Weak story derails spooky effort

Rating: 5/10 (6 December 2014)

I don't know how people grade a movie like this with 8 or 9 stars...or even 7. It's a fairly interesting and well acted film, but the screenplay is an utter mess. Never once do we understand what the Babadook is, what it wants and the storyline essentially morphs into each setup with little originality. Using elements of everything from Exorcist to Signs, The Babadook just never finds a story it can tell with any hint of coherence. Instead, it floats along on scene after scene of admittedly unsettling moments, but never seems to know for a moments what it's all about. Ultimately The Babadook cannot come close to delivering on what is promised in the book read by the mother and this unrealized groundwork makes for a grade C effort. Whether it's Ghost, Ghostbusters or the Evil dead, a good story needs to have a direction that is both clear and dynamic. The Babadook has neither.