Confidently directed and incredibly well acted, Jennifer Kent’s fantastic debut The Babadook offers the best of both worlds. It delivers a steady stream of edge-of-the-seat thrills, all while touching on the themes of loss, grief, and the traumas of motherhood.
The film starts off on a rather quotidian note. Amelia (Essie Davis), a young single mother, wakes up from a dream recalling the car accident that killed her husband, she returns to the hell of her everyday life: having to raise her socially awkward, ADD-struggling son Sam (Noah Wiseman), who is both a source of great joy and distress. The car accident, which killed her husband, happened when the latter was sending her to the hospital for her delivery, and that is why Amelia subsequently struggles with unreservedly loving, and embracing, her son.
Add to that her son’s increasing bouts of aggression in school, which only aggravates the already weary mother. Sam’s tantrums and misbehavior might seem like the typical acting out of a young kid without a father figure, but they soon take a turn towards darker, grimmer territory. Nightmares constantly visit Sam, and he soon starts spouting mumbo jumbo about a sinister monster called the Babadook.
Amelia initially dismisses Sam’s rants, and tries to assuage his (to her) paranoia. But Sam’s behaviour only gets more erratic and his obsession with the Babadook grows even more persistent, so much so that he almost gets expelled from school for bringing an assembled weapon along with him. This only catalyzes Amelia’s mental breakdown, as her nerves start to fray from the mounting stress that her son gives her. That her sister alienates her and her son only dampens her mental fortitude. That is when she starts wondering if the Babadook is merely a figment of Samuel’s troubled imagination, or if there really is a sinister presence lurking around in her house.
When she chances upon a book that mysteriously appears, that is when her (and your) good night’s sleep disappears.
The film is expertly crafted. It is scary when it needs to be, and funny when it needs to be. (A particularly funny scene involves Sam rigging a bunch of traps, Home Alone-style, to get away from his possessed mother.) Jump scares are never overused, only purposefully. With The Babadook, Jennifer Kent shows she understands the rhythms and beats of horror.
Beyond being a thrill-machine, The Babadook is also thematically relevant. It is a haunting examination of the joys and terrors of motherhood, as well as the traumas of grief and loss. But of course, all the technical and thematic trappings would be for naught if not for the terrific performances by the two leads. Davis, in particular, nails her characters evolution from loving parent to weary, exhausted woman to unhinged aggressor (and then back again to loving parent). Hers is a ferocious, captivating performance of great conviction. Every time you think her character cannot possible be more frazzled and exhausted, Davis surprises you with her acting.
The Babadook is one of the rare horror films that are the whole package, serving up thrills all while delivering emotional moments and generating catharsis, and we can’t recommend it enough.
Summary: An expertly crafted horror film with a steady stream of scares, all while serving as a great allegory for the anxieties of single motherhood.
RATING: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Raymond Tan