The Babadook (2014) – Australian Film Review

The Babadook is a dark and depressing supernatural horror film made in Australia. The central character is young widow Amelia Vanek (Essie Davis) who is bringing up her six-year-old son Samuel alone while also trying to hold down a job as a care assistant in an old people’s home.

Samuel (Noah Wiseman) is a troubled child who demands a lot of his mother’s attention and requires her to accompany him on a nightly ritual that involves looking for monsters in his closet and under the bed. He is obsessed with the idea there is a monster living in their home and has created a variety of homemade weapons to help him fight it and protect his mother.

After the nightly monster hunt, Amelia generally reads Samuel a bedtime story. One night, when it’s Samuel’s turn to choose the story, he pulls a strange, red book from the shelf. Amelia has never seen it before. The book is called Mister Babadook and its sinister pop-up content is more likely to prevent sleep than encourage it.

The book is illustrated with pictures of a demon-like entity called the Babadook. More pictures than text, it’s written in the third-person and according to the book, the Babadook announces its presence with three sharp knocks and those who see him won’t sleep a wink.

The book goes on to say: “He will soon take off his funny disguise and when you see what’s beneath, you will wish you were dead.”

This passage causes Samuel to become so distressed that Amelia, who had already tried to stop reading the book once and only continued due to her son’s pleas, has to switch to a traditional bedtime story instead.

Later that night, still concerned about the book and unable to sleep, Amelia reads it alone and discovers the story does not go on. All the rest of the pages are blank. In an attempt to protect Samuel from further distress, she hides it on top of her wardrobe.

Unfortunately, her efforts to protect her son from the book prove unsuccessful, so she rips the pages and throws the offensive book into the trash.

In the days that follow, Amelia and Samuel experience some disturbances in their home such as flickering lights and unexplained knocking sounds. As Samuel’s behaviour becomes more erratic, starved of sleep, Amelia visits her doctor and asks for some tranquillizers to help her son calm down and sleep at night instead of looking for monsters.

The pills cause Samuel to sleep, taking some of the pressure off Amelia. However, after hearing three loud knocks at the door, when Amelia goes to answer it, nobody is there but the book is on the doorstep. When she opens it, Amelia discovers some of the formerly blank pages contain additional text and, this time, it’s written in the first-person, from the perspective of Mister Babadook, who says, “I’ll wager with you, I’ll make you a bet. The more you deny, the stronger I get.

Illustrated by pop-up pictures that show Amelia being terrorized, the Babadook demands Amelia let him in, promising she will change when he gets in. This is followed by terrifying pop-ups of her killing her son and their pet dog.

Horrified, Amelia takes the book into the garden and burns it in the barbecue. Unfortunately, the paranormal disturbances in her home continue and, when she sees the dark form of the Babadook hanging from the ceiling above her bed, Amelia opens her mouth to scream, granting the Babadook its wish.

The Babadook is written and directed by Jennifer Cook. Based on a short film called Monster, which she made in 2005, The Babadook was her feature directorial review and won numerous awards. It’s a very clever story, that’s well-directed and has a strong cast, so it doesn’t surprise me The Babadook allowed Cook to make such a big splash with her debut feature-length film.

Although I am glad I have seen it, The Babadook is not for me. It’s too depressing and, throughout the film, there never seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel—unless it belongs to an oncoming train.

However, it’s easy to see Cook was shooting for a film that is dark and depressing and she’s done a first-rate job. Tastes vary and there is obviously a market for this type of horror. The Babadook has good credentials as a psychological horror film, a monster film, and a supernatural horror.

Not for the faint-hearted, some viewers may find a few of the scenes distressing but The Babadook doesn’t try to gross people out with excessive helping of blood or gore and is unlikely to appeal to viewers who primarily like to watch slasher films.

Regardless of whether you love it or hate it,  if you watch The Babadook, it’s a horror film that has some truly eerie scenes and may be hard to forget.