Review of The Babadook (2014) by Amheretojudge — 29 Oct 2019

A perfect blend of sound effects and editing zapping you with an enormous "boo".

The Babadook Jennifer Kent's debut as a writer-director is a monstrous call for attention. It is surprisingly one of those few horror flicks that I haveA perfect blend of sound effects and editing zapping you with an enormous "boo".

The Babadook.

Jennifer Kent's debut as a writer-director is a monstrous call for attention. It is surprisingly one of those few horror flicks that I have encountered that fully uses every aspect of filmmaking in one direction. It channels everything to one simple thing. And it is not a scream that she wants from you, nor an awe gasping moment and definitely not a cheap elaborative sketch spread across the script for an insensitive commercial parlour trick. What she is interested in throwing out, is the character driven plot. All those scenes tied together just gives you a very strong case on what and how theses characters work. And they work fine. More than fine. They are extremely diligent on what they look like.

How they are received by the others. In fact, every character is interested in doing so. Even the demons come with an introduction, a warning and are interested in following those set rules by them. They want to be taken seriously. Like they hold importance. A value that they could never reach. But would like to possess. And that is the crux of the supernatural element in the film. The entity is something that is not considered real.

The psychological system feeds on fear and grows on your weakness or at least that's what we are told. And maybe that's why among these many set of characters, the kid, the child stands out different. His inexpressive behaviour, nature without any pattern doesn't make sense and it also does. This normalized humane behaviour that blends in at the back of our mind is what's alienated throughout the film. The Babadook then truly transforms into a monstrous lie. The horror title is deserved and the payoff is the oddest emotion that we carry and that is of course that we are attached to the idea.