The Babadook
By Robert Benoit Updated: October 29, 2014
Released to acclaim stemming from critic pre-reviews at festivals over the past year, The Babadook is being talked about as one of the most frightening films in quite some time. While it is now in theaters for everyone in the UK, the states will have to wait another month. With the opportunity to see this film two weeks early at the beginning of October, I have to say I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would it be as scary as people are calling it or would it fail to surprise with cheap jump scares?
​
Director Jennifer Kent adapted the Babadook from a concept she created with her 2005 short Monster. Do yourself a favor and check Monster out. Despite it’s low budget, the black and white aesthetics along with old school scares are impressive to say the least. With The Babadook, Kent reveals her talent as a director and all that she can accomplish with a slightly bigger budget.
​
The film focuses on the story of Amelia (Essie Davis) attempting to raise her disturbed son, Samuel (Noah Wiseman). It is made evidently clear that Amelia has struggled with being a strong parental figure after the death of her husband, Oskar (Benjamin Winspear). At first by explaining how difficult it is to raise a young child following a tragic loss, the audience feels grounded with a wide range of sensibility.
​
One evening, as Amelia is putting Samuel to bed, he picks a book off the shelf for his mother to read to him called Mister Babadook. It seems a classical, old children’s picture book complete with three-dimensional pop-ups. This initial appearance dissipates into one of the most horrifying books a child could read before bed. Starting with the much talked about lines: “If it’s in a word or in a look, you can’t get rid of the Babadook.” These words transition in a page by page unsettling escalation to the point where Amelia is forced to close the book before letting her son see how much worse it gets. Simon begins to proclaim about seeing a monster. “The Babadook” from the picture book to be more specific. Young Samuel makes a weapon and brings it to school, leading to his expulsion. Before long Amelia starts to see disturbing presences and incidents. Every horrifying sight throws off Amelia’s emotional stability and convinces her into believing these things are somehow related to stress, but how wrong she is. The Babadook wants in and it will not stop until it does.
​
What creates the immensely effective terror is the psychological impact of death and the reality of economic struggle in conjunction with the existence of a supernatural being of unknown origin. From obscured views of the Babadook, the sound of his voice, the crackling of his hands, the threatening words of the book, and the ominous darkness of Amelia’s home, this film establishes an unnerving sense of dread with ease.
Amelia Vanek (Essie Davis) holds her son, Samuel, (Noah Wiseman) with indescriable fear.
There is one scene where Amelia flips through the pages of the book by herself and with each page she flips, I found myself hoping she wouldn’t turn to the next page. I can’t remember or name a film that had words forcing me to quiver with fear in a theater. The pop-up picture book is a brilliant piece of the mise-en-scene within Kent’s film that sets the tone for how eerie and dark the film would get by it’s inevitable close.
​
Over the course of the film, Amelia becomes isolated from the outside world and Samuel is separated from others without a school enrollment. This forces the viewer to feel as trapped as its two main characters. Most would agree that anyone’s mind could become greatly affected by an increasing low amount of contact with the outside world. Kent might seem to be making a statement about this within our technological age, but that is an issue all its own.
Click the image above for the original article on Knice Creative.
The Babadook is the rare and daring film that exemplifies the sensibility of having a female lead as opposed to a male one. Showing a strong but human mother doing all in her power to protect her son is something we need to see more of in film. In this regard we have Amelia and Samuel, who are two broken people dealing with quite a large sum of baggage. It shows in both of their powerful performances how coping isn’t a simple task. It is important to note that Noah Wiseman portrayed Samuel in this film at the age of six. Horror films can be made or broken based solely on the performances because they have to be believable. I haven’t seen many actors as young as Wiseman give such a convincing performance, dare I say it was shockingly good. Davis’ embodiment of Amelia was on par, expressing a range of emotions that realistically emotes the situations on screen. As Amelia experiences stress in the form of sleep deprivation, the possible presence of The Babadook, personal loneliness, and her son’s ‘delusions,’ it becomes clear that Davis knows how to sell it as truth with fluidity.
​
The ending might be considered anti-climactic or unsatisfying to some, but I ask those people to think again. There is a deeper meaning when you get down to the reality of the situation and what this family has gone through. When you endure pain and suffering from loss, sometimes the only way to move on and defeat your demons is to accept what is. The events you witness in the closing minutes are a representation of surpassing the over-encumbrance of weight from years of grievance.
​
Jennifer Kent gives out answers viewers desperately desire and leaves with questions to keep them talking long after they’ve left the theater. To see this creature make another appearance would be quite interesting, to see where it came from and it’s true origins. Though the critic in me hopes they leaves these pieces of curiosity to the imagination. Kent plays with the viewer’s imagination as if we were the children being read the book and then let it run wild. This is a film I could watch again and I can only hope that The Babadook Returns never gets green lit. Let’s leave this film as it should be, a standalone scare fest without following the unnecessary sequel trend.
Final Score
10
The Babadook is a masterpiece, putting forth character development and psychological analysis within a powerfully crafted horror experience.
Pros:
-
Old school scares over CGI or jump scares
-
Deep psychological roots
-
Strong performances from Essie Davis and Noah Wiseman
-
The Babadook monster
-
Ambiguous end that creates depth rather than confusion