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norirosewrites · 6 months

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Horror Film Review: The Babadook

Subgenre: Psychological horror Gore Level: Minimal

“If it’s in a word, or it's in a look…YOU CAN’T GET RID OF THE BABADOOK!”

Yes, that Mr. Babadook, queer icon who brought us memes such as these:

The Babadook is a 2014 Australian psychological horror film written and directed by Jennifer Kent and starring Essie Davis and Noah Wiseman. As I’ve previously written, I have an interest in horror films that explore the complexities of family dynamics and parent-child relationships. After the letdown that was The Twin, I decided to keep my expectations minimal when I sat down to watch The Babadook. Little did I expect to be completely blown out of the water. (Or rather drenched in it, since I was reduced to a blubbering pile of mush at the end of the film.)

In a Nutshell (Spoilers): Amelia is a widowed single mother struggling to raise her six year old son Samuel. When Samual was born, Amelia’s husband Oskar was tragically killed in a car accident en route to the hospital. Amelia receives minimal emotional support from her sister Claire, and her only friend is her and Samuel’s elderly neighbor Ms. Roach. Samuel suffers from insomnia and becomes preoccupied with an imaginary monster, building makeshift weapons in an attempt to protect himself and his mother. Amelia is forced to pull him out of school when he brings a weapon to class and injures another student. One night, Sam asks his mother to read a pop-up book that mysteriously appears on their shelf called Mister Babadook that describes a humanoid monster with taloned fingers and a top hat that torments its victims once they “let him in.” Sam becomes convinced that the Babadook is real. Disturbed, Amelia rips the book into shreds and throws it in the trash collection bin.

Before long, strange things begin to occur in their home: doors open and close at random, Amelia and Sam hear bizarre noises, Amelia finds glass shards in their dinner and an apparent cockroach infestation in the wall behind the fridge that vanishes when social services workers come to check on Sam. Amelia blames Sam for these goings-on, but he insists that it’s the Babadook at work. The two of them attend Sam’s cousin Ruby’s birthday party, where Claire admits that she cannot stand to be around Sam and insists that it’s time for Amelia to move on from Oskar’s death. Ruby bullies and demeans Sam for not having a father. Out of anger, Sam pushes her out of her treehouse, causing her to break her nose. On the way home, Sam envisions the Babadook in their car and begins screaming hysterically, begging his mother “don’t let it in,” and suffers a seizure. Amelia takes him to a pediatrician who puts them on a waitlist for a child psychiatrist and prescribes a short course of sedatives to help him sleep.

The following morning, Amelia finds the Mister Babadook pop-up book on the front porch, reassembled and containing new, graphic images of her killing Sam, their dog Bugsy, and then herself, with a warning that the more she denies the Babadook’s existence, the stronger it will get. She burns the book and tries to report the stalking to the police after receiving an unsettling phone call, but has no evidence to present and leaves when she sees the Babadook’s suit assembled on the wall of the station. Later that night, Amelia sees the Babadook open her bedroom door and crawl up the ceiling before diving down and attacking her, prompting her to leave the lights and the TV on all night.

Amelia grows more and more isolated and erratic. She shouts at and demeans Samuel constantly and displays violent behavior by cutting the phone line with a knife and then aggressively waving it at him. She has more visions of the Babadook and hallucinations where she sees herself murdering Sam. Finally, she sees an apparition of Oskar, who promises to return to her if she “brings the boy” to him. The Babadook possesses her, causing her to break Bugsy’s neck and attempt to kill Samuel. Sam succeeds in luring her to the basement and knocks her unconscious with his homemade weapons and booby traps. She awakens tied up on the floor with Sam cowering nearby. She tries to strangle him, but he manages to lovingly caress her face, causing her to expel the Babadook. However, he reminds her “you can’t get rid of the Babadook '' before an invisible force pulls him upstairs to Ameila’s bedroom. She is able to rescue Sam, but must confront the memory of her husband’s violent death. Enraged, she screams at the Babadook, causing it to flee to the basement.

With the ordeal finally over, Amelia becomes loving and attentive towards Sam. The two of them gather worms in a bowl from the garden and Amelia takes it to the basement to “feed” the Babadook. The Babadook becomes agitated, but she manages to soothe it. It retreats into the shadows with the worms. Amelia returns to the garden with Sam, and the two celebrate his birthday together.

