My Ratings for Jessabelle: 2.5/5. and for The Babadook: 3.5/5.

Seems like a festive week for the horror genre enthusiasts – a rare event when two horror films Jessabelle and The Babadook releases in the Indian theaters on the same friday!

Coincidentally both the films have a connection with past accidents that somehow affects the present lives of the two female lead characters – Jessabelle (Sarah Snook) in Jessabelle and Amelia (Essie Davis) in The Babadook.

But the similarities end there. Jessabelle and The Babadook are completely different both in content and the style of execution; and also in their horror coefficient.

A young girl named Jessabelle, after a tragic car accident becomes crippled and goes back to her childhood home. She finds some video tapes made by her deceased mother and eventually comes to know of the existence of a spirit, which was supposedly waiting for her to come back.

Who is this spirit and why is it haunting Jessabelle? No spoilers remember?

Directed by Kevin Greutert, as the posters and the trailers say, Jessabelle comes ‘from the producers of Insidious and Paranormal Activity.’  I wish this kind of advertisement was enough to scare people out of their wits but unfortunately it isn’t.

A predictable ending, and in spite of good performances by Sarah Snook and Mark Webber, Jessabelle  offers only a few moderately eerie moments that too if you are really willing to be scared.

On the other hand The Babadook creates a much better atmosphere for psychological horror.

This film is hyped as one of the best horror flicks of the recent times, and also a psychological thriller almost as good as Polanski’s Repulsion and Rosemary’s Baby.

I wouldn’t go that far but The Babadook is undoubtedly one of the better made horror films that successfully turns a scary fairytale into a psychological thriller.

Directed by Jennifer Kent, both the mother Essie Davis and the child Noah Wiseman has acted brilliantly (very well casted as well).

But most importantly the execution of the film, the editing, certain camera angles and the music makes the spooky moments more terrifying. I guess the cinematographer Radek Ladczuk, the editor Simon Njoo and Jed Kurzel for the music needs to be mentioned especially.

A bit repetitive after a certain point but never the less The Babadook is entertainingly horrifying.

So what are you waiting for? Before the year ends make sure you get a good dose of scare.

Do enjoy the horror flicks.