<p>The Babadook<br />English (A)<br />Director: Jennifer Kent<br />Cast: Essie Davis, Noah<br />Wiseman, others<br /><br />Here’s a single mother Amelia (Davis), who ironically lost her husband in a car accident, seven years ago, the same day she delivered her son, Samuel (Wiseman). Sam is violent, possibly autistic, but loves bedtime stories, magic and is inventive.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Sam believes in an imaginary monster called Mr Babadook and spends his time fighting the monster with his catapult and trying to convince Amelia of its existence.<br /><br />Amelia works as a nurse at a senior citizen’s facility and with a hyperactive child, is sleep-deprived. “Rubbish, there’s no Babadook,” Amelia tells her son. One night, Sam pulls a pop-up children’s book from the shelf, which Amelia has never seen before. The book with its eerie charcoal illustrations threatens that once you read it you can’t get rid of Mr Babadook.<br /><br />Shortly thereafter, Sam is expelled from school for being a threat. After Sam pushes his cousin from a treehouse for rebuking him, Amelia and Sam lose family support. As Amelia believes more in Mr Babadook, she gets homicidal towards Sam.<br /><br />Kent’s debut as director pays homage to horror classics, The Shining and The Exorcist. However, there are no jump scares, noises or gore. It’s a psychodrama where fantasy and reality are blurred. For example, Amelia finds roaches under the wallpaper in the kitchen and begins cleaning. <br /><br />However, there are no roaches minutes later when she has visitors. Kent has done her homework so well that it is hard to deduce if Mr Babadook is Sam’s imagination or a metaphor for Amelia’s agony for being a widow and raising a son she finds hard to love.<br /><br /> Amelia’s possession scene is only the beginning of several scares, amplified with drab interiors, and a monster that is half-bird and half-bat that lurks inside the house. Mr Babadook’s growl as he pronounces his name leaves an aftertaste long after you have watched The Babadook.</p>
<p>The Babadook<br />English (A)<br />Director: Jennifer Kent<br />Cast: Essie Davis, Noah<br />Wiseman, others<br /><br />Here’s a single mother Amelia (Davis), who ironically lost her husband in a car accident, seven years ago, the same day she delivered her son, Samuel (Wiseman). Sam is violent, possibly autistic, but loves bedtime stories, magic and is inventive.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Sam believes in an imaginary monster called Mr Babadook and spends his time fighting the monster with his catapult and trying to convince Amelia of its existence.<br /><br />Amelia works as a nurse at a senior citizen’s facility and with a hyperactive child, is sleep-deprived. “Rubbish, there’s no Babadook,” Amelia tells her son. One night, Sam pulls a pop-up children’s book from the shelf, which Amelia has never seen before. The book with its eerie charcoal illustrations threatens that once you read it you can’t get rid of Mr Babadook.<br /><br />Shortly thereafter, Sam is expelled from school for being a threat. After Sam pushes his cousin from a treehouse for rebuking him, Amelia and Sam lose family support. As Amelia believes more in Mr Babadook, she gets homicidal towards Sam.<br /><br />Kent’s debut as director pays homage to horror classics, The Shining and The Exorcist. However, there are no jump scares, noises or gore. It’s a psychodrama where fantasy and reality are blurred. For example, Amelia finds roaches under the wallpaper in the kitchen and begins cleaning. <br /><br />However, there are no roaches minutes later when she has visitors. Kent has done her homework so well that it is hard to deduce if Mr Babadook is Sam’s imagination or a metaphor for Amelia’s agony for being a widow and raising a son she finds hard to love.<br /><br /> Amelia’s possession scene is only the beginning of several scares, amplified with drab interiors, and a monster that is half-bird and half-bat that lurks inside the house. Mr Babadook’s growl as he pronounces his name leaves an aftertaste long after you have watched The Babadook.</p>
