Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    HORROR SCREAMS VIDEO VAULT – SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT HORROR
    • Home
    • Film Reviews
      • Films Beginning With Numbers or Symbols
      • A – C
      • D – F
      • G – I
      • J – L
      • M – O
      • P – R
      • S – U
      • V – X
      • Y – Z
    • Book Reviews
    • Franchise Corner
    • Competitions
    • Horror Screams Podcast
    • Contact Us
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    HORROR SCREAMS VIDEO VAULT – SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT HORROR

    Film Review: THE BABADOOK (2014)

    Peter 'Witchfinder' HopkinsBy Peter 'Witchfinder' Hopkins26th May 2021Updated:26th May 20211 Comment2 Mins Read

    THE BABADOOK **** Australia 2014 Dir: Jennifer Kent. 93 mins

    Widowed young mother Essie Davis has a hyperactive six year old son (Daniel Henshall) with a wild imagination and a tendency for alarming fits. He becomes insistent that the “Babadook”, a black-clad malevolent figure from a childrens’ book, is out to get them, seeing the character and hearing traces of its existence in and out of their house. As Davis’ sleep deprivation and stress levels increase, everything the mother and son experience might merely be figments of their distorted imagination. At the heart of this understated but powerful movie are boldly unsympathetic portraits of a highly troubled young boy and the devoted mother pushed to the brink by his erratic behaviour. The “Babadook”, snaking its way into a judicious number of scenes and shots, resembles a forgotten, malevolent character from silent horror cinema, and writer-director Kent wisely restricts its appearances. Her cinematic influences are emphasised via the use of TV clips from Mario Bava’s BLACK SABBATH and the Lon Chaney PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. It’s as much intense psychological drama as it is horror film, but Davis’ tour-de-force portrayal of one woman’s breakdown helps capture the mundane horror of everyday domestic life with or without the story’s ambiguous supernatural elements. Although genuinely creepy in all the right moments, its vivid portrayal of childhood fears of monsters is outshone by its uncomfortably believable depiction of our primal parental fears of our own kids harming either us or themselves.
    Review by Steven West
    THE BABADOOK is available on Amazon
    FacebookLikeShareTweetPin
    Jennifer Kent Second Sight Films The Babadook

    Related Posts

    Ti West’s ‘The Sacrament’ gets Second Sight Films’ Limited Edition Blu-ray treatment – release date 24th June 2024

    14th June 202403 Mins Read
    Read More

    ‘Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum’ Jung Bum-shik’s horror is ‘The real deal, deeply unsettling, unrelentingly scary’ on Limited Edition Blu-ray – 24th June 2024

    15th May 202403 Mins Read
    Read More

    Elliot Goldner’s ‘The Borderlands’ out now on Limited Edition Blu-ray

    3rd May 202403 Mins Read
    Read More

    Caye Casas’ The Coffee Table ‘In-your-face… absolutely not for the faint of heart’ on Digital 20th May 2024

    30th April 202402 Mins Read
    Read More

    1 Comment

    1. Pingback: THE BABADOOK gets Limited Edition Blu-ray and UHD 4K Release from Second Sight on 26th July 2021 | HORRORSCREAMS VIDEOVAULT - SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT HORROR

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    Recent Posts
    • SCREAMIFY TO PREMIERE ‘THE HORRORED GIRLS’ PODCAST IN EXCLUSIVE FIRST-WINDOW DEAL
    • The Return of the Living Dead Video Game Coming Soon From Dragon Games
    • DRILLER KILLER 2 Starring Eric Roberts & Beverly Randolph and featuring Hollywood legend Denzil Washington
    • Until There Is One Launches Indiegogo Campaign To Help Break Guinness World Record For Most Kills
    • Critically Acclaimed Horror-Monster Movie “A HARD PLACE” Drops on Free Streaming NOW on TUBI, The Roku Channel, SLING, and Cinverse
    Archives
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.