Surreal!

Rating: 10/10 (1 December 2014)

The Babadook is not a scary movie as movies like Annabelle aspire to be, because it never relies on jump scares to put a fear in you. Instead it works a build up through its emphasis on psychological terror as the story becomes clear and one becomes aware or thinks he is of what horror lies in the future. The characters are etched beautifully giving them a depth and humanity, something that is so rare in horror genre. And it is because of the brilliance of the director that we come to empathise with each of the characters, no matter how monstrous their actions may seem. Having compared it to movies like Annabelle, I think it would be unjust on my part to say that it does not derive from them. But the things that it derives add to its brilliance. Annabelle is a supernatural horror movie with supernatural being physically tangible. The element is concrete. The audience knows it is there. It exists. And this adds to the terror, to know that there are creatures of darkness, literally. But Babadook does the exact opposite. It makes a real life monster through its strong metaphors and tells it with the surrealism that is so beautifully done by the director that by the time we are done with the movie, we know that Babadook does not exist literally but metaphorically. And therein lies the terror and optimism of Babadook. Few may get turned off by the ending, but it worked for me and I am giving it an extra one mark for wrapping up the story so beautifully.