Essie Davis and Noah Wiseman (IFC)

Australian director Jennifer Kent’s indie horror film The Babadook has been getting a lot of well-deserved buzz, already landing on a few year-end lists. In one brilliant marketing ploy, the film has reversed the usual skepticism about movies adapted from books: within a matter of days, 2,000 customers pre-ordered a book to be produced based on the movie (full disclosure: my family pre-ordered two. Editor’s note: I ordered one too—MC). The central villain of The Babadook is the archetypal monster under the bed, but this monster stems from a children”s pop-up book, which essentially means that the real enemy is the mind.

Amelia (Essie Davis) is a single mother wracked with guilt over the death of her husband. He died in a car crash as he was taking his then-pregnant wife to the hospital to give birth to their son Samuel (Noah Wiseman). Mom struggles with work, her son, and with depression, barely able to conceal her hostility to the boy, whom she partly blames for her husband’s death. Samuel has followed suit with erratic behavior. He’s a boy with a wild imagination who loves to dig into his father’s old magic tricks, but mom would rather not be reminded. And, when Samuel’s attempts just to get his mother’s attention fail to get through the black dog that has consumed her, his own anxiety is projected into the titular monster.

Mother and child discover a mysterious book called Mister Babadook, bound in a blood-red hardcover. It’s beautiful pop-up book made of vivid charcoal drawings about a mother and a son endangered by a monster in a black coat and top hat. The book warns the reader not to let the Babadook inside the house, lest it get stronger. The monster is clearly a metaphor for depression, not simply in the darkness that envelops you but in its irresistible allure—it’s a great looking book, and when you see the movie you’ll want to pre-order a copy yourself. (Editor’s note: no seriously, you will. I tried very hard to not buy it, but alas.—MC)

The book’s story changes as Amelia sinks deeper into despair, with pop-up characters predicting a grisly future for this broken home. But the film’s fantastical horrors pale next to the emotional horrors of a domestic life with which Amelia admits she is unequipped to cope. Mom’s creative outlet is only mentioned in passing, but we learn that Amelia was a writer, so the book becomes the boy’s view of his mother’s mental disintegration, expressed in the only way that he can understand it: that a monster has taken over her.

The central performances are strong, particularly Wiseman, whose big eyes and shaggy hair make him look like a little ’60s rock star and an endearing, if troubled, imp. Davis walks through the film in a haze like a depleted shell. A pair of cartoonish social workers break the spell somewhat, but those broad strokes ease the film into its rare comic moments: “I’m tired from the drugs my mom gave me,” Sam tells the appalled social workers.

But the film is rich in mental metaphor, the monster knocking at the door only exists from the power we give it. The Babadook has its share of horror movie tropes, but what makes it work is the reality of its underlying trauma, which is something most horror movies are afraid to give you.

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The Babadook
Written and directed by Jennifer Kent
With Essie Davis and Noah Wiseman
Not rated
Running time 94 minutes
Opens today at West End Cinema, Alamo Drafthouse One Loudoun, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Winchester.