A Terrifyingly Terrific Masterpiece of Horror.

Rating: 9/10 (3 September 2015)

Concept: A mother and her son deal with a supernatural force that threatens the small shell of a family that they have left, along with their very lives.
Acting: The acting in this movie for a horror film is extraordinary. Essie Davis, the mother, gives an Oscar worthy performance here. Her decent into madness is truly unsettling and terrifying. Noah Wisemann does a superb job as the son. Starting out in this film you sympathize heavily with the mother and less with the son. In fact you start out hating the son because he's so annoying, and honestly I feel this is done on purpose. It causes the movie to feel deeply unsettling. It's really well done, especially a kind of role reversal later, when you start to identify with the son more. Really great job by this very small cast.
Cinematography: There are a lot of really cool creepy shots in this movie. It's really cool to see jumps in the camera at times, kind of like stutters but not really, it's hard to describe honestly. Some shots also mess with your mind a little but in a subtle way. You might possibly see the babadook in the background, sometimes shadows look like him, sometimes you see delusions through the eyes of the mother. It's really a clever job. Later on I'll make more of a point on this, but it supports this idea that the babadook is kind of a thinking person's horror movie.
Direction: Jennifer Kent made one hell of a directorial debut in cinema here. The way the story is structured and how so much is done with so little is really to be admired. In some ways it's a throwback to old horror movies and in some ways its new entirely. Jennifer Kent knows what makes a great horror film and that's suspense and Dread. There are no jump scares as you know them in this film, all the terror comes from deeply unsettling material and deeply unnerving content. I feel like Jennifer Kent wanted to do 2 things with this film 1: make the next truly great horror film.
2: make that horror film so much more than just some horror film.
She accomplished both. This is a story truly about grief with a monster setting or perhaps even allegory. And it truly left me unnerved after my first viewing, even my second and third and even now it still truly creeps me out.
Score: The score is relatively small and it's kind of refreshing. It adds to the suspense. What is really impressive here is the sound design. Every single sound plays a role in building tension, Kent Realizes this, which I applaud her for. It's so well done that I think it's the best use of sound in film that I've heard in years.
Opinion: I truly love, adore and respect this movie, it isn't done true justice without watching it in the dark and with a good sound system (whether that's headphones or a theater/home theater set up). For my review I watched the blu ray with some surround sound headphones and it really got to me even though it's my 4th time seeing it. I think this should be the ideal for all horror films to strive for. It's definitely in my top 5 horror films. Everything about is great. I don't think its for the normal horror audience that's marketed towards now but this is a true horror film. Say what you want about it, love it or hate it, I truly believe this movie is what horror is about, not cheap jump scares or any kind of scares for that matter but deep unsettling dread.
Watch-ability: All colors of the rainbow. After one viewing I don't know how many people would want to see it again except for horror buffs. But I feel like horror buffs who love the genre would truly appreciate this film and re-watch it for all the little nuances and symbolism.
Overall Grade: A