9/12/2015

The Babadook (2014) - Kent's dark horror gem



+ Best Horror Movie of the Year
+ Best Australian Movie of the Year

The chilling poster for Jennifer Kent's The Babadook

QUICK REVIEW:

A widow and her 6 year-old son try to make their daily life work, but his rebellious behavior only increases, as a mysterious children's book turns up in their home...

Babadook is a fantastic film. Full of atmosphere, it gets under your skin with two central, marvelous performances: Essie Davis (The Last Time I Saw Michael Gregg (2011), video) drives out a primordial scream as the mother/wife, SPOILER who lives in the shadow of her unmanaged grief. And young Noah Wiseman (The Gift (2013), short) is an impressively vivacious, strong boy as the son, who is at times sweet, at times irritating.
The film is handsomely realized and really scary. It is not predictable as a whole, but parts of it is. It is the feature debut of Australian writer-director Jennifer Kent (Monster (2005), short).

Related posts:

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]


Essie Davis and Noah Wiseman in Jennifer Kent's The Babadook




Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 2 mil. $
Box office: 7.5 mil. $
= Big hit
[Babadook was funded through Australian film subsidies and a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. Much care went into protecting Wiseman from the horrific parts of the film, as well as not giving the film any obviously Australian characteristics. The film opened in Sundance and made 0.2 mil. $ in Australia, 0.9 mil. $ in the US and 0.5 mil. $ in the UK. Babadook played at a long row of festivals. It is also the 4th best reviewed 2014 title on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Babadook?

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