Baby Blues
by Leong Po-Chih
Asian horror is my favorite subgenre of horror films. Of which, K-horror is my all-time favorite. Followed by J-horror. J-horror often has some cool ideas but I often find it to be watered down with all the Onryō (AKA all those Japanese killer ghost girls with hair in their face) films. Sadly, I feel like Asian horror isn't widely released in the states. I can't even recall the last time I saw an Asian horror flick post-2008 streaming anywhere. Until recently. I found Baby Blues from 2013 on Netflix. I'm not too familiar with C-horror though. I've seen a few films like The Eye and Dream Home. So, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from Baby Blues.
Hao and Tian Qing are a music producer and blogger, respectively, and are looking into purchasing a home to start a family. The previous owner has left a strange doll behind that the new family decides to keep. Hao is under a lot of pressure at work to produce the next big hit. One night, he jokingly asks the doll for help. He knocks the doll over and it falls on his key board and creates the exact sound he is looking for. He takes it to his boss but his boss hates it, however, the company's star Bobo is willing to give it shot. While listening in her car, Bobo despises the song and it causes her to crash. Everyone believes his song is evil. Hao is laid off from work at the most inconvenient time, his wife is pregnant with twins. However, he has another shot at hitting it big, another artist from the company wants to work with Hao. Even better yet, she loves his song. The other musician makes a poorly timed move on Hao and kisses him. Tian Qing catches him and is terribly upset. However, the bridge between Hao and Tian Qing is repaired when she goes into labor. One of the twins doesn't make it, but Tian Qing can't accept that. She begins treating the doll as their deceased son Jimmy. Little do they know, the doll has a dark, murderous past.
This movie was one part Final Destination, one part Child's Play, and one part The Omen. I know, on paper that sounds like a great idea but it was the critical flaw. It lacked overall direction and the movie wasn't sure what it wanted to be. I wasn't sure if this movie was about an evil song, a killer doll, a cursed house, or a crazy mother. The movie tries to set up too many plot points that mostly go nowhere. It was ambitious I'll give it that. I think the movie was supposed to really be about a mother with postpartum depression. I mean it is called Baby Blues, after all. The whole pregnancy thing wasn't introduced till about a quarter of the way through the movie and the postpartum depression wasn't introduced until about half way through the movie. The entire first half of the movie focused on that evil song and then the whole evil part is just dropped by the end. I think I know why the plot didn't get the attention it deserved, it was for the special effects.
I noticed an extreme amount of needless CGI. Notable examples include the spinning while pointing doll. I would have been much cheaper to film the already-made-doll spinning while pointing. Then, Hao at one point breaks a car window, instead of using breakaway glass they did it with CGI. I'll be completely honest, the CGI isn't even that great. Alas, cheaply done CGI is expensive. I also noticed that all the shots were setup in a strange way, lots of things flying towards the screen. Then it dawned on me, this movie is supposed to be 3D. Suddenly, all the cheaply made CGI shots made sense. Not only is GGI expensive but so is 3D. Who needs a good plot that makes sense when you can just have a ton of special effects?
The movie actually picks up in the second half. That's when its true colors show. The entire first half of the movie just needlessly setup the second half. I was actually quite invested when Tian Qin goes bat-shit crazy. What made it so creepy is that she was so upbeat. Normally, I envision crazy people just sitting in a dark room, ready to kill. She was normal but insane at the same time. I had, what I like to call, an "Oh no you didn't", moment. She is so upset when her doll falls off the second floor balcony and she pulls a Michael Jackson. You'll know what I mean when you see it. I don't want to spoil it.
The main reason I picked this movie is because the cover reminded me of Jen from The Dark Crystal. I honestly didn't know it was an Asian horror flick at first. I really liked the atmosphere that the movie built, it had this odd, dream-like quality. It was greatly aided by the unique soundtrack, mostly piano. It was both eerie and calming, depending on what was going on. Even though the plot is a bit of a mess, there is actually an interesting story hiding in there somewhere. The acting kind of seems bad but I'm not positively sure since I don't speak Chinese. I'm not entirely sure if that helped the movie or not. Lastly, I don't know if this was because of the Netflix or the writing but I did not know any of the character's names. I mean, Tian Qing refers to her husband as Hubby the whole movie. I can't recall many moments where characters were referred to by name. I had to look up Tian Qing and Hao's names just for the sake of this review.
This is a tough movie for me to review because I'm honestly not sure if I like it or hate it. There's this part of me that can really appreciate certain aspects of the movie. Then, there are parts like the movie's identity crisis and the use of special effects that really get to me. I think that's the thing, I see the potential here but it just fell short. It left me feeling, dare I say it, a bit blue. Maybe, I should re-edit the movie to be a forty minute short film about a crazy mother who attaches herself to a doll. Eh, that's too much effort.
Billy Wayne Martin, HMS