The Babadook
IFC Films | Release Date: November 28, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
86
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
34
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
SlateDana StevensDec 15, 2014
The Babadook creates tension not with jump scares or chase sequences but with judicious editing and slow-burn suspense—that is, until it descends into a final half-hour of harrowing emotional and physical intensity, an extended climax that made me gasp aloud, hide my eyes, and weep at least twice. Read full review
100
The New York TimesA.O. ScottNov 28, 2014
The brilliance of The Babadook, beyond Ms. Kent’s skillful deployment of the tried-and-true visual and aural techniques of movie horror, lies in its interlocking ambiguities. Read full review
100
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlNov 25, 2014
Jennifer Kent's maternal nightmare The Babadook is the imperial stout of recent fright flicks -- it's the one that will have you walking funny and might rip into your sleep. It's hard to say that you'll enjoy this film, but it's hard not to admire it, if maybe with your eyes half shut. Read full review
100
EmpireKim NewmanOct 20, 2014
One of the strongest, most effective horror films of recent years — with awards-quality lead work from Essie Davis, and a brilliantly designed new monster who could well become the break-out spook archetype of the decade. Read full review
100
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJan 26, 2014
On purely formal grounds (the ones on which the genre lives or dies), Kent is a natural. She favors crisp compositions and unfussy editing, transforming the banal house itself into a subtle, shadowy threat. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Nov 25, 2014
Believe it or not, though, the real horror of this superb Aussie monster movie has almost nothing to do with the title fiend and everything to do with the unspoken, unspeakable impulses he represents. Remove the Babadook from The Babadook, in other words, and something plenty terrifying remains. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNov 27, 2014
This is Kent’s first feature — an astonishing debut. Not perfect, though. Read full review
90
TheWrapInkoo KangNov 25, 2014
The Babadook is the rare horror tale that's also a triumph of empathy. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJan 26, 2014
Kent and editor Simon Njoo show maturity and trust in their material, expertly building tension through the insidious modulation from naturalistic dysfunctional family drama to all-out boogeyman terror. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenDec 3, 2014
The crisp imagery (by Radek Ładczuk) creates a true sense of menace amid the household banality. Tales about mothers who fear their offspring also strike at a very primal level of mythic storytelling. Vigilance is the only means of protection against creatures from the id. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDec 18, 2014
This is the scariest movie of the year. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsDec 18, 2014
Here's one of the strongest feature film debuts in a long time, in any genre. Read full review
88
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanDec 11, 2014
The feature debut of writer-director Jennifer Kent is not just genuinely, deeply scary, but also a beautifully told tale of a mother and son, enriched with layers of contradiction and ambiguity. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrDec 4, 2014
The Babadook remains a potent journey through the fears, anxieties, and repressed rages of motherhood. The ending, remarkably, gets to have it both ways, reminding us that some of the scariest monsters are the ones we learn to live with. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyNov 30, 2014
The finest and most genuinely provocative horror movie to emerge in this still very-new century. Read full review
88
New York PostSara StewartNov 25, 2014
The film’s slightly confusing ending doesn’t spell anything out, but that’s all right: We’re left sitting in the dark shivering, reassured there are still some directors who can leave us well and truly creeped out. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineAbhimanyu DasMar 20, 2014
Its horrors go beyond any single raggedy phantom, reaching back to the primordial fear of death and loss: of a child, of a loved one, of one's own sense of self. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianMarc MohanDec 18, 2014
If film's rapturous reception is due in part to the rarity of filmmaking this skillful within the horror genre, it's hard to begrudge this near-masterpiece of unease any of the praise it's gotten. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyNov 27, 2014
In an age when horror movies have mostly become lazy and toothless, here's one with ambition and bite. Read full review
83
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezFeb 1, 2014
The Babadook is a smart, respectful horror that puts character and emotional issues first, yet never at the cost of a delightful and haunting fright. Read full review
83
IndieWireSteve Greene Jan 26, 2014
The Babadook isn't a transcendent horror film. But its ability to handle and manipulate the conventional tropes apparent in so many of its peers makes it a satisfying ride. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzDec 11, 2014
The Babadook is a terrific horror film. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternNov 27, 2014
As a director, working with actors, she may have drawn on her own experience acting in features and TV; whatever her method, she has come up with a matched pair of terrific performances. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyNov 27, 2014
The film is quite serious about pushing its players and its audiences through the mental, as well as emotional, meat grinder. Many times along the way, you fear you know where things are going. But Kent is clever in choosing unexpected spots to pull the rug out from under you. Read full review
80
The DissolveScott TobiasNov 26, 2014
It would be enough for The Babadook to get by on scares alone—the eponymous spook is eminiently franchise-able—but Kent doesn’t give the audience that kind of distance. Her agenda is more personal. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJordan HoffmanNov 25, 2014
So many horror films trade depth for a thrill. The Babadook has both. It dispenses with cheap scares and draws tension from a slowly enveloping dread. And when you think you know where it’s going, that’s when it goes in for the kill. Read full review
80
The New YorkerAnthony LaneNov 24, 2014
No male director would have put so much as a toe inside this trouble zone, although Kent does borrow a helpful domestic hint from “Shaun of the Dead”: rather than vanquish our worst nightmare, why not tame it, lock it away, and hope? Read full review
80
VarietyScott FoundasFeb 6, 2014
This meticulously designed and directed debut feature from writer-director Jennifer Kent (expanded from her award-winning short, “Monster”) manages to deliver real, seat-grabbing jolts while also touching on more serious themes of loss, grief and other demons that can not be so easily vanquished. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)John SemleyMar 5, 2015
The Babadook is too deliberately calibrated to prove truly terrifying. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleThomas LeeJan 15, 2015
At its heart, The Babadook is a story of mother and son, whose relationship ultimately determines whether they survive the demon — or die trying. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezDec 18, 2014
This is a dark and shivery story about motherhood, a common subject for horror movies, but one that’s rarely treated with such intelligence or seriousness of intent. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaDec 5, 2014
The Babadook, then, is a study in madness that lurks beneath the surface. But it is also very much (and amusingly) a look at the trials of parenting, especially single-parenting: those days when you just want to, well, get your child out of the picture somehow. Of course, you don't act on those impulses. That's what the movies are for. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversNov 26, 2014
Kent will have you climbing the walls simply by plumbing the violence of the mind. Brace yourself. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreNov 25, 2014
Manages to pop the hairs on the back of your neck more than most repetitive, predictable and gory Hollywood horror films these days. Read full review
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