The Babadook (2014) Review

"You can't get rid of the Babadook."

-Samuel Vanek

Amelia Vanek (Essie Davis) is a struggling single mother, mourning the death of her husband, and trying to raise her son, Samuel (Noah Wiseman).  After finding a strange and grotesque children's book about a being called the Babadook, Samuel becomes convinced the monster is coming for them.  As Samuel's behavior grows worse, Amelia begins to suspect he might be right.

What Works:

The best part of The Babadook is how well written the characters are.  I'll get into talking about the two main characters shortly, but it isn't just them.  Even the supporting characters are well written, even if they are unlikable in the process.  Their characters are developed enough where it's easy to understand their point of view.

Essie Davis is fantastic as Amelia and showcases an extremely wide range of acting ability.  We get to see her as happy, angry, and sad, but mostly she's just exhausted.  Her performance wore me down alongside her.  We see her trying her best as well as being as terrifying as Jack Torrance.  It's impressive and complex work and really manages to make us feel what Amelia feels.

The first time I watched The Babadook, I f**king hated Samuel with a passion.  I already don't like children, but Samuel was in the running for worst movie kid I have ever seen.  He greatly redeems himself in the second half and by the end of the film and on subsequent rewatches, I have understood the character.  He truly is insufferable in the first half of the film, but that's the point.  It puts us in the headspace of the other characters.  Imagine having to deal with this kid for more than 90 minutes.  Chilling.  I have to give it up to Noah Wiseman for giving such an impressive performance.  He pulls off the annoying kid better than any actor I have ever seen, but follows it up with plenty of emotion so we actually feel bad for him later on.

The themes of this movie are heavy and the Babadook itself can be entirely seen as a metaphor.  A lot of movies that try to pull this kind a thing off usually lose the metaphor at some point during the story, but that isn't the case here.  The Babadook can be seen as all of the negative emotion Amelia feels regarding her husband's death and dealing with her son, who is far from easy to raise.  Every bad though and feeling she has ever had is lumped up into one monster that threatens to consume her.  Viewing the movie through this lens works remarkably well and makes the film even more interesting on the rewatch.  I love when the monster is more than just a monster.

Finally, the design of the Babadook is fantastic.  It's never the same, so we get a wide variety of looks at this creature.  From a drawing in a storybook, to just a hat and jacket, to the monster in the dark, the movie always gets very creative when we see the Babadook and it's a lot of fun.

Verdict:

The Babadook is one of my favorite horror movies.  It's a dark film that covers subject matter that a lot of other movies avoid.  The characters are well written and acted, the themes are extremely well handled, and the Babadook himself is one of my favorite movie monsters.  Without a doubt, this movie has definitely got it going on.

 10/10: Amazing