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#113 - The Babadook
Jennifer Kent, 2014
A widow has to contend with raising her disturbed young son, which becomes more difficult when he becomes convinced of the existence of a nightmarish children's-book character.
I'm not particularly good at keeping up with modern horror movies, but when I noticed that The Babadook was making waves outside of the local film-festival circles I figured I should at least try it. Granted, it could have turned out to be another letdown like Wolf Creek, but fortunately it was far superior to that. It helps that The Babadook not only uses some fairly typical boogeyman tropes in the form of its titular monster, but also adds a psychological element in how the beleagured mother (Essie Davis) tries to cope with a number of mundane problems both internal (her grief over her husband's accidental death) and external (her son constantly causing trouble because of his belief in monsters). Even without taking the actual existence of the monster into account, the film's first half still produces some unsettling scenes. I think it's pretty telling about the mood that this movie creates that I never laughed once - I saw this in a theatre setting and even though people around me were laughing at levity-inducing scenes such as the son's incredibly candid responses to a social worker's questions, I was still on edge waiting for something bad to happen. I'm not sure whether or not having lighter comedic moments to balance out the serious tension of the rest of the film is such a good idea when it comes to horror movies, because while I can understand the need to give an audience breathing room, it also doesn't help if you've built up such a dark vibe that humourous scenes don't come as a relief anyway. Fortunately, I'm kind of forgiving because if a tense film can maintain the same sense of unease even through its "nice" moments then it's probably doing a good job of building atmosphere.
The Babadook looks sleek enough and manages to keep one on edge all throughout its relatively brief 90-minute running time. Though it does have its occasional moment where you can't quite suspend your disbelief (because seriously, how does a six-year-old manage to acquire a back-mounted wooden catapult capable of throwing cricket balls or even a crossbow that launches throwing darts?), it does keep up the tension nicely. It handles the whole "is this real or imagined" angle nicely, throws in a couple of convincing red herrings and manages to emphasise a serious sense of dread that adequately covers for some admittedly not-too-great effects work (because, let's be honest, considering how much build-up the Babadook gets as a result of the unsettling children's book and the impressive sound design on display, there was no way an actual visual depiction would quite live up to expectations). It's sufficiently disturbing, compelling and unpredictable right up to its final moments and has a decent heart at the centre that definitely makes it better than your average ghost story.
Jennifer Kent, 2014
A widow has to contend with raising her disturbed young son, which becomes more difficult when he becomes convinced of the existence of a nightmarish children's-book character.
I'm not particularly good at keeping up with modern horror movies, but when I noticed that The Babadook was making waves outside of the local film-festival circles I figured I should at least try it. Granted, it could have turned out to be another letdown like Wolf Creek, but fortunately it was far superior to that. It helps that The Babadook not only uses some fairly typical boogeyman tropes in the form of its titular monster, but also adds a psychological element in how the beleagured mother (Essie Davis) tries to cope with a number of mundane problems both internal (her grief over her husband's accidental death) and external (her son constantly causing trouble because of his belief in monsters). Even without taking the actual existence of the monster into account, the film's first half still produces some unsettling scenes. I think it's pretty telling about the mood that this movie creates that I never laughed once - I saw this in a theatre setting and even though people around me were laughing at levity-inducing scenes such as the son's incredibly candid responses to a social worker's questions, I was still on edge waiting for something bad to happen. I'm not sure whether or not having lighter comedic moments to balance out the serious tension of the rest of the film is such a good idea when it comes to horror movies, because while I can understand the need to give an audience breathing room, it also doesn't help if you've built up such a dark vibe that humourous scenes don't come as a relief anyway. Fortunately, I'm kind of forgiving because if a tense film can maintain the same sense of unease even through its "nice" moments then it's probably doing a good job of building atmosphere.
The Babadook looks sleek enough and manages to keep one on edge all throughout its relatively brief 90-minute running time. Though it does have its occasional moment where you can't quite suspend your disbelief (because seriously, how does a six-year-old manage to acquire a back-mounted wooden catapult capable of throwing cricket balls or even a crossbow that launches throwing darts?), it does keep up the tension nicely. It handles the whole "is this real or imagined" angle nicely, throws in a couple of convincing red herrings and manages to emphasise a serious sense of dread that adequately covers for some admittedly not-too-great effects work (because, let's be honest, considering how much build-up the Babadook gets as a result of the unsettling children's book and the impressive sound design on display, there was no way an actual visual depiction would quite live up to expectations). It's sufficiently disturbing, compelling and unpredictable right up to its final moments and has a decent heart at the centre that definitely makes it better than your average ghost story.