Tweet
Released by: Shout! Factory/IFC
Released on: April 14th, 2015.
Director: Jennifer Kent
Cast: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel Henshall, Barbara West
Year: 2014
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
The Babadook marks the feature debut from Australian writer/director Jennifer Kent who here fleshes out her own short film Monster, made in 2005. The story introduces us to Amelia (Essie Davis), a woman doing her best to balance her job at a nursing home with her duties as a single mother. Amelia lives in a big old house with her son Samuel (Noah Wiseman) and their dog and she doesn't have much of a social life. Samuel's father was killed in a car accident that occurred when he drove Amelia to the hospital as she went into labor, and since then it's obvious that the widowed woman has been struggling.
Her sister, Claire (Hayley McElhinney), is around but due to Sam's increasingly strange behavior as of late has begun distancing herself from them. The kindly old woman next door, Mrs. Roach (Barbara West), frequently offers to help but Amelia rarely accepts. She sees her son as her responsibility so when he begins to obsess over a monster called The Babadook that he learned of from a pop-up book that they found in the house, she takes it upon herself to try and sort all of this out. Initially she simply tries to convince him that monsters aren't real but as he becomes more and more obsessed and quite obviously terrified, she starts to see things too. She gets rid of the book, tears it up and throws it away, but then it comes back and this time with some disturbing new pages added into it.
Kent's picture does a great job of borrowing elements from horror classics and giving them a fresh spin. The movie literally references both Faust and Bava's Black Sabbath (by using clips from them on a TV) but often times feels like it has more in common with slow burn horror films of the past like The Haunting. There's also a bit of a Japanese horror influence working its way into this picture as well, the Ju-On films being the obvious ones, but again, Kent's story goes in some different and unexpected directions. This is a movie far more concerned with strong character development than cheap jump scares. Most horror movie clichés are tossed right out the window as there's very little in the way of gore, no real sex (more on that in a bit) and very little in the way of jump scares. What we get in spades, however, is some fantastically creepy atmosphere and a really well written story that is as sad as it is scary.
As impressive as the movie is from a storytelling point, it's the performances that really sell it. Noah Wiseman gives what is literally a perfect performance as young Samuel. He brings to the role not only that wild-eyed childish imagination that is such a huge part of being a kid, but also a completely believable sense of fear and confusion. As things begin to change to him and around him, we really feel for the kid and at the same time, have no trouble understanding why his mother would be at her wits' end. Just as impressive, if not even more so, is Essie Davis' work. Her line delivery is great but it's as much her facial expressions and eye movements that communicate her frustration, her sadness, her fear and her desperation as anything she actually says. Sam doesn't relent. She can't even escape with some late night masturbation (that's the aforementioned sex bit but it's not at all played for titillation) without the boy getting up to something. While he's hardly to blame for the death of her husband you know that part of her psyche associates that tragic event with his creation and if you can't say that she specifically resents him for it, she's quite clearly still coming to terms with her bereavement. These two do such fantastic work together that it's easy to forget you're watching actors playing fictional characters and not real people.
The production values are also impressive. The movie was made on a modest budget, at least by mainstream standards, but the effects that are shown on camera are well done. There isn't an overabundance of CGI here, and the pop-up book designed for the movie is a minor masterpiece in its own right - just really weird, creepy stuff. The home Amelia and Sam share is its own mess of shadows and darkness, absolutely the right place for a story like this to unfold in, while the score enhances the movie's atmosphere without ever feeling forced.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The Babadook arrives on Blu-ray in AVC encoded 1080p high definition framed at 2.35.1 widescreen and it looks excellent. Shot digitally the image is as pristine as you'd expect it to be while fine detail is consistently impressive. Color reproduction is spot on, though with so much of the film taking place inside the house, this isn't really going to pop the way more colorful movies might. It sure suits the tone of the storyline well though, with nice inky blacks and plenty of muted earth tones and grays used throughout. Skin tones look great, nice and accurate, and there's never any waxiness or smearing. Contrast is solid and aside from a little bit of shimmering here and there, the image is a very strong one.
Audio options are provided in DTS-HD 5.1 and 2.0 Master Audio options with removable subtitles offered up in English, English SDH and Spanish. The 5.1 mix spreads things about as you'd assume it would but the 2.0 track seemed to have a bit more power behind it in some scenes. Regardless of which option you go for, the audio is clean, clear and quite detailed. Sound plays a big part in the effectiveness of this movie so be sure to watch it at a good volume to appreciate all the weird, creepy little quirks inherent in the movie. Levels are nicely balanced and there are no problems at all with any hiss or distortion.
Extras start off with Jennifer Kent's short film Monster, a ten minute black and white movie that was very obviously the inspiration for this feature length film. Though made with a different cast, it too tells the story of a troubled boy and his mother's attempts to deal with him, all of which leads up to a monstrous manifestation of sorts occurring in the house.
The disc also offers up three minutes of deleted scenes - a bit where Amelia meets Samuel at school, a scene where Amelia finds Samuel playing on a keyboard and a scene where Amelia brings Sam to visit Mrs. Roach.
The book featured so prominently in the movie is the focus of Creating The Book With Illustrator Alex Juhasz, a four minute segment in which he speaks about working with Jennifer Kent after she headhunted him after seeing his work. He then shows off the book that he made and explains how he did it all by hands and how the pop-ups are all actual, working pop-ups. A Tour Of The House Set is just what it sounds like. It runs just under seven minutes and it walks us through the sets that were built to create the house seen in the movie. We also learn how and why the house was constructed to look the way it looks as it's all quite specific to the film's aesthetic. The Stunts: Jumping The Stairs runs just under two minutes and it shows us how the sequence in which Amelia jumps up the stairs was done. Special Effects: The Stabbing Scene is a minute and a half long piece that shows how the scene in which Sam stabs Amelia was done using a leg of lamb for the close up shot. Behind The Scene is a three minute 'fly-on-the-wall' style segment that shows the cast and crew hard at work shooting the birthday party scene and then a scene that takes place in the living room.
The disc also features over sixty-two minutes of cast and crew interviews. In this section we chat with cast members Essie Davis, Daniel Henshall, Barbara West, Hayley McElhinney, writer/director Jennifer Kent, costume designer Heather Wallace and producers Kristina Ceyton, Kristian Moliere. There's a fair bit of crossover here in that all of the actors express their admiration for the director and talk about the story of the movie, which is followed by the cast interviews where they too talk about the story of the movie, but in between these bits (which can get a bit redundant) there are interesting bits, particularly when some of the participants elaborate on their take on what the story is really all about.
Rounding out the extras are a few theatrical trailers, animated menus and chapter selection. Also worth mentioning is the fact that the limited edition release of the Blu-ray comes packaged with a really slick 'pop-up book' style slipcover!
The Final Word:
The Babadook is clever, remarkably well acted and at times genuinely frightening - just like a good horror movie should be! The Blu-ray release from Shout! Factory and IFC is a very nice one, offering up the movie with strong audio, an excellent transfer and a nice array of supplements. All in all, a very satisfying release of a very good movie.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
