Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Babadook’

Written by Scott Edwards

A child’s imagination can be vast and go many places where their parents refuse to go. Everyone had an invisible friend when growing up, that is just a part of life, but sometimes the friend takes it too far. When not being able to control this, parents have to try and prove that the person is not there to ensure that their children understand the difference between real and make-believe. But when a parent is not able to distinguish this line in their own mind, they are doing their child more harm than good. 

Amelia has been having a hard time caring for her son Samuel, especially since she is going at it alone. As Samuel starts to act out at school, Amelia does not know how to keep him in line any longer and decides to keep him at home. But things do not go the way she imagines as she finds a book called 'Mister Babadook' in his room. Reading this book and seeing the disturbing images on the pages frighten Samuel, and even though she is able to calm him down, he is starting to see the Babadook in the shadows when he is trying to sleep.

As both mother and son are sleep deprived, Amelia tries to reach out to her sister for help, but Claire does not want anything to do with Samuel since he has problems. Needing to get medication to calm them both down, Amelia finds out that the Babadook is real and has been let in, to the house. As her attitude begins to change about her only child, Amelia lashes out at the boy for everything that he does. Knowing that the Babadook has taken over his mother, Samuel does everything in his power to keep her safe from herself. But the Babadook is getting stronger within his mother and he must find a way to release it before something bad happens to anyone else that does not know what is going on. 

This is one of those movies that you will love, or you will hate, there is no in between it seems. I have friends on both sides of the fence on this one and since I am usually objective, I can see the reason for both. I love the acting in the movie, Amelia is a character that has to battle with her inner demons and being left alone to care for her son has taken its toll on her for the past seven years. Samuel grows throughout the movie and this is a joy to see as he goes from being afraid of the monster under his bed to taking care of his mother when she is in need. The hatred towards Amelia and Samuel by the outside world makes it harder for them both to get along and even family will not come to help them in their time of need, meaning their love is the only thing that can keep the Babadook at bay.

I will admit that I have a hard time with artsy horror films, they either tell the story that the fans want to see, or they don’t. This is one of those movies that you have to dig deeper into to understand why the ending is the way that it is. There are plenty of scares in the film and when you see the Babadook, just like what is in the pages of the 'Mister Babadook' book, it starts to make sense of who and what he really is. It is not everyone’s cup of tea, that is for sure and I will have to watch it again to try and get deeper into the storyline and that ending. If you are not a fan of artsy horror movies that you have to read into, this will not be the movie for you, just a forewarning. I am open to most everything, so I will most likely give this another viewing when time permits, just so I can see what I missed. Stay Scared.

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