The Babadook, film review: Craftsmanship and attention to character is a welcome relief

(15) Jennifer Kent, 94 mins Starring: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel Henshall

The Australian writer-director Jennifer Kent's bravura new horror pic combines subtlety and psychological depth with some very full-blooded shock tactics.

It boasts an exceptional performance from Essie Davis as a single mom, still struggling to cope with the death of her husband several years before on the day her child was born. The child (precocious newcomer Noah Wiseman) is a troubled and truculent boy, convinced a monster in a conjuror's cape and hat from a children's book called The Babadook is out to get him.

Davis shows the vulnerability and hyper-sensitivity that Deborah Kerr brought to her role as the tormented governess in the Henry James adaptation The Innocents. She also hints at the woman's rage and capacity for violence. On the one hand, this is a story about a grieving widow suffering from severe insomnia, whose mind is playing cruel tricks on her. On the other, it's an old-fashioned haunted house tale.

Kent ratchets up the tension and foreboding with the sound editing (even when characters are walking barefoot, the staircase creaks ominously). The daytime scenes, shot in pallid light, are often even more frightening than the nighttime ones. The film was executive produced by Jan Chapman (Jane Campion's producer). It has a craftsmanship and attention to character that comes as a welcome relief after too many sadistic, macho recent horror movies in the Saw or Wolf Creek mode.