Babadook

It's your regularly-scheduled Sunday post. Oh yes it is. Every Sunday since this one. You remember.

I'd heard good things about The Babadook. And it is very well-made. But.

There's arguably something misfiring in a horror movie if you find yourself desperate for something supernaturally horrific to occur… to save yourself from the true horror of the mundane, depressing life of a single parent with a ratbag kid and crushing job.

It is tense. It looks beautiful (and terrible, where necessary). Essie Davis carries the film and sucks you into her reality. It has some genuine shivers and scares. But my watching partner was spot-on when she noted that my breathing had been tense in the first half of the movie, and relatively relaxed in the second half. There’s nothing more reassuring than a good monster.