1. The Babadook

The Babadook Trailer

The Australian supernatural psychological thriller is the directorial debut of Jennifer Kent. Based on her short, Monster, The Babadook follows the psychological breakdown of the family unit after the tragic death of Amelia’s husband. Amelia (Essie Davis) is a sweet, patient widow with a troubled child who’s obsessed with killing monsters and protecting his mother should any of these goons materialize. The Babadook relies less on cliché jump-scares than on real life depression and grief-induced anxiety. Unlike most modern filmmakers, Kent employed special FX techniques similar to those used in the silent film era. The creepy visual scares were all created the old-fashioned way – in camera instead of using post-production software. A complete flop in its native Australia, the film was more successful overseas, grossing over 900,000 US dollars.

Kent and Davis concocted a G-rated production environment for then 6-year old actor Noah Wiseman (“Sam”). The women did everything to protect the child’s sanity in real life, by using creative camera positioning, and an adult stand-in for Davis to express stress-induced hate-speak at her son. Like The Conjuring, this is another evil-gets-to-the-mother-to-take-the-child movie. Davis excellently portrays grief, loss and motherhood. She does meek, tired and doting as well as she embodies pissed off, had-enough, and vengeful.

The Babadook is a monster that materializes from a strange children’s book, after son Sam can’t stop ranting about it. Some viewers may see Babadook as a true malevolent presence in the monoparental household. Some others – especially mothers – may see it as a metaphor for the hardship of parenthood. In either case, the fright is palpable as Amelia starts to come unraveled, and Sam is put in the line of fire. The pair really has no one to rely on but each other, and Sam does a fine job of trying to keep his mum safe. Even when the evil within Amelia projects hatred and venom, Sam must keep his family intact. The theme of sticking together is seen in The Conjuring as well.