Freddy's 31 Days of Horror Day 23: Jennifer Kent's Babadook
Well my fellow gore hounds for this smorgasbord of horror I'm going to try and keep this simple and not tell you the plot here as much as the feelings of this amazing film! In the realm of horror these days we are constantly bombarded by sub par watered down studio remakes and star engines for CW actors. Every now and then a nugget of gold slips past the studio machine and two or three people stumble upon fun times with these nugs of gold. From abroad in the land of Australia comes this gem known as the Babadook. 
This movie was super hyped up by my fellows horror hounds but I stayed away from it for quite some time. No trailers no synopsis and my only recommendation to get me excited was William "I made the Exorcist" Friedkin who said it was the scariest movie he's seen. This is from the dude who hates everything and if he's proven wrong he states, "who gives a f#ck?" Naturally I was intrigued that he indeed did give a flying fudge. First time director Jennifer Kent who started her career in acting and interestingly one of her first roles being the Children's film Babe: Pig in the City, has delivered a beautiful mother son tragedy wrapped in a cocoon of horror. Amelia (Essie Davis) lives with her son Samuel (Noah Wiseman) after a terrible family tragedy has left her to raise her very strange son on her own. A storybook falls in to their laps about Mister Babadook. 
I don't want to reveal anymore as going into this film cold really makes the experience worthwhile as many movies these days are spoiled by trailers and the long diatribes of the Internet. What I can say is this movie has extremely affected me on an emotional level as I too have had an extraneous relationship with my mother as well. Samuel spends the whole movie trying to protect his mother from the Babadook which I feel the creature itself represents her grief of said tragedy mentioned above. He only wants his mother to be happy and survive her grief but his mother does not make it easy for him as she has stopped acknowledging said tragedy and the life she has lost alienating her son in the process. 
The underlying theme of this movie in my eyes was that the inability to cope with grief and denial of it can manifest itself into something that can completely destroy what little you have left in your life. In this film the grief physically and mentally manifests itself creating the Babadook. The horrors of what has become of this mother and son relationship are as horrific as the Babadook itself. The very simple one house setting and dark color palate used within add to the very hopeless emotional level of the characters. Ms. Kent as well paralleled many of the scenes in the movie with scenes from other horror themed television and films that the characters view throughout. 
Many Easter eggs for horror fans that somewhat foreshadow events to come within the film are represented amazingly well thtough the characters insomnia as they watch television. A great creature feature with very cool fx sprinkled just enough throughout that mix perfectly with the drama to bring a real world horror wrapped in fantasy. Go see it cold for a heart wrenching horror flick! Eight more days til' Halloween Halloween! Eight more days til' Halloween! Silver Shamrock!
