SCARY MOVIE REVIEW: THE BABADOOK

Horror's been getting a bad rep nowadays. The only horror movie to top the box office last year (if you don't count Dumb and Dumber To) was Ouija. With a...um...less than certified score of 7% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film benefited from having weak competition that Halloween weekend, though it incredulously beat out the excellent Nightcrawler the next week, which was far more superior in creeping you out, trust me, I've unfortunately seen both. But those are the cash-cows studios push these days: cheapo horror flicks that (primarily) teenagers flock to see to get a burst of adrenaline and nervousness (take a college midterm, it has a similar effect and it kills fewer brain cells). They have D-list acting and make as much sense as the people who actually assign power to ouija boards do.

So that's why, when the super-low-budget Australian horror flick The Babadook was widely lauded at the '14 Sundance Film Festival, you could imagine my surprise. A horror flick getting Boyhood reviews? Slowly but surely it cropped up on top ten lists everywhere, and there was talk of dark horse Oscar buzz for Essie Davis' performance. I'd been dying to see it, and in the spirit of the forthcoming Halloween I thought what better time than to review the little-seen Babadook?

Well one thing I certainly didn't expect this movie to be is effective birth control. I didn't know Plan B stood for "Babadook." Noah Wiseman, who plays the son to Amelia (Davis) is so ear-achingly annoying for the first good half of this movie, I had to keep reminding myself that this was likely director Jennifer Kent's intention. This is not likable little horror movie boy Hailey Joel Osmont: this is a wincingly relatable brat who whines and cries and squeals and wears your patience bone-thin until you're very much in Amelia's shoes. She's recovering from the death of her husband, killed doing  a noble effort seven years ago (this movie won't let you forget it). The banalities of her everyday, quotidian duties at a nursing home, combined with her son's increasing disobedience already paint a fairly effective horror story, even before Mister Babadook is given a moment of screen time.

So what separates The Babadook from a dirt cheap horror flick you could buy with three others on two DVDs for $6? The development of the pacing, the characters, and the eventual symbolism I had to smack myself after looking it up for not realizing what it symbolized. Essie Davis' Amelia does a lot in this movie, and her emotions run the gamut from annoyed, to content, to murderous. The talk of Oscar buzz was highly warranted. It also doesn't feel like a two million dollar movie, probably because a lot of shoddy CGI was foregone for more practical scares, and a focus on psychological horror. I would surely rank it with some Babadook tends to chug towards its climax. But if you want to add it to your collection of films that are a must-see every Halloween, it would not be out of place.
of the best horror to come out recent years, but perhaps not of all time. Even at a little over 90 minutes

Rating: 3/4 Babadooks