something the horror genre is sorely missing nowadays: real scares and smart writing and directing. 5/5 stars.
(Image: Wikipedia)
No comments:
Post a Comment