The Babadook Movie Review

Trailer here.

The Babadook is a 2014 horror movie directed by Jennifer Kent and starring Essie Davis and Hayley McElhinney.

The film begins with a child called Sammy who lives with his mother Amelia(Davis). Sammy is having some problems. He has bad dreams and behavioural problems. The school aren't happy with him. Amelia's husband, Oskar died in a car crash on the way to hospital while she was in labour.  A book turns up in the house. It is called Mister Babdook and it is about a creature who is creepy and evil. Sammy is spooked by it and Amelia hides it. Amelia has a co worker called Robbie who is nice to her and he calls around to see her. Sammy's behaviour is getting worse. Amelia finds a picture of her and Oskar defaced. Sammy tells her that it is the Babadook doing things. Amelia destroys the book and throws it out. 

She hears noises during the night. Sammy is scaring the other kids at school. Amelia is at her wits end and she takes him to the doctor. The doctor gives her sedatives to give to Sammy. Next day, the book appears at the door. She receives a phone call from the creature. She goes to the police about it. They don't believe what she is saying. There are cockroaches coming from a hole in the wall at home. Community services come to see what is going on in the house. They talk to Sammy. Amelia sees the Babadook in her neighbours house. She sees it in her house at night time. She shouts at her son as she is getting very worried about what is going on.

Amelia seems to be changing. She is cross with her son and she has a vision of him dead. She has visions of her husband and the Babadook. She goes crazy and Sammy is afraid of her. She tries to kill him but she doesn't and she vomits up something. The Babadook emerges from her. It takes Samuel. The house starts to shake. Amelia asks it what it wants. She sees her husband. She shouts at the Babadook and she says that she will kill it if it touches her son. It seems to collapse and flies off into the basement. She locks it in there. Things are back to normal at the end of the film as she goes down to the basement with a bowl of soil and worms. The creature is down there and she tells it that it's okay. The creature takes the bowl as Amelia goes to her son to celebrate his birthday. They are all happy again.

This film was bad. I didn't like it. It felt like more of a drama than a horror movie. It didn't interest me really but I did keep watching until the end. I didn't like the story and the kid was beyond annoying to me. I didn't find it scary or creepy at all. I found it dull and boring. The ending was silly and there wasn't anything great about it. I had read reviews of this and I expected something amazing. I don't know what those people saw, but I didn't see it at all. Avoid. I give it a 2/10.

Corruption Movie Review

Trailer here

Corruption is a 1968 horror/ thriller directed by Robert Hartford-Davis and starring Peter Cushing, Kate O' Mara and Sue Lloyd.

The movie begins with a man called John Rowan(Cushing), a plastic surgeon who has a girlfriend called Lynn(Lloyd). She happens to be a model and she is quite a bit younger than he is. They are at a party when a photographer called Michael starts taking pictures of Lynn. He gets a bit suggestive with her and John isn't happy. A fight ensues and a hot light falls onto Lynn's face, burning her. She ends up in hospital. She is very depressed about what has happened to her. Her sister, Val(O'Mara) comes to stay with her and John. John tries to come up with a way to restore her face. He finds a way but it includes using a laser and human glands. Val helps him. John manages to perform surgery on Lynne and it is successful. Her face goes back to normal. 

Unfortunately, the surgery doesn't last and Lynne's face goes back to being scarred. Lynne goes crazy. She wants John to do it again. He visits a prostitute and he kills her and takes the parts he needs for another surgery. It works again and Lynne wants to go back to work as a model. Michael tells her that she can't do it. John sees a piece about the murder in the paper. He decides to take Lynne on holiday. They drive to a house in the country. Her face is starting to deteriorate. Lynne demands that he kill another woman and get what she needs for another operation. Lynne spots a girl on the beach. She is called Terry. Lynne tells John that she would be perfect as a victim.

Terry comes to their house and they invite her to stay. Terry thinks that they are a little odd. John doesn't want to kill her, but Lynne insists. Terry has a boyfriend called Rick and she lets him into the house.

Terry tells him about the couple and she wants to leave. Rick convinces her to stay and get some money out of them. Next morning, Terry has gone. John is on the train when he spots another young woman. He attacks and kills her and gets what he wants for Lynne. Terry ends up returning to the house and this time, she gets killed. John decides that he can't kill anymore. Lynne says that she will call the police and tell them that he has gone mad but John is past caring. 

Just then, a gang turn up at the house. They are friends of Terry's. They are looking for her and it isn't long before they figure out that something happened to her. They look for valuables and they mess with the couple. They realise that Terry is dead and they get angry, John tells them that she is. Lynne manages to throw one of the gang off of a cliff. Lynne goes completely crazy and John's laser manages to activate and kill everyone, including John and Lynne. The movie ends at the party from the beginning. It seems that all of it was only a dream....

I really enjoyed this one. It was a fun film and Cushing did well here.  The story is similar to the earlier film, Eyes Without A  Face. This one had a gang, swinging sixties music and Peter Cushing! Now, I did really like this, but the ending had me wondering what the hell. The film should have ended with everyone dead. It was a fitting end for all concerned but someone decided that it would be better to have it as a dream and that made no sense at all. Despite the silly ending, this is worth your while and I think that it will entertain you as it did me. I will give it a 7/10.