The Babadook (2014), Unrated, ★★★1/2

There's something strange going on inside the house.

In a long time of reviewing and critiquing movies, this is the first movie that had me at a loss of words and clearly not thinking straight while writing this review. The premise is very peculiar and strange as to what kind of story the filmmakers want to tell us and honestly, while hearing about its effulgent premise, I said to myself that this may be an interesting horror flick. And, damn it, it was pretty interesting despite how silly it was.

Amelia (Essie Davis) is a widowed mother who lives with her son Samuel (Noah Wiseman) and their dog Percy. Sam eagerly does magic tricks and makes imaginative weapons for his extracurricular activities in his house. He does get in trouble at school, however, and Amelia picks him up. She works as an orderly at a hospital and Amelia takes Sam to the park with her sister, Claire (Hayley McElhinney) and her daughter, Ruby (Chloe Hurn). Their relationship is showed to be strained and somewhat distant.

Later that night, Sam brings out a book called "Mister Babadook", about a friendly creature that has a funny disguise. The story gets more scary as if one person is made aware about the Badabook, the creature will haunt its victim. It seems that type of premise is taken from the movie, The Ring, about if someone watches the videotape, the victim gets haunted and will die. But, I digress... Sam has nightmares about the Badabook and claims to have seen him and is acting out. Amelia and Sam both go to Claire's house where Claire is angry at Amelia after Sam scared her about the Babadook talk. It gets more complicated and scary as the film progresses.

"Take a look, it's in a book..."

Ok. First of all, this is, at the very least, a scary movie because it does not go for the cheap thrills or the predictable gimmicks a horror film has to be entitled to to hook the audience along. Also, it does not have to be as gory as possible. This movie can be compared with The Omen, the "classic" with Gregory Peck (I did enjoy the movie, though.). The child in that film is regarded as the son of the devil who maybe possessed with powers and supernatural abilities that causes people to go crazy and nearly at the end of the film, Peck tries to kill the boy because of the death of his wife and other people (sorry, spoilers.). The book possesses the boy, in this movie, to go crazy and causes danger for other people especially in a scene at a birthday party, where the boy pushes a girl out of a treehouse and gets injured.

Essie Davis creates a realistic mother who cares for her son but is desperate for help and a friend when in dire need. She is basically isolated from her civil life and it tortures her inside in how to become a respectable person and a great mother. She gives probably the most overlooked performance because not many awards circuits will recognize her. This performance has to be shown to the right agents and directors who want to hire Davis in a movie because she has some charisma and range. I also liked Noah Wiseman's performance as the little boy, even though, initially, I thought he was obnoxious, but, he got to me in the end.

I thought the premise was spectacular and the theme of motherhood is a rarity these days for a movie to show and care for, however, it does not end predictably, the climax and the ending gets a bit esoteric and dumbfounded that you have to say to the filmmaker, Jennifer Kent, that she has something there but it needs more satisfaction for the movie itself and the audience. Plus, there's a moment regarding a dog that is incomprehensible. It is a brisk and palpitating movie that has good pacing and it did not bore me like many other horror films. Will it be recognized as a cult classic? Maybe. But, it is a supernatural film that takes the premise of Inception and veers it into another direction with scares, conviction and rage especially when it finally comes to motherhood.

***1/2