Movie title: “The Babadook”
Rating: No Rating
Year of release: 2014
Stars involved: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Hayley McEhlhinney, Daniel Henshall, Barbara West, Benjamin Winspear, Chloe Hurn, Jacquy Phillips
Amelia (the mother) is a widow, struggling to cope with the death of her husband, Oskar, who died in a car accident while on the way to the hospital to give birth to her son, Samuel. Samuel is a troubled child with behavioral issues and an obsession with monsters. One night, Samuel finds a mysterious pop-up book called “Mr. Babadook” on his bookshelf. The book describes a monster called the Babadook that torments its victims once they become aware of its existence. The illustrations and texts are disturbing, and Samuel becomes convinced that the Babadook is real.
Strange events begin to occur in their home, and Samuel’s behavior becomes more erratic. Amelia starts experiencing terrible visions and believes that the Babadook is haunting them. She tries to destroy the book, but it reappears, seemingly indestructible. Amelia’s mental state deteriorates as she becomes more isolated and paranoid. The Babadook manifests more aggressively, and Amelia starts to lose control over herself, becoming a danger to Samuel. In a climactic scene, Amelia confronts the Babadook in the basement, where it takes the form of her deceased husband. She acknowledges her grief and anger over Oskar’s death, which weakens the Babadook’s hold on her. She manages to subdue the Babadook, but it doesn’t disappear. Instead, she has it locked in the basement where she feeds it and keeps it at bay. The film ends with Amelia and Samuel having a more stable relationship, suggesting that the Babadook represented their unresolved grief and trauma.
I like how Amelia and Samuel had a better relationship at the end of the movie after facing the Babadook and confronting her ignored grief and trauma. A thing that I found funny was how in the scene where it screams in her face and she screamed back, it ended up making a crying sound like when a kid doesn’t get their way, and runs in the basement, where it gets locked in.
What I didn’t like while viewing the movie was how obnoxious they made the kid. I get that he had behavioral issues, but I feel like they went a little too over the top with making him have those issues. The screaming and constant yelling from the mom also wasn’t great– it didn’t paint her in a great light. You have to get used to having a kid like that and screaming at them won’t help. I also didn’t like how they didn’t show what the Babadook actually looked like outside of it taking that grief and trauma look of the husband.
