Directed by:
Jennifer KentScreenplay:
Jennifer KentCinematography:
Radosław ŁadczukComposer:
Jed KurzelCast:
Essie Davis, Daniel Henshall, Noah Wiseman, Tiffany Lyndall-Knight, Carmel Johnson, Hayley McElhinney, Barbara West, Benjamin Winspear, Peta Shannon (more)VOD (5)
Plots(1)
Six years after the death of her husband, Amelia struggles to discipline her "out-of-control" six-year-old Samuel – a son she finds difficult to love. Samuel's dreams are plagued by a monster he believes is coming to kill them both. When a disturbing storybook called "The Babadook" turns up at their house, Samuel is convinced that the Babadook is the creature he's been dreaming about. And when Amelia begins to see glimpses of the creature herself, it slowly dawns on her that the thing Samuel has been warning her about may well be real. (Sundance Selects)
(more)Reviews (6)
Honestly, I don't think the film was all that bad, but any chance of a higher rating from me was ruined by that spoiled brat with a stress-free upbringing. I kept my fingers crossed for Babadook the whole time, hoping that he had a slow and painful death prepared for Samuel. What surprised me was the therapeutic effect of the monster on the main character, she looked much more relaxed at the end :-)
()
Visually and sonically refined, this Australian variation on the night-time haunted house motif is made distinctive by its editing. The film plays powerfully on the unhappy mother/problematic son relationship and their lonely world after the loss of their husband/father, and delivers the haunting quite nicely in technical terms. But the characters’ reaction to it is strange, as if it’s not a life-threatening curse, but merely a seasonal metaphorical embodiment of a lousy time that can be endured through force of will. According to the director, this is most likely a more interesting and “artistic” take on the substance of the genre, but I did not find it entirely satisfying.
()
Heavy in psychology, a bit weaker when it comes to terror. The Babadook is certainly not a fun or happy movie. The characters are psychologically fucked-up long before any spook shows up, and the director translates this with a lot of skill. It made me pretty nervous almost from the beginning. A widowed - and sleep deprived - mother and her screaming and hyperactive son, both descending into a psychological maze, and you can only guess who is more bonkers. The core storyline about the monster from the book was quite uninteresting, I’ve seen similar ones countless times. I didn’t give a toss whether the Babadook was real or not, besides, the director doesn’t use it to scare the viewer much. I also have mixed feelings about the ending, where very impressive moments alternate with other less stellar. In fact, the last twenty minutes felt as if the thus far carefully built and maintained atmosphere was fully reset several times. The ending is slightly WTF, if not a little ridiculous; it felt out of place given the tone of the film up to that point. Overall, it’s good, very good, actually, but this year’s competitors Oculus and It Follows scared me more.
()
What initially looked like the scariest horror film of the year ends up being a solid psycho thriller reminding me of We Need to Talk About Kevin. Great acting, perfect cinematography and editing, solid soundtrack (the Babadook's voice is goosebump-inducing) and it's also decently psychedelic. Too bad the film isn't spiced up with some jump scares as well, then it could be considered a modern day nightmare. 75%
()
It's very depressing, but unfortunately in the way that in the most intense moments what remains next to the viewer is not the protagonist, but the poor little boogeyman. Otherwise, a solidly intense tightening of the noose around two characters who can't free themselves from a difficult life situation where The Babadook is merely a symbol of receding rationality and a crumbling mother-child relationship. The scary scenes are really uncomfortable, but there are too few of them, and the story lacks a strong enough climax to exemplarily underscore and cement its shoddy psychological setup. Too gratuitous for art-horror and too long-winded and hard to grasp for the mainstream.
()
This is definitely one of the most interesting horror films of the last few years, even in the way the various scary scenes are presented. It's not something that plays at having jump scares; it's different, new, and original in that sense. You feel like killing the kid the whole time, but he fits perfectly into the situation and story with his mother.
()
Ads