the babadook movie review - Aussieboyreviews
HOW SCARY IS THE PSYCHOLOGICAL TERROR IN THE BABADOOK?
This Australian psychological horror movie is clearly too scary for kids, but teens, adults and horror fans will be spooked as well. The Babadook is slow, but is also well-made, terrifying and dark.
Storyline
A single mother grows concerned and spirals into a state of paranoia when her young son starts behaving strangely after he becomes convinced that an eerie character in a children’s book titled ‘Mister Babadook’ has manifested their home.
Movie Images
Movie details
Director: Jennifer Kent
Cast: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Hayley McElhinney, Daniel Henshall, Barbara West, Ben Winspear
Writer: Jennifer Kent
Release Date (Australia): 22 May 2014
Runtime: 93 minutes/1h 33m
Genre: Horror, Drama, Mystery
Country: Australia
Language: English
CONTENT GUIDE (WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)
The film contains strong horror themes, including scenes that feature sustained supernatural threat towards a mother and her child.
The film contains a brief depiction of a stabbing that is accompanied by a small amount of blood detail.
The film contains infrequent use of words such as “f**k”, “s**t” and “bitch”.
None.
None.
A woman implicitly uses a vibrator to masturbate in her bed under the covers.
mpaa rating
NR (Not Rated)
Aussie boy's thoughts
With great acting and a scary bogeyman, The Babadook is slow-building on the horror, but is entertaining and disturbing. The Babadook is the most terrifyingly spooky bogeyman we’ve ever received in film. Most horror movies seem to heavily rely on bloody gore and creepy-looking villains. However, this Australian psychological horror movie produces a monster who’s scary in appearance, but also moves in a terrifying teleporting fashion.
But what matters just as much as a spooky horror model is a story that’s obviously needed to be well-acted and thought out properly, but needs to be executed in a manner that’ll grip the viewer. Jennifer Kent designs and digs into a fairly simple story, but makes sure it’s just as clever and creative as any other original horror film should be. Essie Davis delivers a performance that’s remarkable, and child actor Noah Wiseman portrays a psychologically interesting young son with a rare skill only rare child casts have been able to knock out.
The only flaw is the slow build up to the climax, the location of the plot where the truly horrifying stuff takes place. It’s not clichéd and the scenes aren’t necessarily overused, but it feels like it takes a solid amount of time to really kick in. However, this tolerable slow pacing adds to the psychological effect.
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