A Very Good and Very Scary Film

Rating: 9/10 (28 February 2018)

I initially felt pretty discouraged from watching this movie. I remember attempting to start it a year or two ago and not getting past the first 5-10 minutes because I thought it moved too slow. I also heard it wasn't scary in the traditional horror movie sense (WRONG). Even though it was very well rated, I was too thirsty for exhilarating, chest-pumping horror to watch some slow moving indie movie that probably wouldn't even scare me.
Boy was I wrong. This film is S C A R Y: in more ways than one. Just the idea of parenting that out of control kid is terrifying, and seeing how helpless the mom was made me feel a deeper, more profound terror than anything that can be aroused by a slasher villain. Yet, this is not even close to the only thing scary about this movie. There are creepy supernatural elements, disturbing imagery, and moments of spontaneous and enduring horror.
I have a real soft spot for movies that play the "No one believes me, they'll think I'm crazy, but I'm not!" card, and The Babadook plays it HARD. This really puts a sour twist to the film, and it's hard not to feel really sorry for the mom. The main actress played the part really well, and one can definitely experience sincere feelings of desperation and dread through her.
It's not a perfect film because the ending kinda turned me off. Still, it's at least a high 8 from me, and I gave it 9 stars here because it's definitely one of the best modern horror movies out there. I wish I watched it sooner, but it seemed to be sold as some slow-moving, "deep", pseudo-horror film instead of the genuine horror movie that it actually is. I'd say it's more similar to The Exorcist than a film like The Others, which is a horror movie I'd describe as slow moving and not very scary. Definitely watch if you love horror.