History Film / TheBabadook

* MostWritersAreWriters: Or was, at least, and a variant. Amelia was a children's book illustrator. [[spoiler:She may have wrote the Babadook book.]]

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: It's entirely possible that there was no monster at all, and that Amelia was actually just crazy. [[spoiler:She mentions that she used to write "kids' stuff" before her husband died, suggesting that she might have written the Babadook book herself, and Sam's fixation on protecting himself from monsters could easily be a desire to protect himself from ''his mother'', associating the threat from her depression with the new image of the Babadook to make it easier to comprehend (his fear of the Babadook could really be a fear of his mother losing herself, "going away"). And possession doesn't necessarily have to be the explanation for her behavior during the climax.]] Joe Bob Briggs states that this is preferred reading of the film.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: It's entirely possible that there was no monster at all, and that Amelia was actually just crazy. [[spoiler:She mentions that she used to write "kids' stuff" before her husband died, suggesting that she might have written the Babadook book herself, and Sam's fixation on protecting himself from monsters could easily be a desire to protect himself from ''his mother'', associating the threat from her depression with the new image of the Babadook to make it easier to comprehend (his fear of the Babadook could really be a fear of his mother losing herself, "going away"). And possession doesn't necessarily have to be the explanation for her behavior during the climax.]]

* CaughtWithYourPantsDown: [[spoiler: Near the beginning, Amelia decides to relieve some of her tension by [[ADateWithRosiePalms masturbating]] via vibrator. Unfortunately, Sam barges into her room ''right'' as she reaches orgasm. [[MomentKiller She's frustrated]], to say the least. Also a partial example, since Sam never catches on to what his mother was doing at that moment.]]

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Amelia relieves her stress and sexual frustration the way every single person does. [[spoiler:Sam doesn't care what mommy's doing when he can't sleep at night.]]

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:Once Amelia starts to fall under the influence of the Babadook, she starts shouting at Samuel when he gets up to his usual awful behavior, and he stops being a KarmaHoudini.]]
** Sam pushing Ruby out of the treehouse, breaking her nose in two places. While it causes no end of Hell for Amelia having to deal with the repercussions of Sam's actions, no one will say the little shit didn't deserve it because she mocked Sam for the ''fact that his father is dead.''

Amelia (Creator/EssieDavis) is a [[DisappearedDad single mom]] whose husband died in a car accident while driving her to the hospital to give birth to their child. Six years later, she's struggling to raise their son, Samuel. Sam has [[AmbiguousDisorder some problems]], in that he's still completely terrified of monsters under his bed and [[ChekhovsSkill builds contraptions]] to help kill them. This keeps him up at night and, by extension, keeps his mother in a permanent state of exhaustion. Amelia usually reads Sam a book to get him to fall asleep, and that works almost all the time.

->''"If it's in [[GetOut a word]] or it's in [[DeathGlare a look...]][[InescapableHorror You can't get rid of the Babadook.]]"''

* NoPronunciationGuide: Many people read the last syllable of the title as "duke", but it actually rhymes with (and is rhymed in-film with) "look".[[note]]In Australian English, the assumed pronunciation would be that it rhymes with 'look'.[[/note]]

* EveryoneLives: Everyone alive at the beginning of the film stays alive at the end, marking a rare achievement for characters in a horror movie. [[spoiler:Excluding the poor dog. Possibly further averted as Sam might be dead.]]

* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler:Due to the idyllic nature of Amelia's home alongside Sam being able to throw a perfect bullseye with a dart and perform an impossible magic trick, some believe that the ending is another dream scenario, and the true reality is that Amelia killed Samuel before retreating into her mind permanently]].

** [[spoiler:When a Babadook-possessed Amanda corners Sam, the back-and-forth they have mirrors the bat scene from ''Film/TheShining''. Amelia/Jack repeats something that Sam/Wendy says in a snide, mocking tone, and states that they want to bash Sam/Wendy's brains in]].
*** [[spoiler: It's even more explicit in the script, with Babadook!Amanda screaming "I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your fucking door in!", almost an exact riff on the Here's Johnny scene.]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Film/TheExorcist''. Both of them are about single mothers struggling to help their children cope with [[AmbiguousDisorder mysterious mental illnesses]] that turn out to be supernatural, both of them prominently feature DemonicPossession and heavily isolated children, and both of them take place almost entirely in [[ClosedCircle the family home]]. Much like ''The Exorcist'', ''The Babadook'' is generally agreed to be all the more effective as a horror film because it focuses more on the disintegration of the family rather than on the monster that causes it.

* RuleOfSymbolism: [[spoiler: The Babadook represents, in part, grief, and how denying grief makes it grow into a terrible monster that can change who you are from the inside out. Notice how the real turnabout in the film comes when Amelia admits to Sam that she's sick, and that she needs help, and in the end the Babadook isn't banished or destroyed -- it just has to be lived with. Amelia feeds it every day (that is, indulges in her grief) and it no longer has power, because she's accepting the issue. Critics have also suggested that the Babadook embodies resentment, anger, survivor's guilt, and the deep {{Adult Fear}}s of parenthood.]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Film/TheExorcist''. Both of them are about single mothers struggling to help their children cope with [[AmbiguousDisorder mysterious mental illnesses]] that turn out to be supernatural, both of them prominently feature DemonicPossession and heavily isolated children, and both of them take place almost entirely in [[ClosedCircle the family home]]. Much like ''The Exorcist'', ''The Babadook'' is generally agreed to be all the more effective as a horror film because [[AdultFear it focuses more on the disintegration of the family rather than on the monster that causes it]].

* AdultFear:
** Loss of your spouse and inability to control your child. The entire opening act of the movie deals with the slow disintegration of Amelia's home life, as her son makes it impossible for her to keep her job or the respect of her friends and family.
** Also the short scene where it seems like Samuel is [[spoiler: having a seizure]]. The moment Amelia notices that something is wrong, she instantly runs to him and begs a random couple for help while crying. Any parent whose child is at danger of sudden child death will have a hard time with that particular scene.

** The Babadook's design appears to be one big homage to silent horror cinema in the early days of film, as he has elements of Lon Chaney's Man in the Beaver Hat from lost film ''London After Midnight'', and of Count Orlok from ''{{Film/Nosferatu}}'', with perhaps a little from ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'''s Cesare. Strengthening the connotations, Amelia also sees him appearing in ''London After Midnight'', a spooky silent film they watch on TV.

This terrifies Sam and aggravates his behavioural issues to the point where he becomes convinced that the Babadook is real and stalking them. Amelia denies its existence, and eventually tears up the book and throws it into the trash. However, [[ClingyMacguffin the book returns to her doorstep]] days later, repaired and with brand new pages depicting a blonde woman not dissimilar in appearance to Amelia in graphic acts of violence, all [[DemonicPossession under the shadowy influence of the Babadook]].

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