Babadook

Una distintiva variación australiana sobre los embrujos nocturnos en una casa, refinada en imagen y sonido, con un montaje distintivo. La película juega mucho con la relación madre infeliz / hijo problemático y su mundo solitario tras la pérdida de su marido / padre, y técnicamente ofrece un aspecto inquietante bastante bueno. Pero hay una extraña cualidad en las reacciones de los personajes, como si no fuera una maldición que amenaza la vida, sino solo una encarnación metafórica estacional de un mal momento, que puede ser superado por fuerza de voluntad. Y esto, según la directora era una comprensión del género probablemente más interesante en cuanto a contenido y más «artística», no me parece del todo satisfactorio. (16.10.2020)

It's very depressing, but unfortunately in the way that in the most intense moments what remains next to the viewer is not the protagonist, but the poor little boogeyman. Otherwise, a solidly intense tightening of the noose around two characters who can't free themselves from a difficult life situation where The Babadook is merely a symbol of receding rationality and a crumbling mother-child relationship. The scary scenes are really uncomfortable, but there are too few of them, and the story lacks a strong enough climax to exemplarily underscore and cement its shoddy psychological setup. Too gratuitous for art-horror and too long-winded and hard to grasp for the mainstream. (06.04.2018)

Heavy in psychology, a bit weaker when it comes to terror. The Babadook is certainly not a fun or happy movie. The characters are psychologically fucked-up long before any spook shows up, and the director translates this with a lot of skill. It made me pretty nervous almost from the beginning. A widowed - and sleep deprived - mother and her screaming and hyperactive son, both descending into a psychological maze, and you can only guess who is more bonkers. The core storyline about the monster from the book was quite uninteresting, I’ve seen similar ones countless times. I didn’t give a toss whether the Babadook was real or not, besides, the director doesn’t use it to scare the viewer much. I also have mixed feelings about the ending, where very impressive moments alternate with other less stellar. In fact, the last twenty minutes felt as if the thus far carefully built and maintained atmosphere was fully reset several times. The ending is slightly WTF, if not a little ridiculous; it felt out of place given the tone of the film up to that point. Overall, it’s good, very good, actually, but this year’s competitors Oculus and It Follows scared me more. (31.10.2014)

This definitely belongs among the most interesting horror films of recent years, even in terms of how the individual terrifying scenes are presented. It's not something that plays on jump scares; it's different, new, and original in that sense. You have the desire to kill that boy the whole time, but he perfectly fits into the whole situation and story with his mother. (13.01.2015)

Honestly, I don't think the film was all that bad, but any chance of a higher rating from me was ruined by that spoiled brat with a stress-free upbringing. I kept my fingers crossed for Babadook the whole time, hoping that he had a slow and painful death prepared for Samuel. What surprised me was the therapeutic effect of the monster on the main character, she looked much more relaxed at the end :-) (28.10.2018)