Review of The Babadook (2014) by Manon M — 21 Jun 2015

"If it's in a word. Or it's in a look. You can't get rid of ... The Babadook". Believe me when I say, this movie is well worth your time.

"The Babadook" does everything right where most modern horror movies are failing at. The past years a series of well executed horror movies have come to our screens (to name a few notable ones: You're next, The Guest, It follows) but this psychological Australian chamber shocker knows how to stand out. With minimal recourse to blood, CGI or jump scares, "The Babadook" achieves maximum terror. The film inhabits the brain as surely as the title demon subsumes the humble home and lives of widowed single mom Amelia and her son Samuel. Honestly - it's completely terrifying because it feels so fucking real. Basically, there are two types of good scary horror movies (not talking about horror comedies here): the ones that achieve greatness by scaring you by what's on screen (for example "The Conjuring"), jolting your conscious mind, and there are the ones that do it by sinking into your unconscious mind like a splinter, lingering and haunting you well after the show is over. This is one of the latter, and a truly great example of it.

The film is a feast of inventive design emanating outwards from the book's pages. Every time you open it, the images and text get more disturbing, becoming ever-darker forecasts of mother-on-son violence, with the Babadook's chalky face and spherical eyes looming out maniacally. A spectral demon tormenting a family is far from a novel horror concept, but "The Babadook" taps deeply into the subconscious parental fear that something terrible lurks in wait for a beloved child. It's a refreshingly adult horror movie that really gives us a chance to know the two main characters. I really felt the dread and the strain of each day as they grew worse and worse for this mother and son. After all, this movie scares because you care.

The script is genius and casting is top notch. Both main actors do a great job. The young boy, especially, turned in the best child performance I have ever seen in a horror movie. He was actually frightening himself, even in his quiet moments. Most impressive. It will be interesting to see if he moves forward to a full acting career. Instead of relying on cheap gore and jump scares, Jennifer Kent builds tension and scares you by the atmosphere. The symbolism is great and stop motion monster makes it very realistic and scary. The plot is also really beautiful in a creepy way. Loved the cinematography. The movie is also a masterful metaphor for depression and loss, this is more than a horror movie. It's one many won't find "scary" in the conventional sense, though the horror conventions are all there and so well executed. There are few jumps. "The Babadook" is more about what's underneath it all and it's the kind of movie that lingers with you, when you're all by yourself.