Since there isn’t always a brand new horror movie coming out to talk about, I thought I would add a series of reviews for older films to write and release when there is some down time in the horror film scene. So here is my first Flashback Film Review, and first up is a favourite of mine, ‘The Babadook’.
‘The Babadook’ follows single mother and nurse Amelia (Essie Davis) as she deals with the loss of her husband and raising her troubled son Samuel (Noah Wiseman). One night, Amelia proceeds to read Samuel a bed time story and selects a book she isn’t too familiar with from her shelf, a book called ‘The Babadook’. I will not say more than this as anything beyond could be considered spoiler territory and I recommend experiencing this film’s story first hand.
The first thing that struck me in ‘The Babadook’ was the tone of loss and grief. From Davis’ performance of a broken women trying to hold her life together, to the use of dark tones and muted colours through out her home.
Davis’ performance is incredible in this film, fully committing to ideas and actions that many actors and actresses would have a hard time working with as well as touching on some very sensitive topics like depression as well as touchy ideas such as a mother struggling to love of her own child. The performance Essie Davis gives through the film is strong and allows the audience to care deeply for her and in turn, fear for her, whether it be by allowing us to see her at vulnerable, to conveying to us how difficult Samuel is to cope with. This brings me to my next point, Noah Wiseman gives a great child performance, in that you completely believe in his character as well as the fact that you completely feel Amelia’s frustration with him as he as a character can be so annoying and irritating. This may sound like a negative but this is fully intended to further illustrate the character of Amelia’s difficulty in coping with the responsibility of motherhood alone. Overall, I cannot stress enough, the weight of Davi’s performance as Amelia, she is so heartbreaking to watch and as the tension ramps up through out the film, the care you develop for her character keeps that tension at an all time high.
Jennifer Kent’s direction and writing through out this film is very strong. Through her writing and direction she got two incredible performances out of Ellie Davis and Noah Wiseman. As well as this she manages very well to create a very lived in and believable world within this film and that is a skill that I feel does not go appreciated enough.
You can see through the detail in our lead character’s lives and through the visual details through out the movie that this is a project Kent has put an immense amount of thought and passion in to.
The visuals through out the film are very original and give ‘The Babadook’ a lot of character, from the previously mentioned use of shade and muted colours, to the appearance and movements used to depict the titular Babadook, my eyes were glued to the screen as I watched on. This was further enhanced by an aspect of the film that I really enjoyed but I understand may put some horror fans off. This aspect is the use of artistic and symbolic segments of the film that create a dream like effect that goes along Amelia’s depression related issue of sleep deprivation. I can understand that moments like this in film may not be for everyone but I personally love touches likes this in films, adding a somewhat surrealist element, further pushing the suspension of disbelief that is already present in most horror films.
Here’s the thing I feel I have been failing to discuss in my past reviews…
Is ‘The Babadook’ Scary?
Now obviously like all things in art, fear is subjective but in my opinion ‘The Babadook’ is incredibly unsettling, unnerving and creepy in the ways I want a horror movie to be.
However, in terms of creating a sense of fear in me, it did so in the way I normally was to be scared by a horror movie, by the means of drawn out suspense, a lack of jump scares and a continuous sense of mystery and uncertainty. The extra layer that I feel makes ‘The Babadook’ even scarier still is the added fear of something real, beyond that of ghosts and ghouls. The very real fear of loss and mental illness. Depression is a terrifying thing, whether it be through your own experience or watching someone you care about going through it and ‘The Babadook’ captures that perfectly in my eyes.
And with that, I am going to give ‘The Babadook’ 90%
I won’t be picking my favourite films every time in this series, as I will add to it with films I watch as I watch them that are not brand new too. I just thought I would start with a film that I love to kick things of right!
Have you seen ‘The Babadook’? If so let me know what you think about it! I could talk endlessly about this film so let me know how you feel about this movie in the comments below!
If you haven’t seen ‘The Babadook’ you can watch on Netflix in the UK now. Check out the trailer below!
Movie Night Massacre 