Modern products of the horror genre are extremely rarely able to surprise a sophisticated viewer, most often these are standard variations of bored genre clichés, seasoned with effects oriented to the basic instincts. Neither the creators of the paintings nor the actors embodying the director’s idea on the screen hide this. "Babaduk" is an exception. The film, fitting into the standard structure for a horror movie, turns out to be a truly elegant and meaningful creation. The genre in the tape serves only to formalize the story, filmed by director-debutant Jennifer Kent. She acted as a director and screenwriter, creating one of the most interesting and intelligent horror films in the past 20 years, without resorting to low tricks. The credibility of the plot action helped her to save E. Davis and N. Wiseman - talented actors. “Babaduk” due to their extremely organic acting does not slip into the level of hysteria.
The plot of the picture
The main character, the widow and mother Amelia (actress E. Davis), survived a terrible tragedy. On the way to the hospital, she and her husband are in a car accident. She and the child remained alive, and her loving husband died suddenly. Years pass, a disconsolate woman, moonlighting as a nurse, barely making ends meet, is raising a son on her own. Unadapted to society, little Sam (Noah Wiseman), fencing off from the outside world, constantly designs unpretentious weapons and easily loses control of himself. Once a child finds a book about the terrible monster Babaduke, who, hiding in the dark, makes people do terrible things. Since that time, the boy has completely lost his peace, and with him Amelia, who also sees Babaduk.
Two-layer narrative structure
The story has it all: forced early growing up, suppressed pain, tormenting guilt. The whole range of emotions the actors tried to convey to the viewer. "Babaduk" definitely does not fit into the conventional wisdom of the mystical horror. The film is designed in such a way that through the outer layer, the classic story of the Boogeyman, plaguing an already problematic family (associations with Candyman and Nightmares on Elm Street), the basis emerges - an allegorical dramatic narrative of an early widowed woman who is unable to let go of the deceased spouse. All this amazing emotional cocktail was brilliantly played by professional Davis and Noah, a young actor who seemed to be born in order to act in horror films.
Motion Picture Ensemble
The main roles in the horror were played by actress E. Davis, known to the viewer for the films "Australia", "Matrix: Reloaded", "Girl with a Pearl Earring", N. Wiseman, H. McElhinny, D. Henshell and others. The performer of the main female role, Essy Davis, the daughter of the famous Australian artist George Davis, embodied on the screen a heroine with a completely shaky nervous system, which could already be placed in a special clinic. The actress is so good in image that she simply can’t take her eyes off her, her skill is amazing and there’s nothing to complain about. Essie Davis made her film debut in 1995, has played more than 30 roles in television and film.
Clawed Monster. The actor who embodied it
At the center of the horror narrative, as befits the canons of the genre, is a monster from a childhood, or maybe an adult nightmare, which the main characters cannot cope with. In separate episodes, the clawed monster in a cylindrical hat is played by an actor - Benjamin Winsper. The artist got a rather complicated character. On the one hand, this is really a monster, moving first into the home, and then into the mind of the main character. But on the other, Babaduk is the embodiment of Amelia’s fears and emotions: fear of letting go of the deceased spouse, excessive irritability, suppressed hatred of the child. No wonder the screenwriter and director Jennifer Kent, given the texture of Winsper, uses the caricatured, almost puppet Babaduk to exacerbate feelings to the limit, their hypertrophy. The character of B. Winsper is complex, when he was shown, the director adhered to noble restraint and conciseness. No one considered the character a second-hand - neither Kent nor the actors involved in the filming. “Babaduk” did not make Winsper famous, like Robert Krueger performer Robert Inglund, however, the project has not yet become a franchise. Perhaps you should wait for the sequel to appear.
The triumph of directing from Kent
“Babaduk” is not another cheap passing horror story, it is a triumph of directing art, a psychological study of the growing madness. And what scares him most is not the dark something that appears unexpectedly, but the relationship between two relatives and the closest people. Jennifer Kent is a real virtuoso, able to fashion drama from a trifle, while doing without the hints of musical accompaniment and cheap special effects.