Other Media Review

Movie Review: The Babadook

I hate horror movies. I really do. That last time I willingly watched a horror movie, I saw Paranormal Activity in theaters and slept with the light on for a week. But when I saw The Babadook (an Australian-Canadian psychological horror film) on Netflix, after hearing so many great things about it, I figured I was safe. The Cute Boy™ and one of my roommates were going to watch it with me. We would have some drinks to help temper our anxiety, and we were most certainly keeping the living room light on.

Before I explain the movie any further, there are several things that will turn off people. First, it’s absolutely terrifying. Second, the dog dies. I’m serious. I thought it wouldn’t happen or that there’d be some way that it was a trick. But no. And lastly, there is some verbal abuse against a child.

However, if you’re still with me, The Babadook is worth a watch and I am legitimately surprised how much I enjoyed it, despite being scared out of my damn mind.

Amelia (Essie Davis of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries) is a single mother, dealing with the grief of losing her husband and the struggle of raising a son who is becoming more and more difficult to control. Her son, Samuel, was born the same night her husband died. Amelia and her husband were in a car accident while driving her to the hospital to deliver. And though her son is now six, Amelia is still plagued by grief.

Throughout the movie, Amelia’s circumstances seem to get worse. Her son acts out at school leading to Amelia removing him from school altogether. Samuel also pushes his cousin from a treehouse for making very hurtful comments about Samuel’s not having a father. Her son’s actions have Amelia leaving work early or missing days entirely in order to look after him.

Amelia and Samuel have a nightly routine where she reads him a story. On Samuel’s shelf is a story about the Babadook, a book Amelia had never seen before. The story and illustrations are so fucking creepy, you guys.

A children's book page with a creepy man coming through a door. The caption reads, If you're really a clever one, and you know what to see, then you can make friends with a special one. A friend of you and me.

And I need to tell you something so damn surreal that happened.

Right after Amelia quickly realizes how fucked up this children’s book is and refuses to read any more, my roommate and I heard three knocks on the door. Now, the Babadook’s arrival is signaled by three knocks.

She looked at me and asked if I heard that. I said yes. The Cute Boy™ looked at us like we were crazy. It was a cool night in Boston, so we had the windows open.

A face peeks into the window and asks if we had ordered food.

All three of us screamed bloody murder and frightened this delivery man. Turns out, my upstairs neighbors (another reason to add to the list of why I dislike them) had ordered food, but didn’t specify the correct door. After that moment, we all started drinking rather heavily.

Amelia’s house becomes “haunted” by the Babadook. It sends Samuel into a terror. It causes Amelia to lose sleep. Slowly, she begins to lose her grip on her sanity. At first, she just thinks her son is making up stories about the Babadook, but things start happening and it becomes apparent that the Babadook is very real. I won’t list all the creepy things that happen.

The Department of Child and Family Services (or whatever the Australian/Canadian equivalent is) becomes involved as Samuel isn’t attending school, which only adds to Amelia’s stress.

The movie operates in your traditional horror movie fashion, where the scary stuff escalates until it can no longer be ignored, and the antagonist finally conquers whatever monster is plaguing them. But the ending is truly fantastic. I think it’s easily one of my favorite movie endings I’ve seen in a while.

Movie ending
After “defeating” the Babadook, he doesn’t fully go away. Instead, he takes up residence in the family’s basement. Amelia and Samuel collect worms in their garden, which Amelia then takes down to feed the Babadook. It seems they have an understanding. She keeps him “fed” and he pretty much leaves them alone. But it doesn’t seem like he’s going anywhere. In fact, there’s no discussion in the children’s book, which heralded the Babadook, about how get rid of him.

Amelia and Samuel looking in the closetI’ve heard the movie interpreted in several different ways, but the three most popular opinions seem to be that the Babadook can be a metaphor for grief, mental illness, or just the difficulties and struggles of trying to raise a child.

After watching the movie, I Googled like crazy, soaking up article after article on how The Babadook was being received.

NPR had a great, albeit short, interview with the director, Jennifer Kent, and Caetlin Benson-Allott, a Georgetown University professor who studies horror movies:

“For me, this story was a myth in a domestic setting,” says the director, who completely invented the Babadook. She wants viewers to be uncertain if they’re seeing a supernatural monster or one that’s erupted from repressed feelings.

“This is a film about making your own monsters,” agrees Benson-Allott. “And the damage we do to our families, and within our families.”

Grantland also had a piece on mothers in horror movies and how The Babadook subverts the trope of the “mother as monster” character:

“This isn’t about monsters against children, or monsters against mothers; it’s about a mother against a valid and vulnerable part of herself.”

If you’re as interested in film study as I am, both articles are great reads.