The WOW:

– You know how sometimes a piece of media will beat you over the head with the themes it’s trying to address? Yeah, The Babadook doesn’t do that, which is what makes this film work so well. It’s pretty apparent that the film grapples with trauma and grief, but it manages to do this without being on the nose: Sam celebrates his birthday with his cousin Ruby, who is close in age, because Amelia can’t stand to be reminded that his birthday is the same day that her husband died. However it’s left up to the audience to ascertain this through subtext. She doesn’t want Sam going through his father’s things in the basement, to which he replies “he’s my father, you don’t own him,” reminding his mother in his childlike way that his father’s death has left a hole in his life, too. It also portrays how children can become parentified when parents don’t address their own issues in a stark but deeply moving way: Sam tells his mother “I promise to protect you if you promise to protect me.” When Amelia is possessed and rampaging, he says “I just want you to be happy.” And even when she attempts to kill him, he tells her “I know you don’t love me. The Babadook won’t let you. But I love you, Mum. And I always will.” Even after Amelia is freed from the Babadook’s possession, it is Sam who reminds her that she was the one who let it in, and it’s her responsibility to get it out – which can only be done by finally confronting the reality of her loss. While the film doesn’t shy away from the use of the Babadook as a metaphor for trauma and what happens when it is left unaddressed, it’s careful to do this in a way that is tightly woven into the plot of the story instead of getting sidetracked with superfluous details or dialogue (it shows rather than tells, essentially).

– The stop motion and time skip effects were not only visually stunning; they were also employed in such a way that the startling, jarring moments when the Babadook makes itself known reminded me of the way that trauma can manifest out of nowhere when we’re triggered: one minute you’re going about your day, and then something unexpected may happen that puts you right back in that dark place you don’t want to be. It was another subtle but impactful way that the film invites the viewer to think about the nature of trauma without being overt. (Plus, what horror fan doesn’t love some creepy stop motion animation?)

– I appreciated that Amelia’s character was handled with a lot of sensitivity and care even in her ugliest moments. The way she interacts with the residents of the nursing home where she works shows that she is a caring person, and while Samuel exhausts and frustrates her, it is also clear that she loves her son, however imperfectly: early in the film she stands up for him, telling the school officials that he needs understanding instead of a classroom monitor and insists that they call him by his name instead of just “the boy.” But one can be a caring person and a loving parent and also a flawed human who desperately wants time alone, peace, quiet, and adult companionship. There is a scene at the beginning of the film where Sam climbs in bed with her and begs his mother to read the same picture book twice before he falls asleep, which she obliges; after Sam falls asleep, Amelia scoots away to the far side of the bed to avoid him. It’s subtle, but there is so much emotion at the core of the small movement; it is possible to love a child and also need a break from them, especially when one is caring for a tiny human all on their own. The scene captures this in a very non-judgemental way and allows the viewer to build sympathy toward Amelia’s character early on to provide a strong foundation for the rest of the plot.

– The acting was phenomenal, especially from such a young actor on the part of Noah Wiseman. I wanted to reach through the screen to give Sam a giant hug, and I wanted to tell Amelia “You’re doing your best, friend.” (And I really wanted to give Claire a piece of my mind.)

The Meh:

– To be honest, I don’t have too much in the way of critique for this film; I genuinely feel that it’s one of the most well put together movies I’ve ever seen, from the screenplay to the acting to the effects. The only thing I would say slightly pulled me out of the story is a scene where Amelia fibs to a coworker who offers to take over her shift for the day that Sam is ill (in reality, he is being supervised by his aunt Claire after being pulled out of school) and decides to take an afternoon off for herself – which I cannot blame her for in the least. However, there is a shot of her eating ice cream watching passersby on a couch. I felt a bit disoriented – is she eating ice cream in the middle of a department or furniture store? Why is there a random couch in the middle of a public walkway? I was really rather confused. However, of all the things that could go wrong in a film, this was pretty inconsequential. 😂

Final Thoughts:

I am childfree by choice, but all of my fellow Millennial family members and several of my closest friends do have children. I see both the joys and the struggles of parenthood that they experience and know that even when you have all of the support in the world, parenthood is not easy or even fun most of the time – and that even parents who love their children can have days when they question or even regret the choice to become parents. The Babadook is not the only film to address this, but I think it offers a starkly honest look at the trials of parenthood and motherhood in particular, and the circumstances that can tragically lead to child abuse or neglect. In a way, the Babadook isn’t really evil – it forces Amelia to “see what’s underneath” and confront the trauma that is keeping her trapped in her grief, unable to give her full love and care to her son. Confronting trauma, as well as our own mistakes that we may have made in response to trauma, is never easy or pleasant and it’s often a painful, terrifying process. But it’s also the only way we can heal and move forward into a better life for ourselves and our loved ones.

