The Babadook (2014)

the audience applauded

Pretty Good

Excellent adaptation.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Simply dreadful.Obviously a very limited budget, so well done on that score, but so disappointing.The story is poor. You don't have to have all the effects if the story's good, and you can create terror just as much from something unseen as you can from the visual, but this is way off the mark. It goes from one stupid scenario to the next, with a dour palette inside a house that is seemingly from the mid-eighties. If this is set in that timeline, it's not made clear, although in the ensemble's clothing and the protagonist's car it would seem that way. Nobody has a mobile phone, but the telephones seem modern.The cast is far too limited when the main characters are this weak, and I didn't find myself rooting for either the flaky mother or the annoying child. Aside from those points, this is meant to be a horror film, and there wasn't a second of it that was enough to make the hairs on my arms stand up. The clichés are all there: dull, creepy house, unstable parent, the knowing child, a concerned neighbor, incredulous police and of course a cellar. The 'Babadook' (what a ridiculous name!) is less scary than some of the costumed revellers I see walking the streets with buckets of sweets in hand at Halloween. Not that you really see it.The ending is so awful. And not in a good way.If you're easily scared, or a child under the age of 12, you may love this. If I'd seen this at the cinema, I'd have asked for a refund.

The Babadook is essentially one of those "artsy" horror films, to the point where you'd almost call it a Dramatic Thriller. This movie does not use obnoxious music or jump scares to get you, it's more methodical and about 70% of it is Drama. The rest is pretty scary.Plot- It's about a grieving widow taking care of her dysfunctional son, who begins to talk about this imaginary friend called The Babadook. The boy later tell his mom that he found him in a book of the same name, which the mother doesn't recall ever owning. About halfway through, the tension built really starts to settle in, and there are very memorable scary moments. The ending was intense, but the resolution will leave you asking "How is that even realistic?" or "Why did that solve the problem?" Writing- This movie is written very well in a sense that you feel the way the main character does. There aren't too many calm scenes that you'll walk away with, but all of it is realistic aside maybe some people constantly bringing up the dead husband to the widow. Acting/Characters- The acting was great, the movie is in an anxious kind of realm so it can be hard to really make every actor stand out. The Babadook itself was scary as hell although you just barely see it's silhouette.Quality- The film is shot perfectly I'd say, one of the cinematography jobs in a recent Horror film. The way they maintain the same consistency of shot length is so smart in terms of actually scaring you, since you never know when something is building up to that moment. The mood is well executed through visuals, some scattered music, and convincing actors. Overall I downgraded this from 10 because the ending is a big "shrug" moment, and it's almost too boring- almost. But the scary parts, as well as the build up to those parts make the film worth watching. A good movie to watch if you want a tame Horror film.

...or youll have to pay me.what if, in the "next film" The babadook kills off the mom, making her be with her husband. since the child is the one who couldnt let the babadook not bother him, the mother and the father haunt him until hes old and grey and in an asylum?

The Babadook has remained with me since I saw it a couple years ago. It is beyond horror, for it digs at themes much deeper and more lasting. Painful to watch and eternally chilling.