The visuals supplement the creepiness wonderfully. Amelia’s house is decorated in shades of dull grey, which fully accentuated the sort of mental quagmire in which she seems to be stuck. I should also note this movie was written, directed, and produced by women, which is pretty damn cool. If you can stomach horror movies or can make it through one with all the lights on, please watch The Babadook. It’s more than just a scary story of a monster come to life, but a story of how we deal with the internal monsters of just existing as human beings.

The Babadook is currently available for streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Add Your Comment →

  1. Lostshadows says:

    I just watched this a few weeks ago. Definitely a “watch this in the middle of the afternoon” movie for me.

    I think she was already having issues with sleep deprivation before Samuel found the book.

  2. Bookworm says:

    Great post, I watched this one a few months ago and it was really creepy. The ending surprised me.

  3. Maz says:

    This movie reminded me a lot of The Ring remake (the one with Naomi Watts) because of the overpowering feeling of doom and how it kinda parallels that movie’s ending.

    It’s genuinely creepy (I’d gotten accidentally spoiled on some things but not how it ended) and deffo worthy of the A grade.

  4. beautiful_alarms says:

    I saw this last year at a time when I felt that I was really losing my grip on parenting – working 70 hours a week, exhausted, and absolutely devoid of patience and understanding for my at-the-time 4 year old daughter. It was a really hard watch. I quit my horrid job and things are better now, so there’s that! I should watch it again so I can appreciate it beyond the terror I felt over the parallels of my own life and Amelia’s unhinging.

  5. Darynda says:

    SOLD! I was wondering about this. Thanks for the review!

  6. Gloriamarie Amalfitano says:

    While i have never heard of this movie, perhaps because I too avoid horror films because I simply do not grasp the entertainment value of being scared or terrified, I am reminded of another story I read about a boy who regularly woke his parents up at all hours, claiming there was a monster in the room, under the bed, in the closet, at the window etc. The boy delighted in the fact that his parents were at his beck and call this way and he continued to manipulate them. His parents faithfully came every single time. After a while, the boy finally asked his parents why they did this when it was obvious there was no monster. The father said “Because one time we didn’t take it seriously and your brother was kidnapped and we’ve never seen him again and he has never been found.”

  7. Janine says:

    I think this movie falls in the category of “Not for Me” but I just had to note how transformed Essie Davis is from her Miss Fisher role. I had to look at a bunch of pictures on IMDB before I confirmed for myself that it was really the actress I was thinking of.

  8. jimthered says:

    While I enjoyed this movie (review up at http://thearmchaircritic.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-babadook-dvd.html ) I think (spoilers ahoy!) the movie would have been more effective if the “monster” had been the stresses of Amelia’s life instead of the external supernatural force. Plus the film does a good job of making any external proof of the creature conveniently disappear, making it possible that if was all in her head.

  9. MinaKelly says:

    MASSIVELY SPOILERY COMMENT AHOY

    One of the things I loved about this film was that it never pinned itself down. Watching it, there were moments I was convinced it was Amelia’s sleep deprivation and grief driving everything (it’s worth remembering she was a children’s book writer before her husband died – if you were wondering where the book came from!). There were others when I thought it was a film about how kids making weapons from stuff around the house like their in a Spielberg-esque movie is actually a disturbing and terrifying thing, especially if the child needs mental health support. And there were times when I thought the Babadook was a supernatural element of her husband come back to haunt them. There’s nothing in the film that can’t be explained all three ways; it’s really committed to its ambiguity.

    What I found absolutely, satisfying was that it didn’t come down hard on any one explanation. It’s a fine line to walk – a lot of films that do that do it so badly – but Babadook nails it, because the issues it’s exploring are interlinked. Samuel and Amelia’s mental health are completely intertwined. It ends on this knife edge of sanity, where everything works as long as they keep feeding worms to the basement and mutually enable each other. It’s not a healthy peace, but it is peace.

    Honestly, in the last decade, only this and It Follows have really stood out in the horror genre. Both are smart and disturbing and make very normal things (knocking three times, people walking in the same direction as you) incredibly creepy. Both take advantage of horror as a surprisingly female-focused genre to explore pressures on women to behave and feel a certain way and the impact that has on their health.

  10. Amanda says:

    @MinaKelly: Oh my gosh, I totally forgot she was a children’s book author! Which totally makes the whole “it’s all in her head” theory even creepier.

    Surprisingly, I always saw It Follows. I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as The Babadook, but the ambient music in that movie was so on point for how eerie everything was.

  11. Dee Carney says:

    I can’t stop laughing over what happened with the delivery man. When I saw this movie, I was home alone and watching it in the dark. Had NO idea how creepy it would be!

  12. Sarah J. says:

    I’m a huge fan of this film. I watched in with my friend on a whim and it’s one of the creepiest films I’ve ever watched. I personally interpreted the Babadook as depression because in the end it still looms over you, but if taken care of properly it isn’t as overwhelming. It’s a very interesting look into psychology. Great review!

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