"The Babadook" is a brilliant Australian horror film about Amelia, who tragically lost her husband in an accident on the same day that she gave birth to their son, Samuel. Samuel, now seven years old, has become utterly paranoid about monsters coming to get him, up to the point that he is making and carrying weapons with him to school.
Even with dealing with the stresses of being a single mother with no social support to speak of, Amelia tries to take care of her son, and always reads him a bedtime story.
One night, Samuel finds a new book on his shelf, titled "Mister Babadook." The terrifying pop-up book is about the self-titular boogeyman, who wears a top hat and has long, sinister clawed hands. Shortly after reading the book, Amelia starts to see signs that perhaps the Babadook is real. But, is she just projecting her guilt and anger towards her son onto an imaginary creature, or is something more sinister going on?
The line between fiction and reality slowly become blurred in this atmospheric thriller, and you are left wondering if Amelia has gone insane, or if the Babadook really after her and her son.
I have a thing for psychological horror films that incorporate the very old style of fairytale stories, you know, the ones where the fairies are hideous monsters that kidnap children and replace them with fetches or magical duplicates or changelings. They also spirit people away and hold them captive against their will in the Otherworld, which drives them utterly, and irrevocably, insane.
The moment I saw the trailer for "The Babadook" I knew that it was going to be one of those fairytale horror movies.
