The Babadook and so forth

The Babadook is just great. If anyone read my rant, posted here and quickly removed, about how I'm getting stressed out lately from being my Mom's (somewhat inconstant) caregiver, they might be able to appreciate how deeply the film resonated tonight; it's (probably) the best horror film I've seen this year, is scary, psychologically rich, and skillfully crafted - though you go through some trauma worrying about its characters and what fate will befall them; it's a stressful film to watch. The focus is on a widowed mother who is stressing out about her difficult son, who needs love and attention and is not at all at fault for being a bit of a problem child, but whose needs have pushed her past the point of burnout. They stumble across a malign children's book, Mister Babadook, which talks about letting a demon of sorts into their home; it marks the beginning of a rapid decline in their relationship. You think, at first, that the child is going to be the receptacle of the demon, since he already acts like he's possessed at times... but no. Mr. Babadook - is it a coincidence that his name contains the words "bad" and "book?" - finds home in the mother, who begins to lash out at her child, in increasingly hostile ways. I read the film being about, mostly, the stresses of compassion fatigue, the difficultly of taking care of someone who is dependent on you, the need for self-care and constant watchfulness. At the end - there is a very mild, or at least somewhat indirect spoiler here, if you haven't seen the film - I was reminded of an archetypally-rich nightmare I once had, involving a job where I was the janitor of a haunted building, where there was a particular room in the basement with a very evil force in it, that I had to go down to exorcise periodically. But I was afraid of the room, and not very devoted to my job, so the evil force in the basement grew stronger and stronger, until - I can remember standing outside the locked door of the room, after weeks of "forgetting" about it, and feeling this vast evil presence pulsing within. "Oh shit, this is bad, what do I do?"

Of course, she doesn't go down to the basement to exorcise the demon... but I've probably said too much already. People interested in more should visit the film's website, where you have a chance to pre-order a really creepy looking pop-up book presumably similar to the one in the film! Thanks to Tom Charity, for bringing this remarkable film to Vancouver...

Speaking of basements, I would like to dedicate this blogpost to my favourite Ramones song, which I would sing to myself at work every time I took the elevator downstairs to room B-4 ( nowadays I work on the third floor, but that song still comes to mind every time I have to go downstairs). And by the by, yes, I finally got out to see Death Sentence tonight, for the first time since that show I can't remember in the late 80's/ early 90's, and figured out who it is that Doug Donut reminds me of: Chris Mulkey, in his Patti Rocks years (this has been preying on me for awhile now). It was a fun show, or at least the portion of it I was able to catch, though boy there were a lot of not-very-punk looking people who had apparently come to take photographs of the Wett Stilettos, who played earlier. Were they perverts, or is the band assembling a press kit? They're a fun band to take pictures of, I guess - they seem to strive for that. I will upload a couple of my own in a few days' time...