The Babadook Review: Crazy Scary

Nowadays good horror does not come easy—the silver screen is filled with found footage fair that, for the most part, is uninspired. There is that one horror movie that comes along every year or so that restores faith in the genre, that one movie that seeps deep into your bones and makes you run to your friends and tell them “you want to be scared? Watch this!”

That special movie is “The Babadook.”

Written and directed by Jennifer Kent, “The Babadook” is horror executed to perfection. With a strong performance from her leading lady, Essie Davis, Kent delivers what is sure to be an instant classic—a film that is sure to get better with each successive viewing and is a must see for not just horror fans, but fans of fine filmmaking.

“The Babadook” follows Amelia (Davis) a single mother doing her best to take care of her troubled son Samuel (Noah Wiseman). Samuel’s father died seven years ago in a tragic car accident while driving Amelia to the hospital to give birth to Samuel. Amelia struggles to keep it together as Samuel’s behavior begins to spiral out of control do to his knack for blurting out whatever is on his mind and his penchant for creating makeshift weapons to protect his mother. Samuel is an outsider due to his behavior, so much so after being called to the school, Amelia takes Samuel out of school.

While Amelia gets Samuel ready for school, he brings her a book she’s never seen before—“Mister Babadook.” As Amelia reads this book both her and Samuel are taken aback by how horrific is it, with creepy lines and almost half the book blank including no author or illustrator this is a recipe for the supernatural. Amelia rips the book to shreds and discards it in the trash, however, like most items with a supernatural force attached to them, “Mister Babadook” finds its way back to Amelia’s door step reattached and with new pages. These new pages foreshadow something truly horrific.

Amelia, whose sanity is hanging by a thread at this point, cannot turn to anyone. She begins lashing out at friends and even Samuel, the Babadook’s power grows and slowly it begins to flex its muscles till it finally shows itself and terrorizes both Amelia and Samuel.

First things first—Jennifer Kent has crafted what is easily a horror film on the level of “The Conjuring” and “Insidious.” Kent ditches conventional horror clichés and instead takes the audience on an emotional journey that tackles loss and motherhood. Amelia and Samuel’s arc is what makes the film work—throughout the film you are praying that this family who has already been through a lot, gets out of this whole.

Outside of the great story is all the intangibles, the precision of this film is remarkable. Using prehistoric sounds to bring the Babadook to life and slight of the hand tricks builds suspense and sells the fact of the sheer power of this monster in the shadows. It’ll be hard to even hear a dinosaur in a movie or a knock on the door without thinking of the Babadook after you watch this film.

Filmmaking aside, the film is just worth watching for Davis’ gripping performance as Amelia. Any movie in any genre is only as strong as it’s lead and Davis is a powerhouse. Amelia rarely talks about her husband in the film—and she does not need to because of the nuances in Davis’s performance where all the grief and internal struggles can be seen in this single mother’s eyes. Wiseman is no slouch either, the young actor flourishes and it’s hard not to feel for Samuel, who is not the most well behaved kid in the world, but how would you behave if your dad died taking you to the delivery room.

Enough cannot be said about this movie—for the simple fact that horror elements aside, it is a film that resonates. Again, this kind of horror film is about as rare as a Triple Crown winner, many have come close, but only few have succeeded. Do not just see “The Babadook” because it is the year’s best horror film, see it because it is flat out one of the year’s best films overall.