Pictures belonging to the horror genre extremely rarely present surprises to the viewer, often offering monotonous variations for a long time to all well-known and bored clichés, saturated with primitive, instinct-oriented special effects. The creators fill the screen with tons of ketchup, pump up suspense in an illegible darkened or trembling picture (mucomentari) and intense musical accompaniment. However, despite their efforts, to make a movie that would scare everyone watching is unrealistic by definition. Therefore, the paintings, the creators of which not only carefully work out genre mechanisms, but also raise deeper and more acute problems, cause the viewer not only curiosity and interest, but unrestrained admiration. That's why the film "Babaduk" is, without exaggeration, one of the most important horror games of 2014.
Genre as a frame of history
The painting “Babaduk” (reviews by film critics are unanimous in opinion), while preserving the form traditional for the horror film genre , when viewed, it appears to be a surprisingly elegant and meaningful creation, in which genre canons are more likely to be a frame for the underlying script of the story. The director and screenwriter in one person Kent managed to create one of the most interesting horror films in the last ten years, which scares without the common tricks typical of one-day pictures.
Plot
The Australian horror film shows the story of the main character Amelia (Essy Davis), who, by tragic accident, on the same day becomes a widow and mother. When the main character and her husband were heading to the hospital, their car had an accident. About seven years have passed, Sam's son (Noah Wiseman) is already going to school, but the boy has constant problems in communicating with others, his behavior can most likely be described as asocial. Which is not surprising: Samuel is obsessed with monsters and quick-tempered, easily loses control. The mother cannot reconcile herself to the loss of her husband, pays little attention to her son, does not even celebrate his birthday. One dark evening, a child asks Amelia to read him a strange book found on a bookshelf. She talks about a monster named Babaduk (audience reviews draw a parallel with the Boogeyman), which is hiding in the dark and prompts her victim to do terrible things. Since then, the child has completely lost his peace, and after him Amelia herself flies off with coils from the reels - she sees Babaduk everywhere.
Design
The film "Babaduk" can reach every viewer, regardless of his age category, psychological state and cultural background. This is its value, this is similar to cult paintings, starting with the unrivaled Hitchcock's Psychosis and ending with Fridkin's The Exorcist. But most of all, the film "Babaduk" reviews are called similar to the "Shine" Kubrick. Among other options are Polanski's paintings “Rosemary's Baby” and “Disgust”, although in comparison, the brainchild of J. Kent is more straightforward than we would like. It's all about the design of the picture. It is built in such a way that behind the outer layer - “the classic horror story about a monster from the dark”, harassing a family who already have enough problems (immediately there are associations with “Kendimen” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street”), the second layer is hidden, which is allegorical tragedy of the widow, who can not let go of the dead spouse. Amelia is cold to her son and somewhere on a subconscious level blames the child for the death of her husband. She does not start a new relationship, and even an innocent and fleeting mention of one of those around her dead lover causes the main character to terrible bouts of irritability, turning into overt aggression.
Apprentice Lars von Trier
The director of the film, Australian Jennifer Kent, considers herself a student and follower of Lars von Trier. At the beginning of her career, she worked with him as an assistant during the filming of Dogville. Perhaps that is why the director and screenwriter uses the figure of a monster to sharpen the emotions of her characters to the limit, make them hypertrophied, while not depriving them of clarity and recognition. And she, the beginning creator, completely succeeds, she achieves exceptional transparency and intelligibility. The horrors of “Babaduk” have everything - repressed pain, early growth, tormenting guilt and resentment, all this is organically woven into the framework of a mystical horror.
Viewing as a trip to a psychologist
The film will flutter the nerves of the viewer, like a professional psychologist. The creator gradually pumps the atmosphere through symbolic moments and with the help of an unusual combination of visual (cameraman Radoslav Ladchuk) and sound (composer Jed Kurzel) effects. Jennifer herself recognizes the influence on his work of Lynch, Dreyd and Carpenter. And I must admit, their influence is somewhat noticeable. But aerobatics in the film “Babaduk” refers to the final scene, in which the refraction to the “second bottom” takes place, and it can be called an exhaustive epilogue, the story of overcoming the tragedy and the beginning of a new stage in life.
Technical side
The technical side of the picture, despite a very modest budget ($ 2 million), looks decent. The horrors of “Babaduk” boast a skillful play of light and shadow, curious extraordinary camera techniques and the tangible effect of presence. It is also worthwhile to mention the exclusively organic game of actors who manage not to slide into hysteria, while maintaining the plausibility of the entire event. So the low budget of the film is not striking. The film “Babaduk” also does not spoil the duplicated impression; it does not violate the author’s idea, while preserving the cherished suspense. I would like to hope that the producers will not decide to shoot the sequel, leaving the film a distinctive achievement of modern horror.
Real gift
"Babaduk" is a real gift to all lovers of horror films. This is an intellectual masterpiece and a great occasion to think for those screenwriters and directors who believe that the picture of the horror genre is a designer from proven cliches that are not necessary to hold together organically. Indeed, in the film there are no terrible ghosts appearing behind your back or crawling out of a mirror or TV, and there is no blood spilled all over the floor either. Here, the viewer is frightened by the usual coat, gloves and top hat, hung in a non-standard way on a hook. The director forces everyone to look into the soul and find there what you need to be truly afraid of, and such introspection will definitely be worse than Astral and Mirrors. After viewing the picture, it’s not scary (at least for an adult audience) to move around the apartment in the dark or to lower your legs off the couch, but to look inside yourself and try to sort out your thoughts is a pretty scary task.