Baby Blues
A slasher flick that tackles the issue of postpartum depression
Among the various sub-genres of horror films, the slasher is possibly the most formulaic. Even the best of the genre tend to follow a plot so rigid that the seasoned viewer can easily predict which characters will live and which will meet a grisly—if often imaginative—death. Still, there are some slasher films that aspire to be more than just passably-entertaining bloodbaths and attempt to wade into the often uncomfortable waters of social commentary.
Baby Blues, a 2008 thriller directed by Lars E. Jacobson and Amardeep Kaleka, tells the allegedly-true story of a disturbed young mother (Colleen Porch) who, in the throes of postpartum depression, begins terrorizing her own children. As far as horror movies go, it doesn’t get much more unsettling than this. But does it do justice to the subject in question, postpartum depression? It’s hard to say.
A Loving Mother's Descent into Madness
This is the most recent of several horror films that have dubiously claimed to be “inspired by true events,” a movie-trailer tagline that becomes less credible with each successive use. But unlike movies like The Strangers or the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Baby Blues deals with a sad topic that affects families all over the world. Truthfully, the first third of the movie, which depicts the young mother in question slowly falling apart under the pressure of raising four small children, is heartbreaking and disturbing in and of itself. It’s clear that she loves her kids; she does her best to look after them while her husband (Joel Bryant) is away, but it’s also obvious that she suffers from serious mental and emotional problems.
Her oldest son, Jimmy (Ridge Canipe), fearfully watches from a distance as his mother collapses in the yard, crying and muttering to herself. But when he goes to his father for help, Dad dismisses it as a passing emotional phase and soon leaves for his job as a truck driver. It’s not that he doesn’t care about his wife or his children, but he doesn’t understand the severity of postpartum depression. This is a tragically common reality that the movie communicates very well in its early scenes.
Once she is alone with her children and her mind finally snaps, the movie makes its transition from a disturbing family drama to a full-on horror movie, complete with gruesome killings and a tense chase scene through a cornfield. Although elements of it may be somewhat over-the-top, the mother’s psychotic break doesn’t seem too out-of-place in the context of the genre. Undoubtedly, there are viewers who may take exception to the film’s use of postpartum depression as a plot device for a horror film.
An Effective Horror Movie
Still, the movie handles the subject with about as much tact as can be expected of a slasher; although the mother is frighteningly unstable, she isn’t one-dimensional or even overtly detestable. After watching her suffer through the early scenes, it’s difficult not to find her at least somewhat sympathetic, even if she does commit unspeakable acts against her own children. Some scenes are heavily reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, another horror movie that focuses on the mental collapse of a formerly-loving parent.
All debates aside, Baby Blues is a more effective slasher film than most and won’t disappoint viewers who want a few good chills. And at the end of the day, that’s really all a good horror movie is supposed to do.
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