After last month’s post, here is my full review of The Babadook.

The Babadook is a horro film centred around a mother-son relationship. It’s surprising to see a character-driven film, particularly a horror but this helps you to really care about characters and any danger they’re in. It’s nice to see a film, particularly of the horror genre, to avoid senseless blood and guts or artificial scares and instead instil a genuine fear through tension. The film was split into two halves – one half spent on seeing the world through the mother’s (Amelia’s) eyes. Samuel, the son. is very frustrating, tiresome and annoying during this half to reflect the resentment the mother felt towards her son. In the second half, Samuel becomes much more likeable and a more fleshed out character. In this half we begin to see Amelia as the true enemy and begin to fear what she will do next. I thought this was a clever way in making us sympathise with both characters, seeing each character as both the hero and the villain. This helps us to see the influence the Babadook has in the story and how powerful he is, despite his lack of screen time. I thought it was a clever, well-written film, that was paced well and especially frightening.