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It’s October, that time of year when you have to put at least one horror movie into the rotation. To be honest, when I was younger, I wanted to be a horror movie buff, but found the genre to be pretty weak.  However this supernatural thriller was hitting on all cylinders for me.

In The Babadook you  meet a young widowed mother with a emotionally out of control 6 year old son. One night while putting him to bed he picks out a book she has never seen before called Mister Babadook. The more she reads, the more she realizes this is NOT the book to be reading him, but it’s too late. He becomes fixated on this creature and defending their house. She tries to convince him that it is just a book but strange things begin happening and she is not so sure. The strain of raising her troubled son and dealing with these unnerving incidents sends her further into isolation and sleep deprivation. Reality becomes blurred as this movie spirals to it’s climax.

This movie takes many bread and butter aspects of horror and does them really well (female in danger, creepy kid in touch with the supernatural, isolation). It was great at creating tension. One thing that stood out to me was the use of sound or lack thereof. Every extraneous noise seems to be muted, amplifying every word, every footstep, putting you on edge. Another thing I like, is that the movie never completely reveals the monster. A lot of times once you have that reveal, most of the tension is lost. This movie leaves a lot to the imagination and allows you theorize a little bit about things. One thing I will knock this movie for is the ending, it just didn’t do it for me.

If your taste for scary movies is pretty tame, DON’T watch this. But, if you love being scared, then turn off all the lights in your house, grab a blanket and meet Mister Babadook. You won’t be disappointed. It is the best supernatural horror movie I have seen in a long time.

Reviewed by: Phillip Lane on October 14, 2015