The Babadook

Have you ever heard of it? Probably not. Will it scare you shitless? Probably. Pulling some of the stylings from iconic horror movies, The Babadook is the combination of all things terrifying without being blatantly terrifying. It'll crawl under your skin and before you realize it, and without any warning you'll just all at once feel horrified of this monster. In this Australian thriller, it follows a typical storyline, with an atypical approach to telling the story. There's nothing better than a horror movie that relies on the substance of the story rather than its ability to make you jump with loud noises and scary faces.

In most cases, there isn't a lot of payoff in the conclusion of horror movies. There certainly isn't a real significant message that is being conveyed to the audience. The Babadook defies both of these components that we've seen in basically every recent horror movie. The most praiseworthy aspect of this movie is being able to fit into the horror movie genre perfectly fine (it's really, really scary), while also having a meaningful message. The message really isn't apparent for the first three-quarters of the movie, but if you pay attention, by the end you'll realize how powerful the movie can actually be.

1. Borrowing Components
   The Exorcist, Friday the 13th, The Grudge. All are movies that The Babadook has pulled components from. And no, The Babadook didn't blatantly rip off some aspects of these movies, but there are very subtle references within the movie. There's a large undertone of possession in this movie which is very reminiscent of The Exorcist. The Babadook is this cloaked figure, so when you see his silhouette, all you see is this vague "human" shaped thing with fancy shoes and a top-hat, however, the unsettling thing about it's figure is that it has these crazy long, sharp "fingers". It's unclear if they are actually digits or (this is where Friday the 13th comes in) some kind of knife-like weapon things attached to it. There's even a scene where the Babadook stretches its arms across the length of the room and touches its knife-fingers to the walls, which is actually cinematography taken right from the Freddie Kruger handbook. And finally, The Grudge; now, if you have heard anything about The Babadook, hopefully you will have heard the noise the Babadook makes. It literally says Babadook-dook-dook but it croaks its name and as it gets towards the end it's shout-croaking and it's so eerie. It is very Grudge-esque but it is actually its own thing. It's this crazy creepy noise that is haunting. So yes, there is a lot from other movies that The Babadook pulls from, but, the elements are incorporated well and are a tribute to those movies, rather than a rip off.
2. Lack of a Soundtrack
   If this sounds lame, listen to me, it isn't. There is almost no background music the whole movie and this is significant because when you think of horror movies you largely think of the tense music used to enhance the moment and create tension. In addition, in almost every horror movie I've seen, there's always an annoying loud noise to scare you when something pops out, and yes, it's "scary" in the sense that it makes you jump, but it certainly doesn't stick with you. The scares in The Babadook are terrifying in the moment and they stay with you for nights and nights. There's a moment where the mother looks out of her kitchen window into her elderly neighbors apartment and sees the Babadook standing in the doorway looking at her and there is silence. There is no loud noise to disorient and scare you, but it's terrifying in and of the fact that if you hypothetically saw a silhouette of some crazy figure staring at you, there wouldn't actually be a jarring sound to scare you, you would just be scared from the fact that there's a dude seemingly stalking you! It's more creepy and physiologically messed up without a backtrack to make the movie seem like it's trying to scare you rather than just scaring you because it's freaky. 
3. Storyline
   The fact that this is a horror movie that actually has a satisfying plot that has substance. There is an actual reason The Babadook is terrorizing this family other than "they live in a haunted house" or "the family is haunted". There is no haunting. There is a whole reason and if you watch long and hard enough (or just Wikipedia it), you can figure out what the Babadook symbolizes and what it actually is. It's super interesting to try and figure out the whole story, and it's super cool when you do finally figure it out. 
4. Mister Babadook
   The monster itself, the Babadook. Thing comes out of a children's book, the title being "Mister Babadook". The book is weird to say the least. Some of the quotes include "if it's in a word, or it's in a look, you can't get rid of the Babadook" and "see him in your room at night, and you won't sleep a wink". The mother does many things to destroy the book including ripping it up and burning it, but it always shows up. It always comes back. The book is the focal point for the monster in the beginning, and since it's a children's book, and the illustrations seem so cute, it makes it 10X creepier considering it's depicting this cute dude in a top hat coming out of children's closets.

For the most part, I don't like being scared. I like watching ridiculous things like the Saw series because they're ridiculous. I like watching things like The Fly, that aren't trying to scare you, but it's just a little too freaky to just be called a sci-fi movie. It took a lot of convincing for me to watch The Grudge and I still regret it because holy shit that was nightmarish. But The Babadook was interesting. It was pretty freaky, but it also catches your attention and keeps you thinking not about when the next scary thing is going to happen, but about how everything connects and whats going to happen to this family. It makes you become invested, scares you, and makes you feel all the emotions you will feel at the end. It's one of the best horror movies of recent times and it needs to be more widely known.