The most thrilling and appreciative horror film I've seen in a long time.

Rating: 8/10 (28 December 2014)

Even though this may not be the scariest horror film, I can honestly say it's the best, and the most appreciative one to boot, going for well thought out and promising scares rather than your typical BOO! jump scares like the typical horror film you see made today.
Amelia is a widowed orderly who stresses day in and day out in taking care of her distraught and outcast son, getting rarely any sleep every night over the death of her husband.
Right away the film jumps into the plot. We immediately learn of the tragedy in the family without any forced exposition, and we passively learn of the son's disillusioned state. At first you feel for the mother and what she goes through for the son, but the film quickly changes moods in the blink of an eye, but keeps a steady pace on the tone.
It has a chilling atmosphere the whole time, making you feel like it's another David Fincher film.
Essie Davis as Amelia is amazing, especially for a horror film. The film makes you feel different feelings for her throughout, though her performance makes her likable and unlikable in all the right parts. The son impressed me to no end. He's the right amount of creepiness, but in the end he also has the most amount of humanity to him.
What I really love is how self aware the characters are. When they suspect something they play it safe and smart. No clichés whatsoever. No going into an abandoned cabin in the middle of nowhere or investigating a strange noise outside BS, this film is completely original and smart from beginning to end.
The Babadook himself appears when Amelia reads her son a bedtime story based on him. She finds the book disturbing and gets rid of it, until it starts to stalk her from the book, which where the psychological thrill ride falls into place.
I highly recommend this film if you're looking for something fresh in the horror genre. It's a film with actual scares which is enough for me. I'm hoping this film inspires other movies to be made to actually try to not treat people like 6 year old girls and focus on the psychological part of it.