Sunday, December 7, 2014

The Babadook-Warning Do Not Look at the Book

The Babadook is a disturbing horror film that blurs the ghostly line between knock out terror and a  mental breakdown.  Australian dir/sreenwriter Jennifer Kent has made a bonafide nightmare that comes to life on screen & under your skin.  Widowed mother, Amelia, is stressed to the max working & caring for her deeply disturbed young son, Sam.  Both actors are completely convincing which makes this film incredibly unsettling.  Sam, a precocious unruly child, has been spurned by other children, teachers & relatives.  Every day is a struggle & every night there's a ritual of checking under the bed for monsters. Nevertheless, every night a terrorized Sam runs into his mother's bed.  What's a mother to do with a son  so completely out of control?  Sam appears to be dragging his mother down the rabbit hole & putting glass into her food.  This is a well crafted film that is uncomfortably treacherous.  Most disturbing is the mother's building terror & repulsion towards her son.  I left before the boogie man got me.  Not because I don't like a believable fright flick but because it makes me sick watching a parent lose her grip on reality & the love for her child.    

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