Review of The Babadook (2014) by J Corey S — 10 May 2015

A film of utter hopelessness. A womans descent into madness is compounded by her belief in her sons imagined monster. A psychological horror with it's feet firmly planted in Repulsion land.

Set in the family home which seems to have been decorated by the Babadook himself the film never seems to pull us out of the depressing dark hole in to which our protagonist Amelia has been slowly sinking.

Whilst the film does dole out its fair share of chilling moments, it fails to draw on the jumps and scares of the more traditional horror format.

Call me old fashioned but horror to me has always been about making the audience squeal with excitement and jump with terror and not jump off the nearest bridge.