IF IT'S IN A WORD OR IT'S IN A LOOK, YOU CAN'T GET RID OF "THE BABADOOK"

I used to be a massive horror fan when I was a kid. No really. Realising that it was mostly jump-scares and blood and gore took it out of it for me slightly. The more analytical I became in my approach, the less interested I became in ghouls and goblins and films with too many jump scares. It’s such a rarity to find a film that really, REALLY teases your little grey cells these days, I find in the horror genre this is even rarer…

This is why, when a film like The Babadook comes out, I feel it needs to be praised, exalted, shouted from the rooftops, held aloft like Simba in The Lion King was when he was born (oh come ON yes you DO know that scene) . I am especially proud of it because it was directed by a woman and stars a strong female lead. We need more Babadooks on so many levels, we really do, principally because it is actually one of the most cerebral horror films around in recent history – which, in turn, makes it so terrifying…

Amelia (Essie Davis) is a young mother who is trying to get over the violent death of her husband some years back. She lives with their young son, Samuel (Noah Wiseman) who is an imaginative young man with his views on life and the world around him that are very much his own. One day, a strange and slightly macabre book appears in Samuel’s bookcase. It is a pop-up book about a monster called The Babadook, and the moment they read the book, Samuel becomes convinced The Babadook is coming to get them all… He is a bit of a handful at the best of times and Amelia is distracted what with the anniversary of her husband’s death approaching, so she dismisses it at first. But soon she has to admit, there is a sinister presence in the house… Something lurking just on the border of her vision, desperately trying to get in…

Now… There are two levels to this film… First of all, this is a solid, hooves firmly planted on the ground monster movie. I am quite a veteran of horror films, I do not scare easily and yet the tension, the brooding, the whole “creepiness” is built up so well and the film is so atmospheric even before the monster arrives on the scene that I personally was reduced to actually peeping through my fingers at some points. The film takes place by and large in the house, a rambling, mutely colored house that uses a rather eccentric décor to give it that truly dreamy / nightmare-ish existing outside of time quality. Essie Davis is absolutely wonderful in portraying Amalia’s slow decent into chaos from a life held together, it transpires, a lot more precariously than it first seems. The same has to be said for Noah Wiseman who is insightful and a delight to watch as Samuel. You could apply literally no analysis to this film and enjoy it as a horror film anyway – it delivers all the scares, the screams and the special effects you could possibly want or need…

But of course there is more to this film than meets the eye. A cursory search of the internet reveals the biggest plot twists, in fact I must add I knew what the major plot twist was. And yet – even though I knew – I remained terrified throughout the film because The Babadook cleverly side-steps the biggest trap a lot of horror films fall into. You see, when you want to scare someone, whenever possible, it is best to leave a hefty chunk of work to the imagination. Each person’s imagination will create the monster that is most frightening for them – or at least will add the details that will make it that tiny bit more gruesome. The Babadook relies specifically on this trope and although it hints, points, winks and makes oblique hand gestures throughout, by the time the credits roll at the end, it has not openly uttered a single word about the “details” of this haunting and what The Babadook “actually” is. Oh it’s easy enough to guess. But the point is we are never “told”. Symbols abound throughout, and although you see them clearly you are never quite sure; cue the pages and pages of guesses and analysis all over social media from the excited viewers who have just left the cinema. Now THAT, ladies and gents, is a story that truly immerses the viewer.

And – this may be deemed a mild spoiler or “things” may be inferred from it – one of my favorite parts of the film is the fact that the “monster” is never quite vanquished. Like a lot of “real” monsters and things constructed by the human mind, it is not “destroyed” – but Amelia learns how to live with it and manage it. She has looked on the face of the monster, she has made her peace with it, and this enables her to carry on a normal life, taking care of her son. It is truly powerful that after Amalia “sees” the monster, we cease to be able to. We either see her from the monsters’ perspective or it remains in the shadows, just beyond our grasp… Which is rather fitting I thought – seeing as everyone’s “personal demons” are – the clue is in the name – intensely personal…

You may find this perverse, but The Babadook proves once again that the most frightening monsters are often very much of this world and in fact from our very beings… A truly hair raising experience

even for the most discerning horror fan…