A Bad Book Indeed

Rating: 9/10 (27 March 2017)

It has been a while since a movie has managed to legitimately scare me on some level but the Babadook managed to do just that. Along with its more terrifying aspects of supernatural qualities, it greatly expresses what many people go through when dealing with depression or grief. The allegory of the Mister Babadook book to how bad thought grow and change once they begin to manifest was extremely important as to how this movie shows character development. At the beginning everything is fine with the mother and son but as memories of the mother's husband reemerge, the Babadook enters their lives. Throughout the movie, the mother and son are fighting the Babadook while it is attempting to ruin their lives. He first shows up in the form of a red and black pop-up book that is entirely colored and written with black ink. This black ink begins to be a motif through the movie as it progresses. When the mother rips apart the book, you can see the ink all over her hands. This is the first indication that the Babadook is leeching into her and she can't seem to quite get rid of it. Once the fears of the Babadook die back down, the ink on her hands seems to go away. The black ink comes up later once the mother is untied and "defeats" the Babadook for herself by throwing up the black ink and purging herself from the leeching qualities of the Babadook. Lastly it shows up as a black rose at the end which represents how traumatic events can morph into small "inklings" *dun-dun-tss* of something beautiful. Overall, this movie shows in a great way how depression evolves, takes over and then leaves.