The Babadook

Photo by Craig Duffy

I was on YouTube the other day and watched a video called ”The Problem with Horror Movies Today” by Chris Stuckmann. He mentions that this was one of the best horror films of 2014 besides Oculus, so after having to sit through terrible movies like Annabelle and Ouija at the theaters he was glad to have come across the movie I’m about to discuss. I must say that for her debut film, Jennifer Kent created something memorable and will most likely end up becoming a horror movie classic. As Chris Struckmann had mentioned in his video, this movie was unsettling without having to rely so much on unnecessary jump-scares and tacky special effects. It’s a movie that even if it presents the idea of a monster, the thing that really scares you is what the monster represents and how it takes a toll on our protagonist. The lovely thing about this horror film is that it brings you the universal themes of grief and depression in a creative and terrifying style, making you feel as if though the events in the film could happen to you. After watching it, I walked around the house in the dark and I felt intense paranoia as if the monster was standing behind me, even had a big jump-scare in the kitchen thanks to my schnauzer puppy. This is good because it means the horror element of the film did stay in me, unlike recent movies where you leave the film at the theaters and don’t care for it at all.

What really captured my attention about The Babadook was how through a lot of symbolism it portraits certain themes that many people can relate to: grief, depression, anger, and so forth. This is all present when a mother named Amelia  (Essie Davis) tries to cope with life after the death of her husband the same day her son Samuel was born. The child is basically the kind you see at a restaurant or at the mall that throws a fit about certain things, is paranoid about monsters hiding under his bed or closet (even makes weapons for protection, which got hi into trouble when he brought them to school), speaks every one of his thoughts, and all of this causes Amelia a lot of problems. She sort of becomes alienated and looked down upon because of Samuel because he isnt ”normal”. Then one night he finds a book called ”The Babadook” which makes things worse for Amelia because the book contains images of some type of boogy-man, which makes Samuel’s monster paranoia become stronger. Amelia attempts to get rid of the book but when it appears once more on her doorstep, it has been put back together and contains new mages of her killing their dog, Samuel and then herself. Because of all the restless nights, the stress put on by her daily life, and then the Babadook slowly taking over her Amelia becomes more aggressive towards Samuel and he becomes afraid of her. Things get worse but Samuel fights back, telling her ”You let it in and now you have to let it out” which symbolizes the way we need to purge all of the evil from ourselves in order to be free. Another thing that surprised me about the end of the film, other than the happy ending, was the fact that Amelia never really got rid of the Babadook instead confining it in her basement to show control over it.

In the beginning the audience sympathizes with Amelia being a single mother who hasn’t quite gotten over the loss of her husband and having to deal with a child that won’t give her peace of mind, also having people feel pity about her situation just drove her to the edge. When this happens the tables turn and we fear Samuel a bit, I mean anyone has seen their mother angry as a child and it’s a terrifying sight. Even though most of us aren’t parents yet, we have felt the same anger Amelia felt towards Samuel towards someone we love but they make us angry and we try to deny it to not make ourselves look like terrible human beings. Which is another thing director Jennifer Kent managed to portrait, the way something parents love their kids but have moments where they get really mad at them and say things things they don’t mean, which is something very taboo to think about your own kids yet it helps to show that parenthood isn’t as perfect as society wants to make it seems and that’s normal. As a psychological horror film, it managed to scare but also became very therapeutic when you step into the characters’ shoes or have dealt with grief or depression, knowing that sometimes the negative things overpower us and it is a lot process before we can take control once more. We all have a Babadook to deal with, some of us are still fighting with it while others have already managed to keep it in the basement to deal with as needed.

The cinematography was something great as well, the way they made the house inside as a dark gloomy blue , the music that sounded somewhat like a lullaby but had these tones that made it creepy in some scenes, the way they didn’t really try to emphasize so much on the location (Australia) to make it seem like it could be anyone’s home in any part of the world that could go through something similar.

The movie won 6 awards including three AACTA awards for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Jennifer Kent, along with Best Film. Very well deserved, indeed. Please watch if you haven’t yet, it might just change the way you see and treat people in your lives.

I rate this 8.0/5 imaginary monsters (if that’s possible, I loved it)