The horror film can be a wondrous thing. Possessing the power to send tingles down your spin and send you jumping from your seat. Although you can include many horrors in a list of classic films the good ones are few and far between.
As a film lover I am always on the lookout for the next great horror film. The one that goes against convention and rewrites the rules. In The Babadook, a low key independent film from Australia, I had hoped to see something original that would take the audience by surprise. Sadly the film is a predictable and inconsistent experience that offers nothing new to the genre.
The film, from the get go, has an overly familiar tone and story. The lone mother with her peculiar child, an isolated setting and a back-story tragedy. Its a slow start that most audiences will have seen before.
The film and story pick up some once Amelia finds the Mister Babadook book. Amelia gets pulled into hers sons horrific fantasies and you do question what is reality and not. Sadly, the film then follows a typical path from then onwards.
The story does not offer much in terms of originality and the most interesting aspect is Amelia's mental disintegration. From the start Amelia struggles with Samuel. Her sons behavior isolates her from her friends, causes problems at work and prevents her from forming the romantic relationship she clearly craves. The film demonstrates a mothers struggle to love her child. This approach is the films strongest element and you begin to wonder if the Babadook creature is the physical embodiment of her parental frustration.
In the central role of Amelia Davis demonstrates the frustration of a mother brilliantly. Sadly, this is overshadowed by the silly horror story playing out alongside.
Although its not very nice to criticise a child actor the central performance of Samuel is not great. When you find yourself rooting for the child to meet a grisly end, the character has been badly written. Samuel is never portrayed as anything more than a nuisance to his overworked mother, making him difficult to sympathise with.
The film shows some promise with its central mother son dynamic this is never fully realised. A typical and predictable film with a pantomime villain in Mister Babadook.
The Babadook is out October 14th