Critical Recommendation: The Babadook

Upon my first viewing a couple of nights ago, I discovered two things about Jennifer Kent's The Babadook. The first is that it may be the best movie I've seen all year, and the second is that it was an atrocious decision on my part to watch it right before I went to bed. Don't be fooled by its innocent-sounding title: The Babadook is an insidiously terrifying movie. But it's also an endlessly empathetic one that wields a convincing mastery of filmmaking while never losing sight of sincere human compassion. Centered around a single mom named Amelia and her struggle to care for her troubled son Sam, this movie unfurls a sinister mystery before us as a mysterious storybook appears in their house one day and Sam's initially nonsensical babbling about a monster called the Babadook becomes a reality more and more difficult to deny with each passing moment.

Solely on the level of craft, the editing of The Babadook is profound. If you're unfamiliar with cinematic language, a lot of the nitty gritty may fly over your head, but you will nevertheless feel what I'm getting at here. This film is amusing, surprising, and unsettling all at once thanks to its editing, and its story moves briskly while somehow still managing to settle in with Amelia, Sam, and the inner workings of their lives. Speaking of which, Essie Davis's performance as an overworked single mother struggling with grief over the death of her former husband is spellbinding. Davis's range is unspeakably good, and her performance ranges everywhere from humanely sympathetic to jarringly monstrous. The Babadook perfectly captures so many different emotions, leaning into the absurdity of violence while still acknowledging its horrific nature, dabbling in horror while also evoking a tender sweetness you wouldn't expect to see in a horror movie.

The presence of the titular Babadook hangs over this entire movie like a monstrous cloud, even when you can't see him. When this cloud looms over the relative innocence of the movie's contemporary Australian setting and the weird, tormented personality of Samuel, it concocts a wildly unsettling whiplash of the senses, slowly constructing a dread that seeps into every little crevice of this movie like some unspoken threat. I'll come right out and say it - I can't think of many other films that have scared me like The Babadook did. The impending dread it crafts is legitimately frightening and ruthlessly, relentlessly so. This isn't pulp horror. The film is conservative with its scares, taking the idea that the apprehension of the scare is worse than the actual scare to its logical extreme. It's less a series of unpredictably appearing frightening images than an all-out, nonstop onslaught of paranoia. Take my word for it, you'll practically be begging for a jumpscare just to cut the tension.

I don't believe I have enough glowing words to praise what The Babadook accomplishes. Its horror and suspense are as terrifying as can be, and yet its heart is undeniably warm and fervently beating from beginning to end. It may be the best movie I've seen this year, and when pitted against the likes of 12 Angry Men, that's the highest praise I know how to give. This movie crawls under your skin slowly and surely, methodically and calculatingly concocting terror before revealing the other side of the cinematic coin - a surprisingly poignant meditation on the nature of grief and loss. A show-stopping performance from Essie Davis anchors all of this, the type of performance that will stick with you like a recurring nightmare or possibly a dream you don't want to end. If it's in a word, or it's in a look... again, I don't think I have the words to do this movie justice. Have a look for yourself.

The Babadook - 10/10

Luke 10:17-20