Night Thirteen - The Babadook
Okay this is an amazing modern horror film! Seriously like one of the best supernatural horror films I have ever seen. Australian horror movies are so underrated if this comes back next year I highly recommend we watched The Loved Ones.
The opening was effective and I did appreciate the slow build up towards it. I do think that most of the time when movies have a slow start they tend to make me lose interest but I think the odd behaviour of Samuel and Amelia's clear severe form anxiety and/or other mental health issues made me interested. I think also this is the type of film where a nice build up is absolutely necessary, a slasher can open straight away with deaths but in a supernatural you do need a background story. I think the backstory about the death of Samuels father was a nice touch and explained why Kate was so neglectful towards him at times as he just painfully reminded her of her tragic loss she had been faced with on the day of his birth. Moments such as when Samuel pushed his cousin from the tree house and when Amelia found the cockroaches in the wall kept me intensely interested and loads of these little things popped up frequently throughout.
I liked how the creators picked up on small amounts of detail to really make the film gel together well. The setting of the house was extremely creepy and Samuel's seizure in the back of the car was actually somewhat disturbing. The only thing I didn't like about the film and which part I didn't feel necessary was the graphic nature of the dogs death it was uneasy and uncomfortable to watch. That is my only one minute criticism of the entire film though.
The Babadook itself was such an odd yet somewhat rather fascinating creature and story. The blank pages at the end which ended up being completed were chilling when Amelia looked through them and opened the last page to see a cardboard version of herself slitting her own throat. I think Essie Davis was brilliant at portraying the contrasting sides of Amelia's character particularly her latter psychotic side. The young boy who played the role of Samuel was also great for a young child taking on such a heavy role. I think it must be hard for such young children to star in horror films.
The conclusion to the film I loved. Amelia's slow progression into the Babadook was filmed really well. I liked how slowly her character deteriorated from being slightly 'snappy' with Samuel telling him to eat **** to a full on psychopath wanting to murder her own son. Essie Davis really shone during these scenes I think she used every sort of acting skill she could to really pull off a character who was such a convincing lunatic. It was lovely seeing her finally bond with Samuel also the two finally celebrated his birthday and we saw them finally connect and understand each other at last.
Overall - 10/10
A fantastic modern horror film. One of the best out there.
Scores:
The Descent -
10/10
Scream -
10/10
The Babadook -
10/10
Urban Legend -
9/10
Scream 2 -
9/10
Sinister -
8/10
House Of Wax -
8/10
Scream 3 -
6/10
Scream 4 -
6/10
I Know What You Did Last Summer -
6/10
It Follows -
5/10
Black Christmas -
4/10
Friday the 13th -
2/10