An excellent marriage of the Horror and Drama genres

Rating: 8/10 (1 February 2015)

Director Jennifer Kent has done an excellent job in two very difficult categories. She has married the Horror and Drama genres into a powerful psychological drama told in the fashion of a horror/possession story. She has also defeated numerous frustrating modern-day horror tropes that have plagued many recent movies in the genre. There is not a single clearly-intentioned jump scare in this film.
The film follows a single widowed mother and her six year-old son while they seemingly struggle with the son's terrible attitude and violent tendencies. As the film progresses, however, it becomes more apparent that the son's negative behavior is only what the mother perceives, and that he is simply lashing out due to a negligent, and perhaps borderline spiteful parent. The cause of this spitefulness stems from the loss of her husband in a catastrophic car crash on the day her son was born. The woman is clearly suffering from one or more mental disorders borne from that accident and the subsequent loss of her spouse.
If you noticed, I have hardly mentioned anything concerning the title of the film or any of the horror elements in the film. This is because the story focuses on the horror of losing a loved one, and perhaps the horror of living with psychological issues, and of living with loved ones suffering from psychological issues. The monster terrorizes the family and takes up somewhat significant screen-time. Despite this, however, the Babadook is not particularly significant to the plot and takes a backseat to the more pressing issue of a grieving mother, her struggles within her own mind, and the son's frightening experiences living in a house with an unstable parent.
This film is one that can be interpreted in many different ways. I chose to interpret it in a specific manner, as it has the most meaning to me personally, and will talk about that specifically. This is not the only way to interpret the film, and I would never claim for it to be even the most apt. It seemed to me that the Babadook represented two things throughout the movie, and wasn't actually a real monster. Firstly, and most importantly, it represented the mother's "demons," or her battles with depression, PTSD, and possibly even schizophrenia. She can be seen at first to deny its existence, then to fear and submit to it, then to begin to battle it, and finally quell it. Secondly, the Babadook is the child's perspective of the mother when she is in her manic or violent state. He sees her as a monster, and wishes that his "real" mother would not "let the monster in." Because the child is six, it is perfectly reasonable to assume that the entire movie is from his perspective, and that we are seeing how a child rationalizes an abusive and disturbed parent's behavior, by separating the individual into two people in order to preserve the goodness of the parent-figure in order to cope.
All in all, I believe that the depth of and power of the directing, the skillful acting on both the adult and child cast members, the masterful audio work, and the extremely well-shot opening and ending sequences all contribute to a high-quality film. The movie receives an 8 instead of a 10 for me due to its occasional pacing issues, inability to reincorporate the book later on in the plot, and ham- handed roach-to-disease symbolism. A definite recommend on this one.