The Babadook (2014) Movie Review

The Babadook (2014)

Dir: Jennifer Kent

Here we have Jennifer Kent's feature length directorial debut, and what a debut it is. The Babadook tells the story of a grief ridden woman who lost her husband in a car accident and her child who are both grieving over the death of their husband/dad in completely different ways. The child is clearly psychologically complex to say the least, he is violent, clingy and overly dependent on his mother. The mother on the other hand compensates by treating the boy like a baby and doesn't know how to deal with the complexity of the situation. 

One night in one of the many sleepless nights had by both the mother and child, they read a book called 'The Babadook' which is clearly disturbing for both of them, the boy is hysteric and it his fear of the Babadook continues for days and weeks, he claims to see the Babadook which his mother puts down to an over active imagination but it may be that some of the boys claims actually hold some truth...

I thought this film was brilliant, just looking at scares alone it was so unsettling and the creature design was fantastic but it is hard to see this as a straight up boogeyman kind of film, it isn't that.

This is a film about grief and the family unit and to me The Babadook represents the father and the process of them overcoming the creature is a metaphor for the process of them getting over the death of the husband/dad and start to move on with their lives. 

It's hard to believe that this is Jennifer Kent's directorial debut but I will be keeping my eyes peeled for whatever she does next, I would recommend this film to anybody.
09/03/2016