The ending reminds me of the lyrics to Hozier’s “Arsonist’s Lullaby” – “all you have is your fire/and the place you need to reach/don’t you ever tame your demons/but always keep them on a leash.” I interpret the fact that Ameila and Sam continue to “feed” the Babadook reflects that sometimes we do have to keep tending to the damage done by severe trauma – like therapy, medication if necessary, self-care, and learning to recognize and respond to potential triggers before they become problematic – especially in the way that Amelia comforts the Babadook when she feeds it. There is a certain beauty in that: for all the darkness life can hurl at us, people are capable of overcoming even the most unspeakable tragedies and change in the most transformative ways. You can’t get rid of the Babadook, but you can learn to make friends with it, if only you’re brave enough to face what lies in the shadows.

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norirosewrites · 7 months

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Horror Film Review: May

Subgenre: Psychological horror

Gore Level: Moderate. (CN: Animal lovers may be upset by some of the scenes.)

Confession time: I love horror movies.

Unfortunately, for most of my life, I haven’t had as much opportunity to engage with the genre as I would have liked to, for a number of reasons. But circumstances have changed recently, and I am now a happy Shudder subscriber ready to get caught up on all the screaming good fun I’ve been missing out on!

I also used to write book and film reviews on one of my old college blogs as a hobby back in Ye Olde 2010s. Writing and engaging with stories is kind of my thing, if you didn’t already get that vibe, and I missed doing that. So I’ve decided to take it up again with the genre I love so much and am finally getting to explore without restrictions.

The first film I watched with my new Shudder subscription was May, a 2002 psychological horror film written and directed by Lucky McKee and starring Angela Bettis, Jeremy Sisto, Anna Faris, and James Duval. The minute the credits started rolling after the final scene, I knew it was also going to be the first review on my list.

In a Nutshell (Spoilers): May is a veterinary assistant who was born with a lazy eye which caused her to be ostracized in childhood, resulting in extremely poor socialization. As an adult, her only “friend” is a handmade doll named Soozy gifted to her as a child by her narcissistic mother, with the adage “if you can’t find a friend, make one.” May makes an effort to form friendships and connections with the people in her life, but each attempt has disastrous and eventually dangerous consequences. She befriends and briefly dates a local mechanic and aspiring filmmaker named Adam, but the relationship ends abruptly when she bites his lip hard enough to draw blood during a would-be sexual encounter – and smears his blood over her face. She takes up a short affair with Polly, a lesbian colleague who works at the same animal hospital who expresses interest in her, only to be cast aside for another woman almost immediately. Polly gives her a pet cat, Loopy, who May kills in a fit of rage when the cat hisses and refuses to come near her while she is depressed and crying alone in her apartment. (Don’t worry, no animals were harmed in the making of the film – all deceased or injured critters were created through taxidermy or prosthetics.) She begins volunteering at a daycare center for blind children and builds a rapport with a lonely young girl named Petey, who makes May an ashtray with her name carved into it, but things take a nosedive when she brings Soozy to the school in her case and inadvertently injures the children and herself when the glass breaks. Despondent, she meets a punk at a bus stop and invites him back to her apartment. When he discovers Loopy’s preserved corpse in the freezer and calls her a freak, May snaps and fatally stabs him in the head with a pair of scissors. After taking time to contemplate her actions, she declares that she needs “more parts.”

On Halloween night, she sews herself a dress and shows up at Polly’s unannounced. She slits Polly’s carotid arteries with a pair of scalpels and murders Polly’s girlfriend Ambrosia before going to Adam’s, where she kills him along with his new girlfriend. She then returns to her apartment and sews together a life-sized doll with Polly’s neck, the punk’s arms, Ambrosia’s legs, Adam’s hands, his girlfriend’s ears, and Loopy’s fur for hair. She names the doll “Amy” with the broken pieces of Petey’s ashtray. Distraught that the doll cannot “see” her, she gauges out her lazy eye and places it on the doll’s face, hysterically begging her creation to “see” her. The doll silently comes to life and comforts May by stroking her hair with Adam’s hands.

The WOW:

– The film has a really unique and creative build-up, especially for a horror film. The beginning almost feels more like a rom-com, complete with a classic meet-cute for May and Adam (awkward weird girl falling for rough-around-the-edges but charming boy). This made the dark turn that the film takes feel more surprising and startling – in a good, refreshing way. It’s a bit of a slow burn for a horror film, but it felt very organic and realistic for the characters and set the overall tone of the story very well. If you love jump scares and a lot of action, May might not be to your taste, but if you enjoy a more character-driven horror story, it’s an excellent choice.

– Each cast member delivered a fantastic performance. I could tell that the actors studied their roles thoroughly, and each character in the film felt so real. I think it’s easy to fall into the trap of relying on stock characters in a genre like horror, where there are so many well-established tropes and plot patterns, but I didn’t get that vibe at all with this movie.

