The Babadook is a 2014 horror film that digs into a mother’s battle with deep sadness after losing her husband. Amelia, played by Essie Davis, raises her young son Samuel alone, and things get scary when a creepy pop-up book about a monster called the Babadook shows up in their home. For more on the film’s acclaim, check out this analysis from High on Films via IMDb news: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0448768/news/.
As the story builds, the Babadook starts to feel real. Samuel sees it everywhere and warns his mom, but Amelia thinks he is just acting out. She is worn down by grief from her husband’s death in a car crash on Samuel’s birthday, and her anger toward her son grows. The monster represents her bottled-up pain, depression, and even thoughts of harming Samuel, showing how grief can twist into something monstrous inside us. A detailed breakdown of this metaphor comes from this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldTz4FQ7nic.
The tension peaks when Amelia gets taken over by the Babadook. She chases Samuel through the house, ready to hurt him, just like the book says the monster will do to anyone who calls its name. Samuel fights back, knocking her out with a tool from his homemade weapons. This raw scene shows love winning, but only after a brutal struggle, as noted in WatchMojo’s list of scary endings: https://www.watchmojo.com/articles/top-50-scariest-movie-endings.
In the end, mother and son make peace. They lock the Babadook in the basement, where it stays contained but alive. Every day, they lower worms and grubs down to feed it, keeping it calm. This twist means you cannot kill grief or depression completely. Instead, you learn to live with it, feeding it just enough to control it without letting it take over. Director Jennifer Kent has said this is the key message, explored in depth here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bnmm3MFJZ64.
Years pass in a quick montage. Amelia and Samuel seem happy, baking together and laughing at a party. But when Samuel asks about the basement, Amelia’s face changes for a split second, hinting the monster is still there under the surface. Another view on this ongoing presence is in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f33PtbcSaCc. The film wraps on a hopeful yet uneasy note, reminding us that healing from loss is a daily choice, not a one-time fix. For a full dive into why you cannot banish it entirely, see this analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa97JZY61_M.
Sources
https://www.watchmojo.com/articles/top-50-scariest-movie-endings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldTz4FQ7nic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bnmm3MFJZ64
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0448768/news/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f33PtbcSaCc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa97JZY61_M
