Welcome to The Attic, let’s read a bedtime story.

If it’s in a word or it’s in a look, you can’t get rid of The Babadook.

A young boy, Samuel, lives with his single mother Amelia. His father died in a car accident while he was driving Amelia to the hospital to give birth to Samuel. You can see in her body language that she does not want to hug the boy, and when he cuddles her at night, she pulls away. It’s like his touch only reminds her of the reason she lost her husband. She blames the boy for the fact that she is alone.

The boy tells his mother about the recurring nightmares he is having. He is convinced that a monster will come for him. She checks under his bed nightly, to ensure there aren’t any monsters, before reading him a bedtime story. After she finishes one of them, he asks if she’s sure that the big bad wolf was killed, and she assures him it was. He blurts out that when the monster comes, he’ll kill it. He is dead set on protecting himself as well as his mother.

Samuel begins to act out at school, and brings weapons with him to class. They reach a breaking point and say they want to keep him away from the other kids. They want to teach Samuel with a mentor one-on-one to protect the other children. Amelia refuses to alienate him more than he already is in life, and she pulls him out of the school in hopes of finding a new school.

That night, Samuel gets to choose what his mother will read to him, and he pulls a large red book from the bookshelf. The title reads “Mister Babadook.” The story is disturbing and threatening, warning of three sharp knocks that will announce the presence of the Babadook. The story ends with a caution that once he removes the disguise, you will wish you were dead. The boy, frightened by the unusually disturbing story, becomes convinced that the tale is true.

Tension builds between the frustrated, exhausted mother and her fearful son. She tries her best but her anger towards the boy is apparent, and only grows as he continues to insist this monster is real, and will come for them. He blurts out far too much to everyone he meets, and this irks the mother even more.

The mother is lost and growing more fearful as unexplained things begin to happen to them. She tries to report these disturbances but the police only look at her like she’s crazy for fearing a children’s book. Is the Babadook real? Or are the mother and son struggling to cope with their tragically isolated lives?

I don’t want to give too much away here, so I will just say that I had a blast watching this film. Its unique story and chilling atmosphere lead you on a wild ride of psychological terror. This isn’t like anything I’ve seen before. I’ve had my eye on this movie for quite some time, and I’m pleased to report that I wasn’t disappointed at all. It was recently added to Netflix’s instant streaming service, so drop whatever you have planned for tonight and watch this instead.

Stay scared,
Dark Princess