THE BABADOOK MOVIE REVIEW | POSSESSEDBYHORROR

and I return once more with a highly requested review of The Babadook. please leave more requests in the comments!

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s n a p c h a t | sarahhawkinson

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c a m e r a: Sony Cybershot DSC-HX7V
e d i t o r: Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5

[theholyturtle]

The end of the film was where it all made sense to me when 'The Babadook' is locked away in the basement and the son asks how he is and she says 'it's okay today' which represents her depression and her emotions and how she handles everything. Hard to explain but 'The Babadook' is certainly her mental and emotional state.

[poppinapplejuice]

The movie is symbolic about depression. You never can really get rid of it, you learn to live with it. Just how she had to learn to live with the Babadook. "You never get rid of the babadook."

[keithfulkerson]

At one point, one of the women asks the main character about her once being a children's book author. From that, you could think that maybe she wrote the Babadook book herself. The craziness starts around the the time of the kid's birthday, which is also the anniversary of when her husband died while trying to get her to the hospital to give birth.

[danielsingleton]

they bought the book off amazon. Since they were not Prime members they were open targets for possession. It happens a lot in Australia 

[rachelhill]

My interpretation (spoilers ahead)


The film is about repression. She goes through this horrible tragedy and her prolonging feelings of pain and resentment towards her son manifest itself into 'the babadook'. The only way for her to deal with her past and move forward, is to face the babdook/her past head on which makes it lose its power and physicality. The locking away and feeding of the spirit is a metaphor for her underlying pain, but now that she's acknowledged it and defeated it, she's hoping she can keep those feelings and her past locked away and under control. They'll never truly leave though. 

[MarianneBarrientez]

The babadook creature was a personification of the grief that comes with the loss of a loved one. Such an emotional movie, and when i watched it I thought it did come full circle because when they locked it away in the basement it was meant to mean that that grief and that loss never truly goes away but instead of letting it haunt you and scare you, you learn to live with it and in a way learn how to nurture your mental health after something like that. Love hearing your opinions on horror movies, its my favorite genre as well :)

[docentduitsdragtsma]

long overdue, but i just watched the Babadook. Wonderful to see a version of you in the past:)

[lowlypeasant]

She looks great without makeup.  Love these reviews.

[amandasutton]

The mother is dealing with her depression due to extreme grief over the loss of her husband. She partially blames the son, but feels guilty for doing so, causing emotional distance from her son. The son is overreacting to her emotional distance by being fearful that she won't protect him from anything that's possibly dangerous. For a child, danger is often symbolized by monsters. Her depression from extreme grief enhances, if not causes the boy's extreme fear, and disruptive behaviors for attention. That said, they overcome the monster together, she accepts her son and protects him, and the son calms down and becomes more self-sufficient. It's important to find out where the book came from, but perhaps the ending where the mother accepts, protects and validates her son, despite her grief, is more important.

[redmeatheart]

*SPOILER ALERT* The Babadook is actually a metaphor for the unresolved grief she has towards her husband. The first stage of grief is denial, that's why she denies the monsters existence. The second stage is anger, she snaps at the boy and fantasizes about killing him. The third stage is depression hence her becoming isolated from everyone else and losing her mind. The forth is acceptance, when she finally accepts the Babadook at the end and locks him away.

By doing this she compartmentalises the grief and is better able to cope with her life. The final scene showing her feeding him is about acknowledging the grief so it doesn't get on top of her again. That's what i took from it anyway.

[midnight]

The Babadook is one of those movies where you're supposed to wonder if there's a Babadook at all or if it's all in her head.  I loved the ending... that was creepy and kind of bizarre.  I thought the creepiest parts of the movie were due to the sound... the whispers just really creeped me out.  

[Jezreelx]

no one cares if you wear makeup up or not, youre beautiful! please do more reviews when you have time :) x

[MrTurnip]

The book and the Babadook itself are symbolic of grief, so complaining about something metaphorical "coming out of nowhere" kinda makes me think you missed the point. No hate pal

[rosekatkatie]

You don't need makeup every time you film, you look great without it :)

[natashamerissa]

I love how your skin is getting better! You look great without makeup on. What skincare do u use, sarah?

[xxGKC]

A few movies that I think you should watch (because I'm curious of your opinion).
-Devil's Chair
-Detention
-Lords of Salem
-The Divide
-Tod Browning's Freaks

Also, I don't know if you watch documentaries, but the BBC did a doc called The History of Horror. It might be of interest. It was really well done and discusses a lot of cool older horror movies that you might not have heard of otherwise.

[CreepyHandedMan]

The Babadook is the embodiment of her grief and growing madness, it isn't a true physical character. That's the beauty of the movie, the Babadook is the insane creature that lurks in our minds and tries to emerge. I think the entire movie is more about visual metaphores than down to earth plot devices. Now the book doesn't seem to come from anywhere, but it also comes back every time she tries to ditch it, so it may have some hidden symbolism too, or it's the only really paranormal thing in the movie, which desn't need to be explained to be scary (to the contrary).

[lexifer]

This movie was just one huge metaphor for coping (or not coping) with grief, to the point where it was distracting. Like all I could think about was how it was so obvious that the babadook was the manifestation of the mother's grief.

[ShannonLouisePayne]

I think the storyline intentionally didn't explain the books appearance and stuff because they left it open for interpretation. I believe they intended to keep it as an unsaid link to her grief and depression, towards the end in the basement the babadook takes on the form of her husband and they wanted to kind of parallel the demon to the darkness of depression and as she grows and overcomes her loss she starts to break free of its hold and in the end she controls it. Its actually a really deep psychological horror when you look at it in that sense I guess :) 

[spingykatsoon]

Did u not realize it’s a metaphor for grief