Jay’s top 10 scary movies to watch this Halloween season.
#6 The Babadook
In a genre often obsessed with gratuitous gore and cheap thrills, here we have a delicately crafted psychological drama that strikes at the heart with the precision of a surgeon’s scalpel. It’s both a terror-filled journey into darkness and an intimate exploration of grief, family, and the monsters within us.
Jennifer Kent, in her directorial debut, showcases a mastery over the medium that belies her experience. The shadows that creep in her frames are as much about the lurking specters of personal loss as they are about the titular monster. The editing, the slow-building dread, the underplayed sound effects — they all contribute to a symphony of unease.
Amelia, played with heartbreaking vulnerability by Essie Davis, grapples with the twin horrors of losing her husband and the growing alienation of her son, Samuel. The Babadook, a top-hatted specter from a children’s book, is not just a monster; it’s the embodiment of unresolved trauma, of the whispers of despair that grow louder in the lonely hours of the night.
One might say that Kent’s film is reminiscent of Roman Polanski’s apartment trilogy, with its close-quartered paranoia and the unraveling psyche. Yet, The Babadook carves its own space with an unmistakably modern Australian sensibility — the suffocating suburban setting, the raw emotional intensity, the undercurrents of societal expectations.
The true triumph of this film is how it manages to scare you out of your wits while still making you care deeply for its characters. It doesn’t just aim for the gut with its terror; it goes straight for the heart. This isn’t just another creature lurking in the shadows; this is the embodiment of our most intimate fears. And the film doesn’t let you off the hook easily. It forces you to confront, to understand, to empathize.
In a time when horror often means jump scares and formulaic plots, The Babadook is a breath of fresh air, or perhaps more aptly, a chilling wind that lingers long after the credits roll. It’s a reminder of what the genre can achieve when it’s handled with care, intelligence, and genuine emotion. This is not just a movie; it’s a haunting experience.
🐘🐘🐘🐘
Ranking System
I rank all of my movies out of 5 
