The Babadook Movie Review

Hollywood filmmakers take note, this is how you make a horror film!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Babadook is a horror film/psychological thriller directed by Jennifer Kent, an Australian woman who just so happens to be a first time director. The film follows Amelia, played by Essie Davis, a widowed mother who's struggling greatly with the death of her husband. At the same time, she's having to deal with her son, played by Noah Wiseman, who's being haunted by a monster known as "The Babadook". While her psychological state deteriorates, Amelia herself begins to be plagued by the same monster and the best horror film of 2014 ensues.

Calling The Babadook the best horror film of 2014 may just be cutting it short, it's actually the best horror film I've seen in my entire life! No other horror film has got under my skin and affected me as much as The Babadook. While it may not be the scariest movie ever made, it is still one of the most thought provoking and realistically chilling horror film's I've ever viewed.

I absolutely hate some of the modern day horror films because they're filled with dumb characters, blinding illogic, predictable scares and more garbage of a similar stench. The Babadook has not one jump scare. Jump scares to me, if overused, are cheap ways of delivering a predictable scare. Once the jump has come and gone in the form of an overly-obnoxious studio sound effect, all tension is completely deflated. The Babadook excels at slow burning tension which flourishes naturally. Every scare in this movie is fully warranted and not manufactured by a bullshit jump scare.

The film also uses practical effects brilliantly. Too often do horror films nowadays utilise sub-par CGI, I always appreciate films that use practical effects at their disposal. The Babadook monster is not CGI, which gave the monster and the film a more natural feel to it. If something feels real and tangible, it is way more terrifying than a huge CGI pile of slop.

I've been calling The Babadook a horror film and something to bare in mind is the fact that this is not a monster movie. The Babadook is a dark examination on the long term effects of depression and grief, and how those emotions can devour a person and cause them to deteriorate. It is not a film about a family being haunted by a monster, it's much deeper and more provocative than that.

At the heart of this masterfully crafted horror film is a performance worthy of a golden statue during awards season by Essie Davis. She may have delivered my favourite female performance of the entire year. At times you sympathize with her situation and feel sorrow and almost guilt for the terrible things that have happened to her. At other times, you begin to become scared of her and what she could do as The Babadook digs it's claws into her. She's simultaneously frail and terrifying and she's genuinely magnificent.

The Babadook has given me a few rough evenings trying to get to sleep. It's a film which engrosses you in it's characters and delivers some bone-chilling scares and imagery. But what I loved so much about The Babadook was that it was also a thriller that made me think about how grief can manifest itself within someone and how it can consume them as a person. For a first time effort, The Babadook is truly commendable. Well done Jennifer Kent, keep up the good work!


Rating - A

Thanks for reading,
Matt