I had planned to spend the week knocking movies off my Criterion Channel watchlist. That was the plan. Lots of artsy movies and the like that may not be the sort of thing people just relax and enjoy. But then something came up: I found The Babadook on Netflix, and it was “leaving soon.” My guess is that means the end of the month. I know The Babadook mostly by its reputation. I know the basic plot. I know it doesn’t really have any deaths (unless you count the cutest dog I’ve seen in a movie in a long time). I know it’s basically about grief and mourning, and how that, like Mr. Babadook, never really goes away.
Basically, it was a horror movie right up my alley.
Single mom Amelia (Essie Davis) is at her wits end. Her husband died in a car accident as they were driving her to the hospital to give birth to their son Samuel (Noah Wiseman), and she’s been in mourning ever since, getting very little sleep thanks her demanding six-year-old son. One day, Samuel finds a pop-up book of unknown origins that tells the very creepy story of Mr. Babadook, a tall, shadowy creature in a top hat and long coat. What does Mr. Babadook do? Well, he shows up and won’t leave. Samuel is sure he’s there before Amelia sees any sign that the creature exists, but it wouldn’t be much of a horror movie if the Babadook never showed up.
Show up he does, around the halfway point. He’s quick, sticks to the shadows, and looks like something out of a silent horror movie. He doesn’t talk aside from saying his own name as creepily as possible. What the Babadook seems to want is for Amelia to kill her son. Will she? And what exactly can the Babadook do?
OK, I’ve seen the commentary. I know the Babadook is supposed to represent the grief Amelia feels for her dead husband. It’s not subtle, but it’s still effective. Samuel is a pretty obnoxious child for most of the movie. It’s not that surprising that Amelia, thinking he’s imagining the whole Babadook thing, would want to give the child some sleeping pills so she can get a good night’s rest for once. She’s not so much a bad mother as a stressed out one. And for all that Samuel is an obnoxious kid, he’s not really disobedient. He just wants attention, and the other children in the movie don’t seem a whole lot better. There’s something to be said for the fact Samuel can use some cobbled together Home Alone style traps to slow the Babadook down says it’s maybe not much of a threat.
That’s true in and of itself, but the thing is the Babadook is really just an expression for the grief at the center of the family. He can’t be made to go away. He can only be tended to in a manner that allows Amelia and Samuel to have a happy family. That says something deeper than just “scary monster attacks a mother and son,” and it does come down to how being a parent is stressful, sometimes parents want their kids to maybe shut up and go away, and grief isn’t something you can just kill. It’s something that you just have to live with, and The Babadook does an excellent job showing how that works metaphorically.
Grade: A-
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