The Babadook

Modern horror movies often have throwaway characters, unoriginal stories and use clichéd tactics to deliver cheap thrills, the most well-known of which is the jump scare. You know the trick: there’s an unnerving quiet, the camera focuses on blank space, you’re lulled into a fall sense of security and then BANG. It’s either something grotesque and frightening or harmless and innocent, but either way you jumped though didn’t you?

How refreshing then that Australian director Jennifer Kent stays away from clichés for her debut feature, The Bababook. With a throw back style to classic horror, she understand that horror comes from characters you care about and the increasing tension as it becomes obvious something horrible is going to happen to them.

The Babadook centres on Amelia and her troubled young son, Samuel. He is obsessed with magic and convinced of the existence of monsters, to the point of building make-shift weapons and using them at home and school. His behaviour worsens after his mother unwittingly reads him a book about a terrifying spectre, Mister Babadook, who he now believes is haunting them and will hurt his mother. As she realises they are now not alone in their house having read the book and welcomed him in, it becomes apparent that ‘you can’t get rid of The Babadook’.

The central performances by Essie Davis and young Noah Wieseman are terrific and the backbone of the movie is the dysfunctional relationship between the mother and son. Noah is a strange child with an overactive imagination, acting out over never knowing his father, who died in a car crash. His obsession with monsters makes his increasingly difficult for Amelia, who has no idea of how to handle him. Amelia is lonely and depressed since losing her husband and the stress of dealing with Samuel is taking its toll on her. This relationship is explored in uncommon psychological depth throughout the film and as Mister Babadook becomes ever more present in their lives, Amelia becomes unhinged, meaning we have a parent and child as scared of each other as they are of their unwelcome guest.

Mister Babadook himself is genuinely creepy, almost an embodiment of Amelia’s and Samuel’s fears. The imagery of a pale-faced man in a top hat, moving around like a shadow and speaking in a voice reminiscent of the death-rattling ghost from The Grudge will stay with you.

The horror is expertly handled by Kent, never opting for the jump scare, instead maintaining tension and dread by using surreal imagery and excellent use of light and sound.  The soundtrack of the film is a collection of whispers and screams and Mister Badadook’s aggressive knocking is used to add to the creepy atmosphere. Rooms are never completely dark,and light is used to show just enough and keep just enough hidden. Every shot is meticulously framed with every prop exactly placed every camera angle used to build tension and keep your eyes glued to screen .

 The best thing about the horror is so much of it is psychological.  As Amelia’s mental state deteriorates over the course of the film she becomes twitchy, short tempered and darker. The Babadook becomes more powerful feeding off her negativity, adding a further level of psychological depth to the horror.

While this may not be a crowd pleaser, delivering the cheap thrills and scares that some movie-goers have come to expect and even enjoy, this is more of a throwback to horror classics like The Omen and The Shining. It is a psychologically deep and unexpectedly emotional movie, with a creepy villain and unnerving moments that will fill you with dread.