Do Some Mothers Hate Their Children?

Rating: 4/10 (10 December 2014)

Touted as the scariest movie of the year and loved by critics, audiences and filmmakers alike (which pretty much never happens) this little independent feature is admittedly the best horror to come out of Australia that I can remember. That said, it's only competition is that God-awful "Wolf Creek", so...
Synopsis: The anniversary of the death of her husband is always a hard time of year for Amelia (Essie Davis, who is actually pretty great in this). But compounded with the fact that her bratty child has not only gotten himself kicked out of grade school due to his unusual hobby of constructing homemade projectiles, but also recently made her read a book, which may have summoned a demon called the Babadook (a taker of children) into the house, which just so happens to coincide with her going a little crazy herself.
Though writer/director Jennifer Kent's first attempt at a feature is more miss than hit, all in all, "The Babadook" is filmed quite well. And though there are absolutely no scares (IN THIS HORROR FILM) the moments when Amelia is descending into madness definitely displays Kent's distinctive voice in the horror genre.
Final Thought: Yes, the 3rd Act is a mess of clunky visuals, wasted potential and a final few sequences that are pretty damn confusing, plain and simple. And "The Babadook" is a horror film that isn't scary at all, unless you count a child who constantly throws tantrums as terrifying; which for some is quite terrifying. The fact that the underlying theme at the heart of the conflict between the mother and her child and the Babadook, may come down to the fact that a mother can hate her own child, is not only fairly untapped territory and quite morbid, but also pretty interesting. But again, whatever interest I had mounted up to that point, was totally scared off by this shockingly disappointing ending; even by Video on Demand standards.