☆ ☆ ☆
The
Babadook (2014) – J. Kent
As with every horror movie focused on
haunted houses or evil spirit possession, the Babadook has a really slow build
before anything really scary (or obvious) happens. This allows bubbling psychological
undercurrents to make their appearance and spell out things we need to know
about the characters and their relationships.
In this case, we meet a single mother and her six year old son who are
still dealing with the repercussions of the husband/father’s death in a car
accident. So, these people are fragile
and therefore we are not quite sure, when the Babadook introduces himself,
whether he is a figment of their imaginations or somehow something horribly
real. So, the movie confronts mental
illness head on. It is therefore rather
grim and a bit of an ordeal to watch.
The special effects are handled subtly and with restraint – which is
good. The acting, however, does suffer
from some changes in tone that may or may not be due to spirit possession. About half way through the film, I realized
it was Australian – so it is not ostentatiously so (I guess I’m too used to
accents here). I won’t spoil the
conclusion other than to say that I was somewhat perplexed. If this sounds like your thing, then it might
be better than some others in the genre.
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