The Babadook (2014): A Review for the New Year

First, let me start by saying: this is my first post of the new year! Happy 2015, my lovely readers! I hope that your New Year's Eves were full of booze (Jack Daniels especially, that's my favorite), good friends, junk food, and some awesome horror. Maybe even a ghost-spotting or two. My friends and I have a tradition of watching awfully-rated horror movies on New Year's Eve. This was not one of them. So let's get on with the review...

Am I the only person who thought that the drawing of The Babadook in the pop-up book was so sweet-looking?! I mean, look at this face! I would snuggle him. D'awwww.

But I digress, this was the only sweet-looking thing about the film.  The rest was creepy. I would love a copy of that book, though. My only request is that no animals are harmed when Mr. Babadook switches up those drawings. I'll knock a planter over or something?

BE WARNED NOW, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. STOP READING RIGHT NOW IF YOU'RE GOING TO GET MAD AT ME FOR RUINING SOMETHING. Carry on. :)

Alright, I have to admit, I have very, very mixed feelings about this film. Initially, I adored it. I spent most of the film with my hands cupping my face, gasping and yelling "NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE". I feel like it gripped you from the beginning and never let go...until the awkwardly rushed ending. Samuel reminded me so much of little Danny Torrance from The Shining that I thought perhaps they used the same actor's son. As far as I know, it's not, considering Danny Lloyd isn't Australian. But like I said, the feelings are mixed.

Pros:
The story was amazing. The concept was awesome- a mother grieves the loss of her husband while trying to care for her son with "behavioral issues", which actually turns out to be a valid fear of a terrifying force that's made its way into her home. She medicates her son to stop his "hallucinations" (there's quite a bit of him screaming at the air, which really creeped me out), but she begins truly seeing what he's afraid of, and that's when it gets good. There's not a copious amount of gore, which to be honest was nice because they focused on real terror rather than cliche jump-scares and cringe-worthy gory scenes. I haven't seen a recent film like that in a while.
It was also pretty bad for me because I have a serious fear of the dark. I know, I know, girl running a blog about horror has a fear of the dark. Funny how that works.
Now,  Mr. Babadook, he's not very nice. He really doesn't care much if you don't want him around or not, because he'll tell you himself, "the more you deny me, the stronger I get" or something along those lines. He'll even wreck your pop-up book and piece it back together in a morbid fashion, and then he isn't so cute anymore. To be honest, the idea of him is terrifying. His voice is creepy as hell. I wouldn't want him anywhere near me.
Cons:
I truly feel like this film created what could have been a beautifully horrifying antagonist...but you never see his face. You see him briefly, he looks like the drawing, and he reminds me of the Penguin from Batman. He has what look like straight-razors for fingers, but nothing is really clarified because he's constantly in the dark. They build it up over and over about how eventually you'll see what he looks like under his "funny disguise"...and then you don't. You don't even see him in the climax of the film, when Amelia is screaming at him into the darkness. Typically the villains are my favorite part of any film, so I was really disappointed when I never got to see what he looks like when he isn't all "dressed up". All you see are what look like horns or wings come out of the darkness. Also, when you DO see him at their neighbor's house in the darkness, he looks just like Penguin.
Another disappointment that I had: the ending felt so rushed. The entire film, I was hanging on to my blanket for dear life, gasping, panting, and then poof, the credits rolled? Huh? Wait, what happened? He was just on the ceiling. Shrieking. He was just inside of her. Why are they feeding him in the basement now? They made friends with him? Oh. -sigh-

So, to wrap it up, I thought the concept was great. I thought the idea of what the Babadook could have been was awesome. I just don't think that they executed it very well.
Was I terrified? Yes. The dude is scary. And he knocks before he comes into your room and screams in your face.
Did I feel a connection to the characters? Yes. The story was actually really well-developed, and the character development was a total pleasure to watch.
Do I feel like I would watch it again? After a lot of consideration about how it ended, probably not. Once it was over, the feeling of "wow, that was horrifying" completely dissipated. That's my biggest source of disappointment...the ending left me saying "I don't know how I feel about that".

Let me know what you thought of this one in a comment under this post, I'd love to hear what you guys thought of it! It's been a big hit!