The Babadook
There is a dark force at work in the world today, gripping many, many
people. It can strike anyone, and build up slowly over time or hit you in an
instant. When it has you in its grip, it can take you over and make your life
seem pointless and lifeless. It can change you into someone you’re not, and all
the things that once seemed enjoyable or true for you, don’t matter anymore.
This force moves among us, and can be a silent killer. One in six people will
have it at some level in their lifetime, and through time and support can
escape it. However, others will let it consume them entirely, and won’t return
from the dark place it holds them in. This sounds like some monster or
malevolent being at work here, but rather, I’m referring to depression.
You might be wondering why I shared that as the opening paragraph for my
review of horror movie “The Babadook”? If you’ve seen the creepy trailer or
even just by the look of the poster above, you may have assumed it was just
another run-of-the-mill horror movie. Well, it isn’t. And my introduction to my
review is well placed as a pre-cursor to the main theme of the story that is so
cleverly worked into this chilling, frightening and intelligent scary movie.
Made in Australia and released
quickly and quietly last year, The Babadook didn’t take the box office by
storm, and many have not heard of it, hence why it’s in this section, “Down to
the Basement”. When I saw the trailer for it during one of my daily visits to
the website IMDB, I was instantly taken by it. It looked good, and the fact it
was an Aussie movie got me even more curious. Australian cinema is not
typically know for its horror movies, and with a small industry churning out
only about 25-50 films annually, it’s nice to see something break out of the
pack and make a splash overseas to show Hollywood in particular, that Australia
does have considerable filmmaking talents at work here who don’t always get the
critical and commercial attention they deserve. The really ambitions ones head
over to the US, if they can
break in and can make it big. And for feature debut director Jennifer Kent, she
will certainly be a name to watch and should have no trouble getting Hollywood execs knocking
on her door. Here, she has taken her own former short film entitled “Monster”,
and turned it into a feature length, psychological thriller that plays with
many ideas and is not the horror movie you expect it to be at first glance.
But let’s make one thing straight. The Babadook is a scary movie. It is
about a monster or ghost of some kind. It is primarily set in a house. It does
have a young boy who seems troubled or aware of what we can’t see yet. And it
does have a parental figure, a mother in this case, lost and alone, trying to
figure out what’s going on with her son, and in her own house during the night
in the shadows. So, there are some traditional and familiar horror movie
elements at work here, but The Babadook takes it to a deeper level, and
intelligently uses the actions of its villain as a reflection of the situation
this woman and her young son find themselves in.
Essie Davis plays Amelia, a single mother who lost her husband to a car
accident before her son was born. She works in aged care, has no friends, a
sister who doesn’t support her, and her only friendly contact is her next door
neighbor, an elderly woman with Parkinson’s disease. Not even the school her
son Samuel attends lends a helping hand due to his troubling behaviours. He
continues to rant on and on about The Babadook, a scary man who comes out at
night which the boy learns about from a bedtime story his mother reads him. She
doesn’t know where the book comes from, and puts it away after reading it to
her son, due to its dark and graphic imagery. The story captures the mind and
imagination of the boy, who claims The Babadook is real and wants to get in.
He makes weapons at home, sleeps in his mothers bed every night, and
physically pushes other kids away who pick on him; clearly, he’s a frightened,
and anxious little boy. But for good reason. Deciding to take him out of school
until she can figure out what’s going on with him, the woman and her son are
holed up in their dark, damp house, as the menacing monster closes in.
The movie is expertly made and well acted, by the woman and young boy.
It isn’t full of spooky special effects, jittery jumps, of buckets and blood of
gore, but rather, delivers its scares through the mental turmoil and anguish of
the woman and her son. Once she starts to realize The Babadook might be real,
she loses control and begins to act in ways that are both disturbing and
violent, which is the intention of The Babadook; to get in, underneath your
skin and make you do “bad” things. Without revealing too much else, the
ending hints at a few possibilities for the origins of this monster, but the
film doesn’t give you all the answers. Like a smart movie should, it assumes
you are smart enough to figure it out for yourself.
Historically, the best monster movies don’t reveal their culprit until
the end, only showing glimpses of their form gradually throughout the movie to
build suspense. The Babadook follows this method and uses it well. We don’t
often see the evil being appear on screen, but you know it’s there. From the
tiniest movement in the corner of the room, to a Knock! Knock! on the door at
night, or even through the face of an innocent woman and child, this creation
is conniving, faceless and ominous; everything a great movie monster should be.
It certainly is one of the most original creatures to grave our screens for a
long time, and although a new franchise isn’t necessary, there is certainly
scope and space for this monster to spread its dark wings a little further.
We’ll see…
And to tie things back in with my opening statement about the dark and
menacing force that is depression, The Babadook is, at its core, about a woman
still coming to terms with the death of her husband eight years earlier, and
the grief, loss and guilt that has left her ridden with. Taking care of her son
alone can’t be easy, on top of working as a carer in a drab, dreary nursing
home, so it’s fair to say she has a lot of weight on her shoulders. This is the
case for many people around the world, who through circumstances not entirely
of their choosing, face terrible burdens every day, and very often, on their
own. It’s out of these situations of helplessness and despair, that the light
of life and happiness can disappear and the darkness of death and depression
can creep in and in my opinion, this was the inspiration behind The Babadook; a
monster born out or own our sorrows and pain, that will envelope you entirely
and never let you go. That’s a terrifying concept, that’s used cleverly and
creatively in this small but significant horror movie.
Do yourself a favour and watch The Babadook. If you watch it alone,
leave the lights on and be prepared to keep one eye open as you lie in bed at
night, trying to ignore the shapes and shadows you think you saw in the corner
of the room. Sweet dreams ;-)
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