A single mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, battles with her son’s fear of a monster lurking in the house, but soon discovers a sinister presence all around her.
I’m actually having a hard time on this one.. there were a lot of good qualities to this movie. It was an original story in itself, but not unlike other “Boogeyman” stories. I wanted to love this movie.
Now, with that being said, I certainly didn’t hate it. As stated, it had a lot of good qualities.. it was methodical, creepy and intense to a point. But, there was so much left out, I felt like I was missing something.. Where did Mr Babadook come from? The boy reads a book, and suddenly he’s being haunted by this monster in the closet? Is that how it works? Would another child reading the story be effected the same way? It honestly wasn’t explained.
The ending was just.. odd.. they defeat the Babadook by standing up to it.. OK, I can see a whole “Facing your fear” defense, but then they put it in the basement and feed it worms? The story says that you Can’t get rid of him – but, that means you have to take care of it? Feed it? Nurse it along, as it were?
Here’s how I’m reading into it. This entire movie is a metaphor. The Babadook is grief.
From IMDB: Coincidentally the words “Baba-Dookh” in Urdu/Hindi mean “Father-Grief”.
Grief can be all consuming, destroy relationships, even kill. It never really goes away, and sometimes you must re-visit it in every day life. The Babadook gets stronger the more you deny its existence. This means that not dealing with your grief will make it stronger. So, there we have it. This is a horror movie where the villain.. is grief.
