[Film Review] Babythump (2021)

Written and directed by Ian Killick, Baby Thump (2021) sets up a life sized diorama in which a couple find themselves landed with an unexpected house guest.

Just like the horror genre, comedy as a movie experience is one in which the audience explores in-depth emotions in a controlled environment. We, the viewers, can sit back on our seats and giggle at ridiculous situations and the people involved, that if we were to find ourselves in, we definitely wouldn’t be holding our bellies with laughter. Our physiological response to comedy is very much similar to that of horror movies, a deep release of endorphins such as serotonin, boosting our adrenalin and mood responses. So what happens when we inadvertently find humour in the darkest, most horrific of situations?

This is exactly what Ian Killick’s Baby Thump explores. Whilst in bed, a couple, Marie (Kathryn O’Reilly) and Donny (Derek Elwood) are disturbed by sound emulating from another room in their house, and after much comedic confusion, they deduce that it must be coming from a baby. Except they don’t have a baby. The delivery of the two characters, their dialogue and how they navigate this situation is played so straight and almost to an offbeat rhythm that it gives an air of part British surrealist comedy and part Eraserhead (1977). Another similarity between this short film and David Lynch’s experimental body horror is it’s use of silence between characters set against a low frequency sound, in Baby Thump’s case it is the scratchy audio effect of the retro film filter utilized. The unnerving tension created by this adds to the feeling of deafening and awkward silence between the couple as it becomes obvious there are things which are being left unsaid. 

It would be difficult not to associate Baby Thump’s storyline with a couple finding themselves with an unplanned pregnancy and trying to logically and without emotion, weigh the options available to them.The final act deals with the aftermath of decisions made and the grieving process even when everyday life resumes and a sense of false normality returns. It is perhaps the only moment we see an emotional reaction from a formerly restrained Marie, whilst Donny remains stoic and grey faced. Again, the strained quietness that surrounds Marie and Donny feels heavy as the horror of what they have done hits them just as the classical musical crescendo is introduced.

Baby Thump deals with a horrific event, yet somehow I was laughing as this strange situation played out, and it was only after the film came to a close, paired with that dramatic classical theme, that the disturbing events of the film hit me and I was shocked at myself for that reaction. And that is the real strength of this cinematic peephole into the lives of Donny and Marie; it causes the audience to deal with one of the most horrific implied scenes with disbelief and laughter, thus cementing the theory that comedy and horror can be used as coping mechanisms.

Baby Thump is a fantastic deadpan delivery of absurdity and horror, who’s emotional horror will stay with you long after the credits roll.

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