– The cinematography impressed me from the beginning. There aren’t a lot of macro shots in this film; instead, the camera is focused on smaller details that may seem insignificant at first, but that add up over the course of the film to create a tightly woven, well put-together story. I thought it was an interesting choice since May frequently makes remarks throughout the film that people have different “parts” to them – and later gathers up various people-parts to create a whole person of her own. Stylistically I felt like the camera angles and focus on small details and shots also reflected the smallness of May’s very limited inner and outer world in a way that almost felt claustrophobic at certain moments.

– There’s enough blood and body parts to satisfy gore fans, but the violent scenes aren’t over the top. I was personally a fan of the shot of Ambrosia’s blood mixing with spilled milk on the kitchen floor.

– I loved how the ending was a bit of the reversal of the Frakenstein’s monster trope; instead of the creation begging to be seen by its creator, it’s the creator who begs to be seen by the creation. It was a nice twist and it got me ruminating on the intrinsic need that humans have to create: we want our creations to be seen by others – and for others to see us through the things we make – but our creative work is also an extension of ourselves, even when projects take on a “life” of their own, so to speak. (It is only after May sacrifices her own eye that the patchwork zombie doll comes to life, after all.) Maybe there’s a part of us on an unconscious level that wants to be seen by our creations, too? There’s probably a philosopher out there somewhere who can answer that question better than I can, but it was an interesting mental rabbit hole to tumble down.

The Meh:

– When we see flashbacks of May’s childhood at the beginning of the film, we see her mother insisting that the doctor will fix her lazy eye and make her look “perfect.” She later tells May to wear her hair over her eye patch to fit in with her schoolmates. She chastises May for ripping the paper off of her birthday present (lamenting that it’s now “ruined”) and instructs her not to take Soozy out of her glass case because she’s “special.” I expected that these early interactions would set May up to be something of a perfectionist, or at least for the unattainable search for perfectionism to be a stronger element in the film. I’m not necessarily disappointed that it was not – I think that it is somewhat of an overused theme in fiction – but it did feel like there was going to be a build-up to something that didn’t actually happen. I thought that this could have been tightened up a bit to flow better with the rest of the story.

– There’s an undercurrent of the supernatural in this film: May imagines Soozy speaking to her in whispers and has visions of the glass case cracking each time her connection with someone is broken. The voices and cracked glass are products of May’s fractured psyche (it’s telling that there is only one crack on Soozy’s case when May presents her to the children at show and tell, and that was from when she physically pounded on the top of the box in anger). However, it’s unclear at the end of the film if May’s creation is actually “alive” – insofar as a doll stitched together from amputated body parts can be, at any rate – or if the spontaneous animation is just psychosis. It can be interpreted either way, but all of these somewhat-supernatural-but-quite-so elements felt a little disjointed at times. But then again, that could have also been a deliberate choice on the part of the filmmakers, as we are watching the story of a very, um…troubled young woman, to say the least.

– I could have done with a little less rampant flirtatiousness from Polly’s character, but I’m generally annoyed by people (fictional or real) who make being flirty the cornerstone of their personality. And Anna Faris certainly delivered on her performance.

Final Thoughts:

May is definitely one of the most creative and well-written films I’ve seen in a long time – within the horror genre or without – but there’s also a more personal reason why I loved this film: May’s character deeply resonated with me as an autistic person. There were so many moments in the film where I felt my heart crack at her desperate attempts to connect with the people around her, only to be misunderstood, rebuffed, shoved off or ignored (even if some of her behavior was understandably off putting). I know what it feels like to want to make friends and connect with the people around you, but sometimes simply not knowing how, and the awful loneliness that comes with that. As an adult, social interactions are easier for me than they were when I was a child, but even now there are moments where I feel stuck on what to do or say around people. It is scary to feel like all your relationships are fragile and that eventually you’re going to say or do the wrong thing and push the people you care about away from you. That you will, ultimately, be left all alone. Humans are a social species; we have an innate biological need to belong, to feel seen and loved and cared for and to return those feelings to the people around us. The scene where May gauges out her own eye reminded me of the many ways we hurt ourselves just to get someone, anyone, to see and acknowledge us. I think that’s the real horror of May: on a primal level, nothing truly frightens us more than loneliness – not ghosties or serial killers or evil clowns or zombies or monsters – because we cannot survive in isolation from each other.

As May tells Soozy at the beginning of the film, “I need a real friend – one I can hold.” We all do. Let’s hope that we all are able to find one.

(On a lighter note: as a personal aside, I found it hilarious that Adam was dressed in a Roman toga for Halloween since Jeremy Sisto went on to play Julius Caesar the following year in a two-part television movie, which happened to be the first role I ever saw him in when we watched the film in my high school Latin class. 😂)

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