The Babadook

For a mother, one of the greatest fears—that secret, dark, tell-nobody (not-even-yourself) fear—is that you don’t love your child enough. It was that fear that permeated the great We Need to Talk About Kevin, a horror film in its own right, about an unloved son who becomes a killer. And it’s that fear that lurks just beneath the surface of the more traditional, but no less devastating, Australian horror film The Babadook.

Amelia (a wonderfully unglamorous and fearless Essie Davis) is a widowed mother raising her precocious but troubled 7-year-old son Samuel (Noah Wiseman). She loves her son deeply, but you can tell right away that she’s tired—tried of his ongoing antics, which include imagining horrible monsters are coming to get them at night (and developing makeshift weapons and booby traps to combat them) and tired of being alone (in one scene, she stares longingly at a kissing couple; in another, she touches herself in bed—that is, until Samuel interrupts her). Because of Samuel’s somewhat antisocial behavior, he gets kicked out of school and increasingly isolates Amelia from her family and friends.

We discover that Amelia’s husband died while driving her to deliver Samuel. The association of her husband’s death with her son’s birth is so great, she can’t bring herself to properly celebrate the child's birthday. And since it’s always been the two of them, there’s an extreme—almost spousal—attachment between Amelia and her son. “I’ll take care of you,” promises Samuel, solemnly. “Will you always take care of me?” (Wide-eyed Wiseman manages to be both adorable and slightly creepy—perfect for Samuel.)

Then one night, Samuel asks Amelia to read him haunting and beautiful pop-up book that she’s never seen before: The Babadook. I’ve seen many books as the launching point for a horror film, but never in the creepy guise of a children’s book being read, with a mother’s winsome charm and enthusiasm, to her small child. (If the idea of a mother, curled up on a bed, innocently inviting a demon into the home sends chills up your spine—well, just wait until you see the film.)

It’s from here that The Babadook shifts from a horror story about single motherhood, to a real horror story, where the Babadook—an inky, spectral figure in a pointy black hat, too large overcoat, and spindly hands that look like tree branches—enters the home. Amelia tries to tear up and discard the book, but it just comes back—more sinister and vivid than before. But what is the Babadook? An actual demon? The ghost of her late husband? Or the manifestation of Amelia's guilt?

The Babadook takes its place among two of my other favorite "child in peril" horror films, The Others and The Orphanage, largely thanks to the patience and empathy of first-time director Jennifer Kent. Because we get to know and feel deeply for both Amelia and Samuel, the intrusion of the Babadook is all the more jarring. Other directors should take note: Horror films are infinitely scarier when we actually care about the people being horrified.

The Babadook is available On Demand, starting November 28