Netflix Horrors is a regular column in which Shock Till You Drop alerts you to the latest genre titles to hit the VOD service. For our archive of titles, head right here.
Today on Netflix Horrors, it isnt a vast update, but its certainly a big one
The Babadook: The best horror film of 2014 hits Instant the same day it arrives on Blu from IFC Midnight/Scream Factory (in a really terrific package, so pick it up if you enjoy). Im not sure if I can properly or substantially add to the words Ive spent expressing enthusiasm for Jennifer Kents feature debut, but suffice to say I love this film and I believe many of you do, as well. Heres what I wrote in Shocks Best of 2014: Artfully constructed with frightening shadowplay and nods to expressionist cinema, The Babadook feels simultaneously classical and invigorating; at once an all-timer and the debut of a bold new filmmaker. Director Jennifer Kent, together with tremendous stars Essie Davis and Noah Wiseman, confronts the realities of troubled a parent-child relationship, the guilt and grief that can eat away at and obstruct unconditional love. Kent does as much with a devastating story as she does with a malevolent, playful spirit, embodied by the immediately haunting figure of The Babadook (a storybook Coffin Joe-by-way-of-Edward Gorey creation). Whats more, Kent reveals herself as the real deal by keeping The Babadook a horror film, and one about facing, understanding and balancing the horror in our lives by the horror stories we tell.
Preservation: Christopher Denhams follow-up to the unsettling Home Movie is a disappointing one. Straightforward survival horror is the order, and its hindered by both familiarity as well as a twist towing a clumsy message.
Also of note: My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn is a brisk, candid doc directed by artist, filmmaker and wife to Refn, Liv Corfixen. The film concerns her own struggles with Refns travel-heavy career, as well as the production of Only God Forgives, in which Refn wrestles with creating something deliberately less accessible than Drive. Creatives and admirers of Refn, and especially the underloved Only God Forgives, will enjoy.
