“It’s just a book. It can’t hurt you.”
Written & Directed by: Jennifer Kent
Starring: Essie Davis & Noah Wiseman
The H-Bomb: Amelia (Essie Davis) is a widowed single mother caring for her six-year-old son, Samuel (Noah Wiseman). Samuel has always been a bit of a problem child, with an overactive imagination, and a fondness for homemade weapons. Lately, he’s been acting up worse than usual, getting in trouble at school, and telling tales of seeing a monster inside the house.
One night, Samuel asks Amelia to read him a story before bed, and his selection for the night is an illustrated book he found on the shelf titled “Mister Babadook.” There is no author credited on the crimson red cover, simply the title, and the dark silhouette of a strange figure with long fingers and a top hat. As Amelia reads through the book, it becomes apparent that this thing is really not appropriate for her son, or for anyone else, for that matter.
The pop-up illustrations of the monstrous Babadook become more and more creepy, the passages of text more and more threatening, with the final one promising, “You’re going to wish you are dead.” Naturally, the kid is thrown into hysterics, and Amelia is rather unnerved, herself. So, she does the sensible thing by tearing Mister Babadook to pieces and dropping it in the trash. But, as the book warns, “You can’t get rid of the Babadook.”
The next morning, Amelia hears a knock at her front door, and when she opens it, she finds, on the doorstep, the Mister Babadook book, completely intact. When she flips through it, she finds an even more horrifying story than the one from the night before, one featuring her, and Samuel, and their little dog, too. From there on, Amelia starts experiencing sleepless night after sleepless night, filled with unexplained noises, strange phone calls, and visions of a figure wearing a top hat lurking in the shadows…
Given the hype surrounding The Babadook, I was rather reluctant to check it out. With pretty much every critic, and even William “The Exorcist” Friedkin, calling it the scariest movie in the history of ever, I figured that there was no way it could ever possibly live up to that kind of hype. Then, on the same day it was released on DVD, it hit Netflix instant streaming, and I said “what the hell?” I started it fairly late at night, watching it in the dark, as I always do… about halfway through the movie, I just had to turn on the light.
This Australian import, from first time feature filmmaker Jennifer Kent, absolutely, positively lives up to its hype. The Babadook is one scary fucking movie. How scary, you may ask? Well, quite frankly, and I would not say this if I didn’t wholeheartedly mean it, but I must agree with my fellow critics, it is one of the scariest movies in the history of ever. Absolutely ever. I’ve praised flicks like The Conjuring and the first Paranormal Activity in the past, and they are damn good horror films, but they ain’t shit next to The Babadook.
You may look at the silly sounding title, and the silly looking cartoon of the title character on the poster and think, “Oh come on, really?” Well, let me tell you something, tough guy, when this thing gets in your head, and under your skin, you will not, as the tag line promises, be able to get rid of it. On the surface, it’s a haunted house movie, that does all the haunted house movie stuff. It does it well, but it’s basically all the haunted house movie stuff you’ve seen before.
What makes The Babadook brilliant, though, is that it works on a deeper level, much the way Kubrick’s The Shining does. Now, The Babadook owes quite a bit to that classic, but what I’m referring to is the way in which the lead character seems to gradually unravel as the film progresses. With each sleepless night, and each encounter with this shadowy creature, Amelia becomes more and more unhinged, closer and closer to complete insanity.
One moment, she sees bugs coming out of the hole in the wall, the next, she doesn’t. When she looks over someone’s shoulder, she sees the sinister top hat hanging on the wall, the next time she looks, it’s gone. Is the Babadook driving her batty, or is the strain of raising a troublesome child all on her own finally taking its toll? Is her family being threatened by a supernatural entity, or is she herself the threat? This is the ambiguous line that the film walks all the way up to its final scene. We’re never quite sure, it could be either one… or, perhaps… a bit of both?
What I am sure of though, is that the film’s main asset, aside from writer/director Kent’s expert use of editing and sound design, is the brilliant lead performance by Davis. She is an actress I have never taken notice of before, but she is certainly on my radar now, for this flawless portrayal of a woman on the brink of madness. She is alternately sad, exhausted, exasperated, terrified… and, at key moments, terrifying. Amelia is someone I was constantly frightened for and frightened of, and that is all Davis. This is the best female performance of 2014 that I’ve seen, and she absolutely should have been on the list of nominees for the Best Actress Oscar.
Young Wiseman, as the hyperactive Samuel, also puts in an impressive showing. I should warn you, though, that at first, he comes off as awfully loud and awfully annoying. Awfully, awfully annoying. So goddamn irritating was he, that I really had a hard time getting into the movie. At one point, a character even says to Amelia, “I can’t stand being around your son,” and I thought, “That’s damn for sure.” Then I realized, that’s the point, he’s supposed to be obnoxious… so obnoxious that he’s possibly driving his mommy completely bat-shit. So, that character trait is forgivable, and is even necessary for the story… still, he is exceptionally fucking aggravating… if you do watch The Babadook, be ready for that.
And there is absolutely no reason for you not to watch The Babadook, unless you prefer horror movies that are toothless, nut-less, and not scary in the slightest, in which case Ouija will probably be more your speed. As insane as the hype might be, it is one-hundred percent warranted with this one, folks. I had to turn on a damn light as I was watching it, not even The Exorcist did that to me. The silly sounding title aside, The Babadook is far and away one of the most chilling and effective horror films I have ever seen.
