The Babadook – reviews of 'riveting' family terror tale

What you need to know

A new psychological horror film, The Babadook, opens in UK cinemas today. The partly crowd-funded film is a feature debut from Australian actress-turned-director Jennifer Kent, who also wrote the film.

It tells the story of a distraught mother Amelia (Essie Davis), struggling to cope with the death of her husband, while dealing with her son Samuel's persistent nightmares about a monster. When a sinister children's book called The Babadook turns up in the house, Amelia starts to wonder if Samuel's fears might be real.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

What the critics like

The Babadook offers "a wonderfully hand-crafted spin on a tale oft told, of parent and child in an old, dark house where things go bump", says Scott Foundas in Variety. Steeped in references to early cinema, magic and classic fairy tales, it manages to deliver real, seat-grabbing jolts while touching on more serious themes of loss and grief.

This "slow-building, expertly unsettling horror film is femalecentric" in ways that other horror movies rarely are, says Joshua Rothkopf in Time Out. Crisp compositions and unfussy editing make it a subtle, shadowy threat and Davis's mouse-turned-lioness performance is equally riveting.

It's "one of the strongest, most effective horror films of recent years", says Kim Newman in Empire. There's awards-quality lead work from Essie Davis, and a brilliantly designed new monster who could well become the break-out spook archetype of the decade.

What they don't like

It's "stronger in terms of its psychological unease than its fright factor", says David Rooney in the Hollywood Reporter. The setup will feel unhurried to the quick-thrill audience, but it's a different kind of nail-biter that expertly builds tension through the insidious modulation from naturalistic dysfunctional family drama to all-out boogeyman terror.