Review of The Babadook (2014) by Inaneswine — 14 Nov 2017

Looking through some of my reviews for more recent horror films, I seem to react with genuine surprise whenever I come across one that I've actually enjoyed. And I think that's mainly due to the fact that almost all modern horror films are the same. They don't pay much thought to character development, story or drama, and are just concerned with forcing bigger screams from its audience and making them throw their popcorn higher and higher into the air. If people leave a cinema laughing about a horror film they just saw, it has failed to deliver. If they are quiet and exhausted, then it really has frightened its audience.

The Babadook, first and foremost, is a terrifying experience. Not entirely because of its supernatural elements and the villainous entity, but because of the drama and tension surrounding the unstable family unit that Amelia and Samuel inhabit. Though a single parent raising an unmanageable child may be a well trodden premise, particularly in a horror story, it is compounded by an expertly written and heartfelt script, authentic performances - Essie Davis is outstanding - and a horrifying exploration of a parent's descent into madness, the kind not executed this well in horror films since The Shining.

When the supernatural elements do emerge, the third act begins to falter slightly, and the melodrama of the dialogue threatens to encroach soap opera territory. But what chilled me to the bone was watching the mother - influenced by this evil being - chasing her son around their dilapidated house, hurting him and threatening him, and realising that this is how some children live their lives, without influence of the Babadook. I'm sure this was director/writer Jennifer Kent's intention, and she's absolutely hit the nail on the head.

I never did like sleep much anyway.