this shall be the unofficial first post in my summer 2018 spooks series, in which i - an unapologetic and utterly incurable scaredy cat - indulge my annual pining for something to send shivers down my spine and watch horror movies.
is this wise? my sleeping habits and my nerves deign to think not. but i will do it anyway. because i am unapologetic, incurable and unrepentant in my bad habits.
the babadook
au | 2014
available on netflix
"A single mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, battles with her son's fear of a monster lurking in the house, but soon discovers a sinister presence all around her."
Now, everyone and her sister has already weighed in on this movie, but here I am to give you my two cents anyway. You may be comforted in the fact that I am no longer interested in writing extensive, exhaustive theses on color and chiaroscuro, the weight of the director's childhood on the script or what a famed critic of the turn of the twentieth century might have suggested about the movie's climax.
I did my time in the English department and have a degree to show for it. I'm here just to tell you about whether or not it scared me.
First of all, some lies I was told that may weigh on your decision to watch this: I was told there is no death, and there is no gore. There is a pet death, which I would have done well to skip had I known, and am now firmly determined in the future to check doesthedogdie.com (bless those folks) in order to spare myself further emotional trauma.
I would also say that the last twenty minutes of the movie are a real sucker punch in terms of squirming, weighty discomfort (and the build-up to them may be particularly hard if you're not keen on witnessing child abuse and neglect). This is entirely psychological and possibly also TMI, but at one point, I was utterly convinced I smelled blood in the air, and at another, I had to close my eyes so my breakfast would not come up.
Not gore. Not anything on the scale of Halloween or A Nightmare on Elm Street (ugh, Freddy, how your propensity to slash things still wreaks havoc on my subconscious) but...when it comes to bloody body parts and black vomit and visible wounds, apparently I'm weaker than I expected to be. You may be too. So I know some people won't want to be spoiled this way, but for everyone else: you're welcome. You can do this, but you should be prepared.
Going back to the issue of whether or not I was scared...at some point last night when I was nearing the climax, I turned to my sister and scoffed, "The director of The Exorcist called this one of the scariest movies he's ever seen in his life." In case you have never seen The Exorcist, by the way, that is one of the scariest movies I've ever seen in my life, I still regret seeing what I did see (nearly the majority) and thank my lucky stars that I survived it, as something unfortunate but thankfully remedied happened right as I was about to finish it and seemed like a sign that I should leave off.
Life tip: if you believe in exorcisms and possession, you probably shouldn't watch a movie about exorcisms and possession. It feels like an invitation.
Anyway. So I scoffed. And then, this afternoon, in broad daylight, I hit those last twenty minutes I just mentioned to you. And oh man, oh man, oh man. I'm still recovering.
The good thing about this movie is that it does have a happy ending. Not one of those Goosebumps endings where the monster is still alive and hiding in the shadows, or under the bed waiting for the parents to turn off the light - futile triumph, battle waged in vain. I'm not a fan of endings like those.
But it's not evenly tied up and so content that you can hardly believe it's true, either.
It's a strong happy ending. It's an ending where you've been through hell and now you savor the light on your face and the scars left behind.
It's an ending I could appreciate, particularly after all the themes presented (and yes, I know I said I wouldn't discuss themes): on grief, on depression, on lack of societal support, on the shaming of those who need that societal support and how that pushes them darker and deeper and makes them vulnerable to monsters both without and within.
Main conclusion to be drawn: an important, profound horror movie, and one I am glad I was able to make it through. I would have appreciated more detailed warnings, but it was survivable.
Now, to make sure my lamp works for tonight...
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