The Babadook: Nightmare Fuel

Hello everyone! For our somewhat new show we have the horror film The Babadook.

THE BABADOOK

DIRECTED: Jennifer Kent

STARRING: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel Henshall, Hayley McElhinney, Barbara West, Ben Winspear

GENRE: Psychological Horror

YEAR: 2014

COUNTRY: Australia

Amelia, who lost her husband in a car crash on the way to give birth to Samuel, their only child. She struggles to cope with her fate as a single mom. Samuel’s constant fear of monsters and violent reaction to overcome the fear doesn’t help her cause either, which makes her friends become distant. When things can not get any worse, they read a strange book in their house about the ‘Babadook’ monster that hides in the dark areas of their house. Even Amelia seems to feel the effect of Babadook and desperately tries in vain to destroy the book. The nightmarish experiences the two encounter form the rest of the story.

We don’t do enough horror films over here on Media in Review, so I thought it was time that we changed that. The Babadook was an interesting pick that was introduced to me by a colleague, and while I am not a huge horror fan the name and premise intrigued me. I was definitely not disappointed, as the main cast performed wonderfully and completely owned their roles. There were many moments I was genuinely afraid, and I was alright with that. Can you believe that is only had the meager budget of $2.5 million? That is ridiculous.

It is unfortunate as the film is much more a character development piece than  a horror film. The Babadook does have many of the traditional horror tropes and staples that audiences know and love (or perhaps not). This is definitely not the film if you wanted to be entertained and scared at the same times. Otherwise The Babadook is a fantastic film, just not for everyone.

PROS:

• Great performances.
• Great production for a meager budget.
• Genuine horror.
• Twisted and intriguing narrative.

CONS:

• Horror movie tropes.
• Character development piece rather than full blown horror.
• Not for everyone.

SCORE:8.5 / 10

If you have any suggestions for films/TV/Games/Music/Anime for me to review, drop me a comment!

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Brandon Stuhr

Who am I? Just some guy who decided to start writing on the Internet years ago and now operates his own brand and site. Owner/Operator of Modern Neon Media, I make all kinds of niche content to suit my interests at the time. DIY Enthusiast, Brewmaster extraordinaire, and avid freak for geek culture. Follow on my socials for a more “on” version of me.