The Long Dark Marathon of the Soul 2015: The Babadook (2014), directed by Jennifer Kent

The Trailer

and

The Appropriate Tune: "I'm Your Boogie Man", by KC and the Sunshine Band

     When you’re a single mother suffering from PTSD with an annoying brat of a kid living in a world where most people you know treat you like shit, how could life possibly get any worse? That’s easy, by throwing in some murderous supernatural creature of course! Which is exactly what we get with The Babadook here. The Babadook being some sort of insectoid boogeyman that comes from a storybook that apparently possesses parents and compels them to murder their children, I guess? It’s both simplistic and very vague on that front.

     I’m sorry folks, I really can’t bring myself to write about this one. I’ll admit, it does get a bit creepy by the midway point, and the overall concept (a twist on The Omen and The Exorcist where it’s the parent in trouble rather than the child) is interesting, movie really killed off any enthusiasm I had to write an article. I couldn’t stand the mother character, I couldn’t stand the screaming ADD-addled child character, I couldn’t stand the bitchy sister that exists for maybe 10 minutes, or really any other character in the film, which is a problem in a genre built on empathizing with character’s plights. The pacing seemed way too frenetic, like the director had to hard cut before we lingered on any one scene to much and any emotional resonance was formed. Not that it ends on a satisfying note anyway, or a way that’s even coherent, so I guess that doesn’t matter. Is it real? Is it a dream? Who gives a shit, it’s Babadook.

     I’ll come out and say that I’ve never really cared for modern horror movies, and maybe I was spoiled on enjoying it by the hype disease, so it could be that I’m coming from a place of bias. I dunno. Like I said before though, there is some good bits of tension and creepiness around the midway point, so those of you who haven’t been poisoned by hype will probably find something worthwhile here. It’s on netflix as of this writing, so if you’re one of those people who love to binge watch things on streaming platforms, you might try throwing this on your schedule. It’s better than reading a book.