Not what it was made out to be

Rating: 7/10 (3 July 2016)

Amelia has a small boy who is an utter nightmare - hyperactive, somewhere on the autism scale, full of obsessive compulsive behaviour - plus she is exhausted and hasn't really processed her husband's death. A bedtime story book called The Babadook turns out, it appears, to summon a genuine nightmarish entity. Or does it? I missed this when it first came out - a genuinely scary horror film, it said, one of the best horrors for years.
Sorry, but it falls short, possibly on the basis of false advertising. It is nicely creepy, with a sense of enveloping dread, and the cast are all very good, especially young Noah Wiseman as a truly annoying little boy (but then, he's supposed to be). Had it been staged (and advertised) as a psychological thriller, then it would have been utterly successful. However, it is sold as, and turns out to be, a horror movie, in which endeavour it is considerably less successful. In particular, it promises much and delivers little, and it has a dumb resolution. Still, at least it didn't have one of those unconvincing shock endings which turns everything on its tail.
And it was so nearly really good.