Face-Off: The Babadook vs. Hereditary

Essie Davis as Amelia Vanek
Noah Wiseman as Samuel Vanek
Hayley McElhinney as Claire
Barbara West as Mrs. Roach

Actress-turned-director Jennifer Kent made her feature directorial debut here, and it's a confident, perfect debut to be sure. Wanting to tell a story about parenthood and facing your inner demons, Kent was inspired by movies like ROSEMARY'S BABY to craft a minimalist, somewhat bloodless, and claustrophobic horror tale that keeps the story focused on two main characters as a paranormal force tears the family apart. She does a commendable job getting the most mileage she can of the precise setting of the main house — which has a glossless, relatable aura about it that could make anyone feel like a prisoner in their own home — and just as much from the performances from actors who she pushes to their limits. While there was room to create a big, hulking CGI creature, Kent utilizes classic horror elements like shadowy, dark rooms, under-the-covers angles and other techniques that hide the main threat to wring out some haunting scares that would make anyone leave on all the lights in their home. Most impressively, she always keeps the themes of her story front and center as the horror progresses, and as Amelia descends into the hell of her emotions the activity worsens, leading to a rousing, unexpected finish. Here, Kent proves you don't need all the much to craft a horrifying experience, merely a good location, great actors, a strong script and a creepy villain, all of which can generate enough unsettling tension to shake you to the bone.

As mentioned above, Kent's script tells a story about facing the monsters in our own lives, meshing that with a tale about how parenting isn't the perfect blessing some people would have you believe it is. What makes Kent's work here so great is that while that story may not be relatable to everyone, she makes the struggles of both Amelia and Samuel so engaging, realistic and raw that you can't but sympathize with them. You have Amelia, a widowed mother still unable to fully cope with the death of her husband years before, totally exhausted by the strains of raising Sam, a precocious child who is afraid of the monsters under his bed, and then takes it a step further by crafting a clever toy to fight back against said demon. She takes the raising of her son day by day, coming to terms with the idea he may not be the most normal boy, all before succumbing to her darker impulses and lashing out at the child, who by this point has perhaps become the voice of reason. Of course, there are the demonic elements at play that make this take on parenting one for the books, made all the more palpable (and scary) thanks to the Kent's honest, unflinching look into this troubled family of two. Peppered in are bits of black humor and shocking twists as the story escalates these characters' journeys to surprising places, making their ultimate triumph as rewarding as it is a little fucked.

Essie Davis may not be the household name Toni Collette is, but she certainly should be after her tremendous performance as a mother trying to raise her son alone in THE BABADOOK. She crafts an entire arc for the character of Amelia that takes her from sweet, reserved and stressed mother of one to an especially imaginative and hyperactive little boy to an emotioanlly drained woman falling victim to malicious deeds that eventually turn her into a rage monster who cannot repress her dark impulses any longer.  A story about being a single parent, trying to confront a troubled past and face off the monsters inside you, BABADOOK is a movie that requires the leading character to give it her all, and Davis executes Amelia's journey to hell and back with as much nuance and empathy as she does visceral, raw power. Towards the end when she goes unhinged she doesn't skip a beat and completely erases the quiet woman we met in the beginning, and while in a mainstream horror movie this would turn her into a villain, her arc is so fascinating and her character so easy to sympathisize with we want her to triumph. That's as much a testament to the writing as it is Davis' work, as she can make you terrified of her one moment and have you rooting for her the next. It's a commanding performance that doesn't get near enough praise, and no matter your opinion on the movie there's no denying the absolute masterwork that is Davis' work here. 

Bits:

Problem Child’s Invention

Tension at the Park

Mister Babadook’s Book

Private Time Interrupted 

Glass in the Soup

Catatonic Child

Shoved Out of the Treehouse

Seizure in the Car

One Evil Pop-Up Book

Babadook Calls

Babadook Across the Street

Babadook in the Room

Car Ride From Hell

The Babadook in the House

Dog Down and Tooth Rip!

