The Babadook (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Jennifer Kent
	Actors:  Essie Davis, Daniel Henshall (Snowtown), Tiffany Lyndall-Knight, Noah Wiseman
	Country: AUS
	Genre: Horror, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 12.09.2014, CINEMA theater, MFFF2014
Synopsis: A single mom (Davis) of a perturbed child (Wiseman) finds a book in her house about the so-called Babadook, while her son sees more and more monsters.
Review: I don't see very often a movie brilliantly introducing a new boogeyman, the last one being Jeepers Creepers already 13 years ago. The Babadook of the title is a good spooky one and the book that introduces him in the movie is beautiful and well crafted (see the poster above and the few images below). I would qualify The Babadook of being a terror movie rather than horror (I am not sure it is the right translation for the French word "épouvante" I have in mind) because the monster is not jumping at the actors from the side of the camera or behind a door, but it coming straight at them from the dark side of the room in which he was hiding, and this I find to be more scary. In fact I felt the hair of my whole body standing on end at several occasions during the movie. And the terror part is not even the best part of the movie. No, that would be the great acting by the mother, her son, and their interaction. She really conveys the feeling of being exhausted by a life in which she has to take care by herself of a troublesome son, hyperactive, imaginative, disobedient but loving as well. And having a child in the story helps scaring you even more, that is known. Speaking of which, I have heard this movie compared to Mama which I have yet to see. The true meaning of the Babadook was a bit lost to me and I found the end of the movie a bit long and confused, but without a doubt promising to generate different reactions from different viewers depending on their background (having a child, raising it alone, having lost someone dear...). The Babadook won almost everything at the Gérardmer Fantastic Film Festival.
Rating: 7 /10