If you want horror to be horrifying — scary, as opposed to simply tense or shocking — then it helps to shine a light into the those real-life dark corners that people would rather not investigate. The Babadook does just that, gazing steadily upon the strained and fraying mother-love that the widow Amelia (a stellar Essie Davis) bears her troubled son Samuel. Samuel is forever encountering a monster, you see — or is it just that he's sneaking down to the basement to go through (dead) Dad's things? Either way, he's very hard to live with, especially without a sympathetic grownup by your side. The shadowy Babadook shows up a little ways in via a silly-but-chilling children's book, but Sam knows the shadows were already there in their unhomey home. Writer-director Jennifer Kent lets the dread creep in slowly and wisely goes easy on the effects; she knows that hand-drawn pop-ups can be more than enough to unsettle things. Also, that sympathy is what makes horror truly harrowing.

Obliterating the line between terrifying fantasy and terrifying reality, Jennifer Kent’s first feature, The Babadook, is a creepy classic in the making

Director Jennifer Kent’s debut film works as both horror and psychological drama.

The best horror film of 2014 understands that kids, especially very young ones, deal with loss much differently than adults do.

The Babadook combines an ominous picture book with a mother pushed to the breaking point, showing how creepy children's literature can be.

Who brings into their home a kid’s book called ‘Mister Babadook’, crammed with drawings of scary toothy shapes peering around bedroom doors? The answer is left

The Babadook, the first feature film written and directed by the Australian actress Jennifer Kent, is an example of my favorite kind of monster movie:...

Its horrors reach back to the primordial fear of death and loss: of a child, of a loved one, of one’s own sense of self.