My take: A terrifying tale of childhood fears and madness. Definitely not a movie a kid should ever see.
Rating: 3 out of 4 stars
Synopsis of Babadook
Babadook is an Australian horror film about a mom, Amelia, and her troubled son, Sam. Same believes thoroughly and completely in monsters. This goes all kinds of wrong for the pair of them when he finds a book on the shelf called “Mister Babadook.” The book appears to be a kid’s book, but as his mom reads it, it becomes clear that the story is too dark for her child.
Amelia does not finish reading it, and even tries to get rid of it, but the damage has already been done. Sam won’t stop talking about the babadook, frightening other children. He keeps his mother up all night with his fits. With a lack of sleep and the eerie reappearance of the book, Amelia also starts to believe in the monster and become a monster herself.
Poster for Babadook
What I Thought of Babadook & Who Should Watch It
Watching Babadook is like watching a nightmare, and it’s a good one too. It’s difficult to tell where reality ends and madness begins. This makes the movie an absolute rollercoaster; you don’t know what may happen next in this stylized, shadowy nightmare world.
The lead actress, Essie Davis, carries the film and does a terrific job playing a woman on the brink of collapse. She’s like a chameleon throughout the film, at times sympathetic and at other times repulsive. It makes me very sad that acting in horror rarely reaps any awards. She deserves one.
If you like a good monster movie or psychological thriller, see this film. I would also recommend it to those who like mother/child horror, which seems to be a genre of its own, with Mama, Rosemary’s Baby, Carrie, etc.
I rented it via Amazon; it’s generally available by VOD. Here’s the trailer:
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