Horrific Beauty

The Babadook

For as long as there have been children and beds, there has been ‘something’ lurking underneath the bed. Childhood monsters will never go away. We naturally fear the dark and when we are children our imaginations start to run wild. To make light of these monsters, Hollywood has made some fun family films like Little Monsters and my ever favorite Monsters, Inc. These films show us that there is nothing to fear about the things under our bed or in our closets. Of course, there are some filmmakers that feed on our dread and create movies that cement our suspicions of the dark. Movies like 2014’s The Babadook.

Life is hard for single mother Amelia Vanek (Essie Davis Burning Man) and her seven year old son, Samuel (Noah Wiseman). After losing her husband in a car crash on the way to the hospital to give birth to Samuel, Amelia has never felt close to her son. However, Amelia tries her best to be there for her son amidst his outbursts and being kicked out of school. Amelia’s stress becomes worse when a mysterious children’s book appears among her son’s collection. Trying to get Samuel asleep one night, he suggests the book named The Babadook. Laden with images of fright and violence, Amelia tries very hard to rid the little family of the terrifying book. What Amelia doesn’t realize is that, “you can’t get rid of the Babadook”.

This movie gave me chills. Literally chills. I truly believe that this was the best horror movie in years and ranks up there with some of the classics. The movie was not about the gore or cheap thrills, but relied heavily on the audience’s psychological fear. The filmmakers show very little of the Babadook in a way that Takashi Shimizu barely shown the girl in The Grudge. The film’s two leads are amazing and the writer/director shines so brightly in their first feature outing as a director.

I’m going to start with Noah Wiseman and his great performance as Samuel. For his first acting gig Wiseman takes such an advanced type of character and pulls it off beautifully. Samuel is not a normal child character in a horror film in a sense that the film rests of his shoulders. Wiseman establishes himself as a pillar of the film and does a wonderful job getting the audience to believe that he just wants to be recognized by his mother. Essie Davis was remarkable in this movie as Amelia. Right from the beginning Davis’ Amelia is hanging on by a thread. Its Amelia’s slow decent into madness that was awesome for me. Davis subtly morphs her character into a woman that is one slight touch from cracking. I also loved the way that Davis looks like she could resent Samuel during the beginning of the film. I know that is weird to say, but her distaste for him slowly changes into real love as the film nears the end.

Jennifer Kent is the first time director that paints a beautiful picture on top a canvas of horror. I loved Kent’s direction of this film and can’t wait to see more from this young director, but it is her script that I am going to praise the most. Kent is able to take a very real fear for a lot of people and turn it into something that we all have to deal with at one point in our lives. The symbolism that is laced into this movie is so moving that I found myself really looking into myself and wondering. Kudos, Ms. Kent!

The Babadook is an incredible horror film with a huge underlining meaning. First time director Jennifer Kent has established herself as a director/writer to keep an eye on and the acting from the cast was outstanding. I will not be surprised if this film will be placed in the ‘classics’ column in the next few years.

The Verdict: Worth Your Time.