A horror film that needs way more explanation

Rating: 6/10 (11 April 2018)

I had heard various people talk about this film and what I usually heard was that people really enjoyed it or really hated it. I fall in the middle as I thought this horror film had an interesting premise and it had me hooked wondering where the heck it was going with the bizarre plot; however, it ended up having a rather bizarre, in a bad way, ending. I have mentioned this in several other reviews that I have written about horror films that I have seen, and that is so many have something very promising as far as plot and atmosphere only to fail to fully deliver on said premise. Usually it is a twist or something that ends up messing with the ending or in this case the fact the ending made absolutely no sense!
The story has a mother who lost her husband when they were trying to get to the hospital so that she could give birth to her child. The child is a young boy when the film starts and just about the most horrid acting child one could imagine. The mother is being completely overwhelmed by everything around her as the boy constantly lashes out at things and he gets taken out of school and she is trying to work too. She is sleep deprived and just really looks like she needs a vacation. One night, the boy wants her to read a book called, The Babadook. She reads the book and the boy becomes terrified that this thing is real. Soon strange things begin to happen making the woman question her sanity, but she soon learns that the Babadook may be real!
The story was interesting, but the ending was just so strange. I was expecting mother or son to end up being the Babadook, but turns out the thing was real. Only, that makes no sense as you expect some backstory on the thing if it is real. Why did it choose the mother and son? What sort of creature was it? Why was the mom feeding it worms at the end? Seriously, that ending made no sense, I usually like it when there is a supernatural force, but in this one, I almost think it would have been better had the son ended up being the thing as he was portrayed to be quite the monster throughout the movie!
So, the film had some interesting elements, but it did not fully deliver. A lot of wasted potential as there is just not enough explanation going on within. I had thought from what everyone was saying that the Babadook did not even make an appearance in this thing, but it was real and you had glimpses, but you never get to see its true form which is mentioned in the book to be truly terrifying, which is what led me to believe the son would turn out to be it as what would be more terrifying for a mother, but to learn her son is a monster. That would have been a much better end to this one. As it is, it is a horror film with a great build up, but disappointing payoff.