O Babadook

There's a demon likes to get inside your mind, if he enters he can be a bit unkind, takes you down a winding path, a quite determined sociopath, doesn't care what trauma that he leaves behind. It's the kind of shade that's often caught alone, the recipient may feel they don't belong, an imposter in their world, wearing a mask fully unfurled, all life's treasures we take for granted, simply gone.

A stellar performance from Essie Davis in a film that will get you thinking about the effects life's challenges present and how you deal with them, albeit through the eyes of one possessed by demonic urges they can't control while becoming a silhouette of themselves.

This film tells the story of a woman who lost her husband in a cast accident. She raises her son who has serious behavioral problems. One day,they find a children's story book home,but it contains chilling images and disturbing messages. Gradually the messages become real, and their lives assets in horrific turmoil.

The story is simple, but it's horrifying. It does not use cheap thrills or gore to scare. It's all psychology, all seemingly in her head, until the very end when the story takes a slightly different them. I enjoyed ensuing it. I heard good things about the film, and I'm not disappointed. The actress playing the mother must have been in much distress because her role requires her to be in constant distress.

Amelia is a single mom struggling with hyper-active 6 year old son Samuel with a constant need for weapons to defend himself from unseen monsters. Her husband died in a car accident driving her to the hospital to have Samuel. The school is scared to keep him with the other kids. Even her sister Claire is afraid of Samuel especially to play with her own daughter Ruby. She finds a disturbing children's book about the Babadook. This sets off a scary series of events.

Normally, I hate annoying kids but this kid is brilliantly annoying. It's such a fascinating character and the mother's suffering can really be felt. I did expect this to turn into a monster movie but it becomes more of a psychological thriller which is perfectly great. The turn in Amelia is terrific. On a minor note, a scarier Babadook could have been even better.

The Babadook surprised me on two counts.

First, as someone who doesn't often get the warm fuzzies at spooky films, this did. It's a well acted, believable account of a mum and child being haunted by a seemingly malevolent 'thing'. Effective jumps and creeping tension are handled well.

But I was surprised again by the end, as I came away seeing it as an allegory for deep grief and a way through it. I found it quite moving, the mum finding a place for that darkness, finally taking control of it.

I really enjoyed this film, its dark and unnerving without resorting to loud bangs or "found footage" style filming to get its scares.

Low budget and well shot, the film leans on the power of suggestion and tone to create a film which has a sense of unease throughout, tonally like the Exorcist, where there is this underlying feeling of dread and helplessness

The scares are not spoon fed, so this won't be for everyone, if your brand of horror is purely just modern films like Insidious or the recent Annabelle - then this might not be for you.

One of my favourite films of the year.