FILM NEXUS Vol. 8: The Babadook

Today, Cinema Center opens “The Babadook,” an emotionally complex horror film by Jennifer Kent, who began her career as an assistant to famed director and enfant terrible Lars Von Trier.

Part of the reason the film has faired so well with audiences and critics (it currently has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 98%) is because of its ability to create a connection between the characters, not necessarily jump scares from the titular monster.

Currently, there are several creepy and strange, as well as emotional titles streaming on Netflix. Any of these would be worth watching after catching “The Babadook” at Cinema Center:

Twin Peaks (1990)

Would modern television look the same without “Twin Peaks”? There is an argument to be made that popular serialized TV would be very different without Agent Cooper’s investigation into the death of Laura Palmer. The whole town is full of secrets, some of them manifest in the realm of the absurd, and others only create dread. As Cooper’s case intensifies, so does his love and dedication to the people of Twin Peaks.

The Double (2013)

Richard Ayoade is becoming a director I am really excited to see develop. This film is a dark, uneasy adaptation of the Dostoyevsky novel. Jesse Eisenberg plays Simon, a lonely, shy and awkward office worker who is obsessed with Mia Wasikowska’s Hannah. Chaos enters Simon’s life when his doppelganger, the charming and confident James (also played by Eisenberg), begins working at the same office. Tonally the film is nearly perfect, as are the performances by Eisenberg and Wasikowska.

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

There is no greater horror film that deals with the relationship between mother and child, just in the case of this movie, the child may be the spawn of Satan. Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes were great as Rosemary and Guy, but it was Ruth Gordon as Minnie Castevet, and Sidney Blackmer as her husband Roman who steal every scene on arrival. The paranoia and ambiguity makes the horror so much more palpable, and is made worse by not relying on jump scares, but focusing on the emotional state of Rosemary.

“The Babadook” opens December 12^th at 12pm and 9:30.

Jonah Crismore is Cinema Center’s Executive Director and wouldn't mind a vodka blush.