“…triggers your childhood fears that will leave you begging for someone to check your closet for monsters before you crawl into bed.”

Horror lovers unite! We sift through piles of paranormal activity and crazed serial killers in the hopes that something unique might rear its head. According to the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, we have a winner. In fact, it’s the winner of several awards including Best Film, Best Direction, and Best Original Screenplay all given to this film that’s no longer hiding under the bed. Available on Netflix, The Babadook (directed by Jennifer Kent, 2014) subtly scares by not resorting to cheap bumps in the night, but instead triggers your childhood fears that will leave you begging for someone to check your closet for monsters before you crawl into bed.

Amelia (played by Essie Davis) is a hardworking single mother of 6-year-old Samuel (played by Noah Wiseman). Ever since her husband died from a car accident on the way to delivering the baby, handling Samuel alone has not been an easy undertaking. His night terrors, intense fear of monsters, and behavioral issues at school are pushing Amelia to her breaking point. Her sister Claire (played by Hayley McElhinney) has had enough of both Amelia and Samuel. With her friends and family pushing her away, and with Samuel’s birthday around the corner, Amelia is haunted by the anniversary of her husband’s death. Then one night, while tucking Samuel into bed, Amelia finds a storybook she hasn’t seen before, and he begs her to read it to him. To her and Samuel’s horror, the book features a foreboding monster by the name of Mister Babadook. The threatening text and creepy drawings send Samuel’s fear into overdrive, and Amelia becomes more frustrated than ever. That is…until his fear of imaginary monsters begins to feel all too real.

This movie, like many indie horror films, relies heavily on its actors to deliver convincing performances. It absolutely delivers. Young Noah Wiseman plays the whiney, badly-behaved little Samuel so well that even I wanted to smack him throughout most of the movie. However, when things do get serious and he has to be brave, I was able to switch gears from feeling bad for the mother with the badly behaved child to feeling bad for poor, scared Samuel. Essie Davis was perfect as Samuel’s mother, Amelia. Her emotional roller coaster ride of grief, frustration, and depression is so well acted that you truly become invested and scared for her. Her performance is eerie and disturbing, and her portrayal of a woman with the psyche of someone coping with a heavy loss is entirely convincing. Her emotional state is fragile, and it’s a perfect place to house a horror flick.

Then, of course, there is Mister Babadook himself (played by Tim Purcell). The Babadook is a well-created monster, drawing from a children’s book to real life with just enough creepy characteristics so as not to go overboard while maintaining the air of mystery that makes us scared of what’s hiding in the dark. We are all guilty of nervously feeling for the light switch in a pitch dark room, and the Babadook is what we are secretly terrified to find.

The Babadook is intensely dark, but it is also a great character study of someone coping with loss and struggling with single parenthood. This was actually my second time watching this film, and like a good children’s book, it was just as fun the second time around. I’m an avid horror lover, and this one was a fun little surprise. This one gets a 9/10, because scary monsters that scare people (including myself) make me happy.