The Babadook Movie Review (2014)

drama, horror, movie review, the babadook, thriller,

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The Babadook is an Australian horror film directed by Jennifer Kent and it’s her debut feature and it’s stars Essie Davis as a mother with a very annoying son. He’s very difficult, he’s very hard to deal with, he has tons of problems at school, he likes to carry around home made weaponry.
And both of them are still dealing with a very difficult lost that happened on the day her son was born. One night, when he request her to read a story for him, she finds a story on her shelf that she hasn't read to him before called ‘Mr. Babadook’. It tells a story of a tall monster that lives in your house and will visit you if you let him in. From that moment on, The Babadook became the scariest film I've seen in all year.
I didn’t know what to expect with this movie. I was getting tweets from people who already seen it in Australia or The United Kingdom tell me to check it out, but I didn't know it. It’s one of those things where you’re going to be like, “What? The Babadook? What is that thing?”
I love horror movies, I watch all of them. Bad, good, theater, dvd, whatever. I love scary films. This film truly unsettled me to my core. I mean it. It really got under my skin, in the best way. And it’s because of the melding of a lot of really great things, some of those are a very good screenplay, an excellent and very exciting debut from Jennifer Kent who is in my opinion one of the best horror director I’ve seen in years –and  this is her first movie– and an honestly, truly Oscar worthy performance by Essie Davies. She was brilliant in this movie, she captivated me. Her performance was so real and so lifelike that I truly did not think I was watching an actress.
She was magnificent in this movie and in my opinion, is rising to the top of the list of best actress of the year. I’m not overselling it, she truly was amazing in this movie, and her young son also did a really good job because you started out really hating this kid. But the film has an excellent way of turning the table on you in regards to feeling sympathy for characters you do not want to feel sympathetic for.
Let’s talk about the creature itself without giving anything away, it’s practical, it’s frightening, it’s disturbing, because it is not overly shown. There are no stupid loud jump scares, and there is no over reliance on gore. This is a straight up, unsettling, disturbing psychological thriller.
The creature stuck on mind because of the excellent directing and cinematography and use of sound. The performance sells so well, the music and side effect of this movie is so incredibly disturbing. But there is something that a lot of viewers may not picked up on and that is a fact that this is not just a monster movie, this is a movie about grief, about depression, and about how that can affect you.
There are two different thoughts when it comes to this movie, and I’m interested in seeing what the overall viewer thinks when they leave this movie. Because a lot of people may view it just as a straight up monster movie. Others, while looking deeper under the surface, are going to see a lot more depth to be found, and it is very smart, in fact it’s masterful. Because there is a lot of metaphor imagery in this movie that can lead you to think certain things maybe happening, certain things might not be happening.
I’m not going to give any spoilers here. I’m just going to tell you that this is a very smart horror movie. It’s the kind of movie that is not just about something that goosebumps in the night, it’s about the scariest thing that goosebumps in the night, your past, your family, the people you care about, things that can affect your mind. These are the types of horror this movie explores, and it does it brilliantly. It’s the best horror film I’ve seen in 2014. It is far better than V/H/S: Viral, Annabelle or Ouija or any other crap that’s in theater right now that suppose to scare you.
If you have a chance to see The Babadook coming up this month at any point time, I strongly suggest checking it out. It’s going to be in theaters and DVD in November.

Director: Jennifer Kent
Writer: Jennifer Kent
Stars: Essie Davis, Daniel Henshall, Tim Purcell 
Duration: 93 min