If it's in a word, or if it's in a look
you can't get rid of the Babadook.
This was literally the scariest movie I have ever seen. I went into this with so much hope after reading time and time again that this is one of the best horror movies in a long time. Had my hopes up. Usually if I go to a movie with that mindset I will be disappointed. This time I wasn't.
The movie is about single mother Amelia (Essie Davis) and her six year old son Samuel (Noah Wiseman). Her husband died in a car accident while getting her to the hospital to give birth to Samuel.
Samuel is a difficult child. He is scared off monsters in his room and is the most annoying child character I have ever seen. He is so scared of monsters that he learns magic tricks and builds weapons to defeat them. Him bringing those weapons to school ends in him quitting said school.
One night she reads him a book he found called the Babadook. And then the horror begins.
The special thing about this movie is that it is not like the usual stuff we get these days. Before I saw this movie I saw a trailer for the new Insidious Chapter 3 and it had more jump scares than the whole movie the Babadook. Mostly because the Babadook didn't have any jump scares. It's all about atmosphere. Imagine laying in bed and a shape would float over your head. You'd be scared, even if it didn't jump at you. That's what Jennifer Kent clearly knew and used effectively. This movie scared the hell out of me without jumping in my face.
The acting was awesome. I really hated that kid. And you really saw how bad Amelia felt.
Also I liked the insertion of old movies, Black Sabbath for example, also all the black and white movies. I wanna see them all now to be honest.
All in all this movie was great. Story was great. Characters were hateable but great. It was sooo scary. I give it 5 out of 5 stars and a big like.
Now I'm gonna talk about some other parts that are gonna be spoilers, so here is now a
[SPOILER WARNING]
(I hope it's alright to do it like this, I saw other reviewers do it and I wanted to give a general review for everyone instead of just writing one review for the initiated)
We are (or at least I was) never quite sure if the Babadook is real or just a figment of her imagination.
After a few nights without sleeping she first really starts seeing him. And then she really goes crazy. So she could just go crazy from being sleepless.
And even after the ending I'm still not sure.
I think this movie is about mental illness. Or grief. Or anything internally.
The son is probably the most hateable character ever in a movie. Yet, the mother loves him with all her heart. Even though she seems to blame him for the death of her husband. Internally she hates him. I would, too.
And then this, paired with her insomnia (partly caused by Samuel) made her go crazy. We see the whole movie through her perspective, never do we follow anyone else. So what if she goes crazy? She sees her son flying through the air against a wall. She would be able to pick him up and throw him though.
I got to say what now follows is not by me but I read it in a reddit comment: The Babadook was written by her. I didn't make the connection but if you think about it it makes sense. At the birthday party she sais she was an author, she wrote some articels for magazines and some childrens books. What a coincidence that there is a childrens book that she doesn't remember on her shelf?
After she ripped it to pieces and threw it away it came back. Usually if a demon brings a possessed book back it's like new. But this one is just glued together again. And after she burned it it didn't come back.
And about the few extra pages: she had this black stuff on her hand at the police station. This could be from burning the book. Could also be because she drew the extra pages with coal.
A different redditor also said that the babadook resembles the archetype of the shadow, which resembles oneself.
And that's what explains the ending too. One friend said the only bad thing about this movie was the ending. And I bet many others say this too. Because it doesn't right fit into the movie to be honest.
I think that is symbollic for her mental illness. Even though you fought it and you basically won, it's still there, in the basement, waiting to come back.
Damn now I hope there won't be a sequel to destroy this...
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