Halloween Double Feature: Anna and the Apocalypse (2017) & The Babadook (2014)

Welcome to the 2019 Halloween Horror Marathon! I’m keeping with this year’s change to double features even for the marathon! Hopefully you will enjoy it as well! The goal is to get about 3 double features up a week. It might not all work out since that does requiring watching a lot of movies. Regardless, there will be other things going on from more thriller/horror books and TV as well so we’ll see how it all goes. Main focus is on movies from  Netflix Canada and Shudder.

First pairing probably should have been more research but it still works out as a Netflix pairing with horror comedy musical Anna and the Apocalypse followed by 2014’s indie horror hit The Babadook.

Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)

Director: John McPhail

Cast: Ella Hunt, Malcolm Cumming, Sarah Swire, Christopher Leveaux, Marli Siu, Ben Wiggins

A zombie apocalypse threatens the sleepy town of Little Haven – at Christmas – forcing Anna and her friends to fight, slash and sing their way to survival, facing the undead in a desperate race to reach their loved ones. But they soon discover that no one is safe in this new world, and with civilization falling apart around them, the only people they can truly rely on are each other. – IMDB

I only realized this is a Christmas zombie movie after I started it up but I’m sticking with it for a light start to the Halloween horror marathon, plus Netflix listed it as a Halloween Netflix and Chills category so why not. It does have zombies after all. To call this would be a stretch since its not really categorized as horror. However, as a start and a little mix genre type of movie to kick off the Halloween marathon, I’m pretty happy with it. Zombies and musicals are quite a nice little mash-up and Anna and the Apocalypse delivers some really fun tunes. I’d say, perhaps one song didn’t land well for me but overall, it was all catchy.

In terms of characters, Ella Hunt playing Anna does a great job. Probably one of the wittier characters which I really did like was Steph played by Sarah Swire. Its a fun little movie. There’s some little story between everyone but its really just a group of friends that rely on each other to go back to find their loved ones and survive through this zombie apocalypse. Its deliberately over the top and sarcastic humor throughout and its the type of humor that I love. Musicals are all about breaking out in random singing and dancing numbers and while the songs weren’t directly about the zombie apocalypse, it was immersed in it so the background was sometimes as fun to watch as watching the singing going on. Some of the bits reminded me of various other musicals. All the friends had a different kind of personality and brought something to the group which is always fun as it creates balance.

There are zombies and bloody and guts but Anna and the Apocalypse is a fun Christmas movie that still fits into Halloween because of the apocalypse elements. A light-hearted start to the marathon but more intense movies to come, I’m pretty sure. Now, if more people would do movies like this, I’d be down for a sequel or some other horror comedy musical.

The Babadook (2014)

Director: Jennifer Kent

Cast: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Hayley McElhinney, Daniel Henshall, Barbara West, Benjamin Winspear

A widowed mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, battles with her son’s fear of a monster lurking in the house, but soon discovers a sinister presence all around her. – IMDB

The Babadook is a fairly slow-burn psychological horror film. Usually, slow films aren’t normally an issue and with something so highly regarded as The Babadook, its nice to see where it all takes it. In many ways, when The Babadook finally makes its “appearance”, it starts becoming an anxious sort of deal, mostly because of how the characters act. The beginning of The Babadook is honestly just a lot of set-up where we see where the main characters are from how they became the situation of only the mom and son and the oddities of the character that make them fairly unwelcome or unaccepted.

A lot contributes to The Babadook’s atmosphere as well. The quietness of the film in general as well the setting itself being in a gloomy blue and black painted home which gives it a naturally darker tone that especially helps blend both the creature as well as giving the red Mister Babadook book to standout especially as both these things give off the related sort of feeling whether its depression or fear. With that said, the characters themselves being in their own rather odd ways do also give the movie an unsettling feeling. Does a child screaming or throwing a fit always instil  fear? Not really. Some of the bits of the kid was annoying and some did also land well in being slightly creepy. Essie Davis as the mom probably did a lot more of the effective acting as her character went into the change and fell into this different character that was pretty frightening to watching unfold.

Honestly, The Babadook is not too scary. The idea of itself is a lot scarier about the creepy story that comes alive. The Mister Babadook story has a dark twist to it that was scary to watch. The execution of The Babadook was also done well because it was mostly in the shadows and has the same effect of giving the viewers a way to imagine it  whether than letting it all show up. As well as a stellar performance by Essie Davis as the mother and just setting up the gloomy atmosphere really well. I can’t say that I’m a huge fan of the ending but it works.

The first Halloween double feature in 2019 is done!
Have you seen Anna and the Apocalypse and/or The Babadook? Thoughts?