The Babadook: Review

I don't like most horror movies. Now, that sounds fairly ridiculous coming from somebody who watches countless horror films for fun, but let me explain. I don't like films which solely rely on gore as a form of 'horror', which is unfortunately what most films claiming to be 'scary' now rely on as a form of entertainment. Of course, there's certainly a market for this, and last year's Evil Dead is a stellar example of a horror film which instantly let's you know what you're in for - that being copious amounts of gore - and doesn't try to be something else. It's inarguable then, that a psychological horror experience is far more effective at making you feel pure terror than any amount of blood and violence. That's why The Babadook is one of the best horror movies I have ever seen. 

Amelia (Essie Davis)

The film starts by introducing us to the main character of Amelia (Essie Davis). Amelia is the mother of a single child, and whose husband died in a car accident while she was headed to the hospital to give birth to said child. She loves her son Samuel (Noah Wiseman) very much, but is gradually becoming more and more fatigued due to his obsession with fictional monsters. One night, Amelia decides to read Samuel a book titled 'Mister Babadook', and this sets into motion a dark and genuinely terrifying decline in their already depressive well-being. 

Like all the best scary movies, The Babadook rarely shows even a glimpse of the creature itself, and causes you to spend the entire film wondering if it even exists. From the offset, several events occur which make you incredibly empathetic to Amelia, as Samuel grows more and more antagonistic. However, your opinion soon shifts when she starts exhibiting increasingly violent mannerisms towards her son, and soon you're hoping that anything but the very worst will happen. This is cleverly foreshadowed by the 'Mister Babadook' book itself, which is eerily enticing. It looks like something from a gothic Tim Burton movie, although I'm not sure if I'd like to own a copy myself. 

The only aspect of the film which I didn't quite enjoy as much as the rest of it would be the ending. Throughout the entire movie, the idea of whether the monster exists is constantly brought into question, but a few scenes near the finale of the film makes it abundantly clear that this question has a definite answer. It doesn't completely ruin the experience, but a much more ambiguous ending would have been preferable.  

Verdict
The Babadook is an incredibly engrossing psychological horror film, and one which any fan of the genre should definitely check out. The subtlety of the scares is a breath of fresh air in a climate swamped by cheap jump-scares and screaming monsters, and the Babadook himself is equally as sinister. It's a film which I didn't expect to enjoy as much as I did, and one which will definitely stick with me for a long time. 

"You can't get rid of the Babadook"