Well, color me surprised. By the previews I was expecting a generic horror movie about a single, helpless mother and her screaming son fighting off a demon but it comes off as something completely different. Instead of focusing on generic, on the surface terror, The Babadook goes deeper into more of a mental terror known as depression. It's about a mother and son dealing with an unexpected, violent death of the father and it's quite fascinating. There's very little bloodshed here but there's so much tension at the surface. The mother, played by Essie Davis is dealing with loneliness, resentment towards her son and others around that don't understand her situation. In a way she's de-humanifying herself to resemble a non-entity such as The Babadook, which is easily the creepiest fucking children's book known to man. This movie really rests on Essie Davis' shoulders and she carries it off amazingly. Performances like this are the reason why more horror movies should host awards similiar to the Oscars. This would never get nominated there, but it deserves to be acknowledged somewhere. She's stellar and the screenplay follows her path, guiding the viewer down a less is more route of terror, making The Babadook feel even more bone chilling.
3/4
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