The Babadook Reviews

For my money, the best horror films are the ones where the horror can be scanned as literal or metaphorical, so enter The Babadook. Jennifer Kent’s debut horror film is a striking work of minimalism and subversion of expectations as the routine elements of a supernatural thriller are lined up then promptly upended in strange, hypnotic, chilling ways. The Babadook is a relentless experience, and one that has me excited about Kent will go from here.

 

Harried single mothers and bug-eyed socially inept children are but one common thread she weaves throughout The Babadook. In fact, they’re our point of entry. Next come the oblong shadows, the cursed object, the strange noises, the potential for demonic/supernatural possession, and an inky creature lurking about ready to strike. Kent lines them all up, and we think we know exactly where they’re going but something funny happens on the way there.

 

Kent gives up the setup of a film not dissimilar to say, The Conjuring, but then goes about slowly revealing layer by layer that there may be nothing so damaging and twisted as the human psyche, unprocessed trauma, and untreated mental illness. The children’s book that ushers in the eponymous creature, Mister Babadook, is a homemade object and something of a projection of where the story will potentially lead, and it’s not a pretty sight. But notice that the mother’s fingers are covered in charcoal and that’s never explained or commented upon. Then think back to what the book was drawn with. Kent’s laid out the breadcrumbs so minutely and smartly that absolute attention to detail is needed to catch them all before the grand finale.

 

What’s also deeply refreshing about The Babadook is its female point-of-view. Plenty of horror films have presented female heroines in distress and collapsing mental stability, but few have had a female auteur to guide them. Kent taps into something primordial and taboo in her depiction of a mother’s love and resentment towards a child, and how one side is clearly winning and damaging the home/child right along with it. If the The Babadook gets a little obvious in its final moments, so be it. It has the guts to go for something truly great. After all, what’s scarier: a mind unraveling due to PTSD and severe depression or a literal monster destroying a family by preying on those issues?

This is a great film that kept me on edge from start to finish. It had some frightening moments with some very touching moments between a son and his mother. Beautiful movie. I personally liked It Follows a million times better given its creative style and soundtrack.

May contain Spoiler!!!!
Great acting, and an overall very good movie! Highly recommended if you are interested in the depiction of mental illness. I don't want to go into a detailed review, but this was one of those movies which was made with love and care for the details. It reminded me a little bit to Jacob's Ladder and Black Swan. This means you should expect a psychological horror film, and not the typical horror/supernatural themed movie. I hope to see more from people made this movie!

I remember seeing the trailer for this and it looked interesting enough. However it didn't seem like something I would rush to see or hype about. Now I have been hearing a lot about it and so I decided to see for myself what this movie had to offer. It starts off pretty interestingly. I never thought about what my parents were dreaming about when I was a kid waking them up in the middle of the night whenever I couldn't sleep. It's interesting to see the strange relationship between the mother and son unfold. There is a lot of different ways to interpret what is going on between them. Some of those ways make a lot of sense while others are just rubbish. It's definitely uncomfortable when certain things happen though. That is one crazy and disturbed young boy. I don't know how I could deal with someone who acted the way he does. I thought this was very original and creepy. The Babadook itself kind of reminded me a little bit of Freddy Krueger except not so much with humor. This feels a lot like a fairytale that has gone horribly horribly wrong. It seemed like as the story went on the sanity of Amelia begins to go downhill and Samuels' sanity makes more sense. It is nice to see that a scary movie can rely on it's atmospheric attitude rather than constant jump scares. The ending was a bit odd, but overall this was very interesting to watch. I think it's not your typical kind of horror. The ending kind of made me think of Mama except done in a much better and different kind of way. I think it's good for a one time watch.