Best Horror Movie of 2014

Rating: 9/10 (2 December 2014)

The Babadook has to be one of the best directorial debuts of all time, it's simply amazing to watch the amount of skill involved in the movie with no previous experience. This is the sort of movie that focuses on a strong story which is built on a very strong emotional foundation, which is most likely why critics are praising the film. This certainly is not your typical monster movie, it's much more deep and intellectual than that, and that is why I enjoyed it so much. There are no straightforward answers, everything is left to the viewer for interpretation. I have to admit I was expecting a different type of movie, something that featured a mysterious monster wreaking havoc inside the house walls (based on the trailer for the film), but was still not disappointed (I've been waiting for this movie for over a year!). The Babadook focuses on the relationship between a mother and her son, it's not your straightforward loving relationship either, it's much more complicated & wretched than that. I can't go too much more in depth than that without giving away too much of how the movie plays out.
A lot of people have labeled this 'the scariest movie of all time', which of course immediately raises peoples expectations and when that happens, almost never will a movie live up to that title. However, the movie is absolutely scary, Jennifer Kent knows just how to manipulate the darkness in the frame and only shows us part of the villain and lets our imaginations do the rest. Plus on a technical level, I think the design of Mister Babadook is amazing, he couldn't be more intimidating, especially since we only see the outline of his true form. Nothing in the movie comes 'easy', it's almost all up for us to decide and I think that is the brilliance of the movie, everything in the movie represents some sort of a metaphor. The Babadook is easily the best horror movie of the year (given It Follows comes out in 2015), and marks the start of a very promising career for Jennifer Kent.
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