The Babadook

This definitely belongs among the most interesting horror films of recent years, even in terms of how the individual terrifying scenes are presented. It's not something that plays on jump scares; it's different, new, and original in that sense. You have the desire to kill that boy the whole time, but he perfectly fits into the whole situation and story with his mother. (01/13/2015)

Honestly, I don't think the film was all that bad, but any chance of a higher rating from me was ruined by that spoiled brat with a stress-free upbringing. I kept my fingers crossed for Babadook the whole time, hoping that he had a slow and painful death prepared for Samuel. What surprised me was the therapeutic effect of the monster on the main character, she looked much more relaxed at the end :-) (10/28/2018)

Visually and sonically refined, this Australian variation on the night-time haunted house motif is made distinctive by its editing. The film plays powerfully on the unhappy mother/problematic son relationship and their lonely world after the loss of their husband/father, and delivers the haunting quite nicely in technical terms. But the characters’ reaction to it is strange, as if it’s not a life-threatening curse, but merely a seasonal metaphorical embodiment of a lousy time that can be endured through force of will. According to the director, this is most likely a more interesting and “artistic” take on the substance of the genre, but I did not find it entirely satisfying. (10/16/2020)

It's very depressing, but unfortunately in the way that in the most intense moments what remains next to the viewer is not the protagonist, but the poor little boogeyman. Otherwise, a solidly intense tightening of the noose around two characters who can't free themselves from a difficult life situation where The Babadook is merely a symbol of receding rationality and a crumbling mother-child relationship. The scary scenes are really uncomfortable, but there are too few of them, and the story lacks a strong enough climax to exemplarily underscore and cement its shoddy psychological setup. Too gratuitous for art-horror and too long-winded and hard to grasp for the mainstream. (04/06/2018)

Heavy in psychology, a bit weaker when it comes to terror. The Babadook is certainly not a fun or happy movie. The characters are psychologically fucked-up long before any spook shows up, and the director translates this with a lot of skill. It made me pretty nervous almost from the beginning. A widowed - and sleep deprived - mother and her screaming and hyperactive son, both descending into a psychological maze, and you can only guess who is more bonkers. The core storyline about the monster from the book was quite uninteresting, I’ve seen similar ones countless times. I didn’t give a toss whether the Babadook was real or not, besides, the director doesn’t use it to scare the viewer much. I also have mixed feelings about the ending, where very impressive moments alternate with other less stellar. In fact, the last twenty minutes felt as if the thus far carefully built and maintained atmosphere was fully reset several times. The ending is slightly WTF, if not a little ridiculous; it felt out of place given the tone of the film up to that point. Overall, it’s good, very good, actually, but this year’s competitors Oculus and It Follows scared me more. (10/31/2014)