"Babaduk": reviews of the movie. Australian horror film

Paintings belonging to the genre horror, extremely rarely present the viewer with surprises, often suggesting monotonous variations for a long time to all known and clueless cliches, saturated with primitive, instinct-directed special effects. Creators fill the screen with tons of ketchup, pour suspense into an illegible darkened or quivering picture (mokmentari) and intense musical accompaniment. However, despite their efforts, to make a movie that would frighten everyone looking is unrealistic by definition. Therefore, the pictures, the creators of which not only carefully work out the genre mechanisms, but also raise the problems deeper and more acute, cause the viewer not only curiosity and interest, but unrestrained admiration. This is why the film "Babaduk" is without exaggeration one of the most important horrors of 2014.

Genre as a frame of history

The picture "Babaduk" (reviews of film critics are unanimous in opinion), preserving the traditional form for the horror film form, when viewed is surprisingly elegant and meaningful creation, in which the genre canons serve more as a frame for the underlying scenario of history. To the director and scriptwriter in one person Kent managed to create one of the most interesting horror films in the last decade, which frightens without the usual techniques typical for the one-day films.

Plot

The Australian horror film shows the story of the main character of Amelia (Essie Davis), who by tragic accident on the same day becomes a widow and mother. When the main heroine and her husband were going to the hospital, their car was in an accident. It's been about seven years, Sam's son (Noah Wiseman) is already going to school, but the boy has constant problems in communicating with others, his behavior can be described as antisocial. No wonder: Samuel is obsessed with monsters and quick-tempered, easily loses control. The mother can not accept the loss of her husband, pays little attention to her son, does not even celebrate his birthday. On a dark evening, the child asks Amelia to read him a strange book found on a bookshelf. She talks about a monster named Babaduk (reviews of the audience draw a parallel with the Boogeyman), which lurks in the dark and encourages its victim to commit terrible acts. Since then the child completely loses peace, and afterwards with him Amelia herself flies out of the reel - she is always seen by Babaduk.

Design

The film "Babaduk" can reach every spectator, regardless of its age category, psychological state and cultural background. This is its value, this is similar to the cult paintings, starting with the unrivaled Hitchcock "Psychosis" and ending with the "Exorcist" Friedkin. But most of all the film "Babaduk" reviews are called similar to "Shining" Kubrick. Among other variants are Polansky's paintings "The Rosemary's Baby" and "Aversion", although in comparison, the brainchild of J. Kent is more straightforward in comparison with them than would have been desirable. It's all about the design of the picture. It is built in such a way that beyond the outer layer - the "classic horror story about a monster out of the darkness", harassing a family that already has enough problems (immediately there are associations with "Candyman" and "Nightmare on Elm Street"), the second layer is concealed An allegorical tragedy about a widow who can not let go of a deceased spouse. Amelia is cold to her son and somewhere at 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 someone around her about her deceased lover causes the main heroine terrible cries of irritability, turning into frank aggression.

The pupil of Lars von Trier

The film's director - Australian Jennifer Kent - considers herself a disciple and follower of Lars von Trier. She at the beginning of his career worked as his assistant during the filming of "Dogville". Perhaps, that is why the director and scriptwriter uses the figure of the monster in order to sharpen the emotions of its characters to the limit, to make them hypertrophied, while not depriving them of clarity and recognition. And she, the beginning creator, is completely successful, she achieves an exceptional transparency and intelligibility. The horrors of "Babaduk" have everything - suppressed pain, early growing up, tormenting feelings of guilt and resentment, all this is organically woven into the framework of mystical horror.

Viewing as a campaign to a psychologist

The film will ruffle the viewer's nerves, like a professional psychologist. The creator gradually intensifies the atmosphere through symbolic moments and with the help of an unusual combination of visual (operator Radoslav Ludchuk) and sound (composer Jed Kurzel) effects. Jennifer herself admits the influence on her work of Lynch, Dreid and Carpenter. And we must admit that their influence is somewhat noticeable. But the highest aerobatics in the film "Babaduk" reviews call the final scene in which the refraction to the "second bottom" occurs, and it can be called an exhaustive epilogue, a story about overcoming the tragedy and the beginning of a new stage of life.

Technical side

The technical side of the picture, despite a very modest budget ($ 2 million), looks decent. The horrors of "Babaduk" can boast of skillful play of light and shadow, curious unusual camera techniques and tangible effect of presence. Also, it would be superfluous to mention only the organic play of the actors, who manage not to fall into hysterics, while preserving the plausibility of the whole event. So low-budget film in the eye does not rush. The film "Babaduk" dubbed also does not spoil the impression, does not violate the author's idea, preserving the cherished suspense. Hopefully, the producers will not decide to film the sequel, leaving the film an original achievement of modern horror.

A real gift

"Babaduk" is a real gift to all fans of horror films. This is an intellectual masterpiece and a wonderful occasion to reflect on those script writers and directors who believe that the horror genre picture is a designer from tested cliches that are not necessarily organically bound. After all, there are no horrible ghosts appearing behind your back or creeping out of a mirror or TV, and there is no blood around the floor either. Here the spectator is frightened by an ordinary coat, gloves and a cylinder, hanging on a hook in an unusual way. The director makes every beholder look into the soul and find there what you need to be afraid for really, and such introspection will definitely be worse than the "Astral" and "Mirror". After viewing the picture, it is not terrible (at least for the adult viewer) to move around in the dark in the dark or to get your feet off the couch, but to look inside yourself and try to understand your thoughts is a rather terrible task.