We’re going to try and review more indie movies and make a bigger deal out of them. We had some trailers up over the weekend. This review of The Baby in the Basket is from the director of Dead Before They Wake.
The Baby in the Basket stars Amber Doig-Thorne, Michaela Longden, Elle O’Hara, Lisa Risner, Maryam d’Abo, Paul Barber and Nate Shepka. We’ve interviewed Doig-Thorne before when she starred in Pooh: Blood and Honey.
The Story
The story for The Baby in the Basket isn’t about Moses, it’s about:
A baby in a basket is left on the steps of an isolated monastery on a Scottish island. The nuns take it in, planning to care for it until a storm passes. Soon though, strange and unexplained events begin to happen at the convent.
Set during WWII, there is an isolated convent on an island in Scotland. The nuns live a quiet life, with Mother Superior in charge. There are two men who live/work in the convent, an old caretaker and a handyman.
The handyman, Daniel (Shepka), is not really welcome. He’s not on the battlefield, because he’s back with PTSD, which has led to him drinking. His presence stirs up things in the nun’s that the nun shouldn’t be stirring about.
One evening, a baby turns up on the doorstep, on a dark and stormy night. Since it’s dark and stormy, the baby must be evil! To be fair, that’s the whole point, the baby’s arrival starts to turn things upside-down at the convent as the horror unfolds.
Old School
The great thing about The Baby in the Basket is it’s an old-school horror movie. It took me right back to the days of Hammer Horror Movies. Simple photography, haunting music and it lets the actors do the work.
I don’t recall any ‘jump scares’, which is a good thing, as it’s the oldest trick in the book. Instead, it’s all about how the story unfolds and the tension builds. It is a slow burn, in fact, I would say the first 30 minutes of setting up the characters, is a little too long. The baby doesn’t show up till then.
When it does though, the madness starts to set in and people turn. It creates a sense of mistrust with everyone. Especially one of the nuns, who seems to have been influenced by the baby far too much.
Nunsploitation
There’s something about nuns, isn’t there? I always remember someone saying ‘Never had nun, never get nun!’. This isn’t true of The Baby in the Basket though, there are ‘nuns that are gonna get sum’.
Yes, there is the old ‘nun dancing naked in the moonlight’ scene, with of course, Daniel watching. The character stories are all intertwined and the build up is put in a pressure cooker. Again, I think some of it could have been cut down, but it was handled well.
Indie Movie
The Baby in the Basket is an indie movie. I read someone, either about this movie or one of Shepka’s others, that the budgets are around £200,000. Put it this way, his budgets are a hell of a lot less than Disney throws around.
Overall, his production values are excellent. If you put this on, you wouldn’t say it was shot on a budget, well, apart from one thing. The baby, originally, is a real baby. As the evil unfolds, you find out what the baby turns out to be.
The evil baby is shown towards the end and, umm, it isn’t the best. I feel for the director because you can’t put makeup on a real baby, not for the look he was going for. You can however make a ‘puppet’ of one. I couldn’t help but crack a smile when I saw it.
This doesn’t take anything away from the rest of The Baby in the Basket, but you just need to be prepared, it’s not as scary as you hope. Saying that though, I’ve seen a lot worse, with a lot more budget.
Overall
The Baby in the Basket is an old-school Gothic horror movie, which puts most horror movies to shame. I’m a fan of the old-school horror, and that’s exactly what this is. I tend to wade through a quagmire of horror and they are mostly just bad. Cliches on troupes on cliches.
I don’t think many people ‘get’ horror; just stick in a couple of jump scares and you’re golden. No, it’s about building tension, giving characters their arcs and telling a good story. The Baby in the Basket isn’t perfect, but it’s far better than most horror out there.
OK, I’m a little prejudiced, I was lucky enough to interview the director. Firstly, he’s a really interesting guy who knows his movies. Secondly, a lot of his catalogue is more action-based. For him to turn his hand to horror, and do it very well, is impressive.
The Baby in the Basket is out on VoD today and it’s worth checking out. You can see my interview with Shepka here, on the Last Movie Outpost.
