More Horr-ible - than Horror

Rating: 1/10 (29 January 2017)

This movie feels like a whole bunch of graduating film students, armed with their folders of "film theory", decided it would be a good idea to make a feature film out of a short film. Bad idea.
*this review may contain spoilers*
This is the first horror film I've seen that is depressing. Depressing! If I wanted to see a bleak, psychologically unhinged film with way too many metaphors, I would have picked something else. I read such great reviews all over the net I thought I would buy it and settle in for a night of scares. pfft! my grandmother is scarier than this film.
It feels like we come in halfway through the setup. A seriously annoying and badly behaved kid and a mother already strung out and at wit's end. It doesn't endear empathy - I spent the first half hour being annoyed AT the film for all the caterwauling and shrillness. I did not empathise with the characters. Don't blink or you'll miss the reason - a one line explanation of what happened six years ago. There was no recent catalyst that triggered off the forthcoming events, no explanation of why they would find the book at this time, it just... 'happened'.
Dreary, miserable, slow, predictable and overly symbolic with no relief. If you wanted to study this film in a course, it ticks all the boxes to endlessly psychoanalise the mind of the mother about whether it is real or some sort of delayed PTSD manifesting as the "the monster in the closet". I understand why they chose the set design to be washed out and shadowy but it didn't change with any action either - there was no high contrast in the scenes outside of the house as to inside the house. No sense of The real world vs the internal struggle. It was just all dull and draining to watch.
and the dog. really? gratuitous and unnecessary.
I was looking forward to this film but as an entertainingly good horror movie - I didn't expect I'd have to 'read' it.
The Babadook failed to impress on either a horror or macabre level.
Not even bad enough to be good.