When your life races against the clock be sure it isn’t the ba-ba dook…dook…dook.
To start off, this film should really just be called “Babadook.” The “The” feels unnecessary. It would make for a more intriguing title—imagine someone asking, “Have you seen Babadook?” That would spark curiosity, leading to discussions about what it is, where it came from, and so on. Just a thought.
As for the film itself—it was fantastically slow and felt way too long. Clocking in at around 93 minutes, it somehow managed to stretch into what felt like an eternity. It wasn’t even that information was being delivered slowly—because, frankly, there was no information. Nothing in this film follows a solid, consecutive plotline.
Take the father’s death scene, for example. It’s short, vague, and barely explained. We see signs of a car accident, but we don’t know how it happened or what caused it. If you even caught that he died, congratulations. And while the film hints that the mother and her baby survived, it makes no sense—no pregnant woman’s baby would have survived that kind of crash, especially if she was sitting in the front, as her husband was. (At least, I assume she was.)
Let’s talk about the Babadook.
What is it? A creature? A thing? A spirit? A mental construct? The film never really tells us.
- Creature? It has a humanoid shape, it walks, it makes noises, it screams. But its voice is bizarrely mixed—male in some scenes, yet distinctly female in others.
- Thing? We don’t know what it is. Ever. The TV flashes images of clowns, magicians, and devils, but what do those have to do with the Babadook? Where did it come from? What is it made of?
- Spirit? It floats. It appears randomly. It emerges from a book, seemingly tied to it. It haunts the book, latching onto others and possessing them.
- Mental Construct? This is where things get tricky. The mother is clearly descending into madness, torn apart by grief and resentment toward her son. Is the Babadook just her fractured psyche manifesting a monster? Is she developing a split personality? At one point, she even acknowledges that she needs help (although, by then, it’s debatable whether it’s even her speaking). The Babadook could simply be the form her breakdown takes, allowing her to justify her anger toward her son.
Which theory is true? That’s up to you. Or maybe you’ll come up with your own.
To be blunt, The Babadook drags. The pacing makes it feel painfully slow, but if you stick with it, things do get somewhat exciting. The mother turns on her son, the son fights back, and oh—a dog dies.
Everything unfolds exactly as the Babadook’s book predicts.
There are moments of interest, and the acting is solid—especially Essie Davis as Amelia, the mother. She delivers a fantastic performance.
Amelia (Essie Davis) – The mother (incredible performance)
Samuel (Noah Wiseman) – The son (annoying but well-acted)
Robbie (Daniel Henshall) – The hospital worker/mother’s friend
The Babadook (Tim Purcell)
This film has a shockingly high IMDb rating of 7.1/10, which I personally don’t agree with.
If you enjoy monsters, slow-burning psychological horror, drawn-out plotlines, really annoying kids, and a story about grief and failed coping mechanisms, then The Babadook might be for you.
11 responses to “The Babadook (2014)”
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