Mother on the Rampage

Black Vomit

Tossed Around the House

Living With the Monsters

Lines:

The Babadook: " Ba-ba-ba… dook! Dook! DOOOOOKH!"

—–

Amelia: "You are nothing. You're nothing! This is my house! You are trespassing in my house! If you touch my son again, I'll fucking kill you!"

—–

Sam: "DON'T LET IT IN! DON'T LET IT IN"

—–

Amelia: "You're hungry? Then why don't you go eat shit!"

—–

The Babadook: "You can bring me the boy. "

—–

Samuel: "DO YOU WANT TO DIE?"

—–

Amelia: "You little pig. Six years old and you're still wetting yourself. You don't know how many times I wished it was you, not him, that died."

—–

Sam: "You can't get rid of the Babadook"

—–

Prue: "I'm Prue and this is Warren. How are you?"
Samuel: "I'm a bit tired from the drugs Mom gave me…"

In terms of genuine terror, there's plenty BABADOOK has going for it that can shake you to your core and perhaps make you leave the light on for several nights straight. Nipping the obvious in the bud, there's the title monster himself, Mister Babadook, whose gaunt, pale, black-cloaked visual — accompanied by the sounds and presence of insects — is deeply unnerving and is enough to inspire both a renewed fear of the dark and an urge in goth girls to write unsettling stories of erotica (yes, it's out there). More terrifying than the man-creature in the top hat is the effect he has on both Amelia and Sam, the former being slowly taken over and driven to deeply psychotic lengths, while the latter becomes the most unhinged problem child you're likely to see. Kent progresses the terror slowly but effectively by never straying from the escalating manic behavior of the two leads, while the lingering presence of the Babadook adds that demonic, horror story element to make for a melting pot of pure, unrelenting terror. Come the climax the movie is going places with the scares that you wouldn't think it would, like a mom coming very close to killing her own son, which is all made worse because the excellent character development has connected us with them the whole way.  BABADOOK achieves all of the above with little to no gore and purely through tone, atmosphere, music, and terrific performances and writing. Gives me the willies all over again.

Jed Kurzel's work is a perfectly taut, freaky piece of music that hits all the right notes, some more effective than others. There are some unsettling sounds to come out of smaller moments, like when Amelia is reading Sam the Babadook book at night, which are nicely juxtaposed with the more vicious, frightening scenes, like during the finale and the scene with the Babadook outside the car. However, though it is a good score for sure I can't really say it stands out to me above some of similar horror movie scores – with its more memorable pieces heavy on the strings. It's undoubtedly creepy, but when compared to the work of the composer in the next category, it can't help but feel like a step down. 

There are a lot of complex themes at play in this fresh take on the psychological haunted house movie, such as dealing with grief, rage and your past, but the two I have referenced and admire the most are the exploration of parenthood and living with your own monsters. The whole movie hinges on the dynamic between Amelia and Sam, the former harboring some mild (and then not so mild) resentment towards her son for coming into the world on the day her husband left it, and the latter angry and upset over not being able to know his father. Then in comes The Babadook, a relentless, fancily dressed monster meant to heighten those animosities and have them clash with one another to vicious results. It's through Amelia, as the central character, that we get this story of the darker side of being a parent, let alone a single one, as every day is a struggle to understand and handle her son. While she tries so hard she can't help but become exhausted and internalize a certain level of rage, which when it bubbles over as she spirals down into mania is terrifying even without Mr. Babadook around. Thanks to a lean and mean (often very mean) script and direction from Kent and a commanding central performance from Davis these themes are very present and drive the core of the movie towards meaningful conclusions about not being able to completely rid yourself of the monsters within, but can only live with and manage them.

Awards:

Golden Schmoes:

Winner:

• Best Horror Movie

Nominee:

• Best Actress – Essie Davis

**56 Wins & 61 Nominations per IMDb**

 

Praise:

Rotten Tomatoes: 98% (72% Audience Score)

Metacritic: 86 (8.3 Audience)

IMDb: 6.8

 

Money:

$964,000 ($10 million globally)