A story of Grief

Rating: 9/10 (26 March 2017)

The Babadook is a smart dark modern horror film filled with grief, children, and monsters. This film by Jennifer Kent puts us with a grieving mother and her hyperactive son after their father and husband was killed in a car accident. This film is not your typical monster horror film. Kent presents the Babadook in a way that has you questioning whether it's a real monster or a figment of her imagination. It's a very smart film because of how Kent leaves up to question whether this monster is real or just a manifestation of her grief. The way the Babadook is associated with the mother throughout the book, looming over her, and the mother's slow decent into following what the book prophesized. I believe the Babadook as an allegory to the mother's grief of losing her husband as well as the build up from her hyperactive son getting underneath her skin is a great way to keep the audience guessing all the way up until the end. The camera work along with the music and lighting gives us this sense of perpetual anxiety that this mother goes through every day and that built up can manifest into something as scary as the Babadook or as scary as how she treats her song when she's under its influence. The suppression of the Babadook to the basement can be mapped to her suppressing her grief and keeping it under control in the basement while still feeding it from time to time, sort of how grief works in the real world. Overall the film was a fantastic portrayal emotional trouble along with a strong residual sense of fear after the film is over.