[Fish]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

Seriously? That's the plot?

Spoiler!

Plot[edit]
Since the death of her husband Oskar while driving her to the hospital to give birth, Amelia has raised her precocious son Samuel alone. Samuel is preoccupied with magic tricks, bedtime stories, and building homemade weapons to fight imaginary monsters. Amelia is forced to take her son out of school due to his ongoing behavioral problems. Sam’s issues also complicate Amelia’s budding romance with nursing home coworker Robbie. Samuel asks his mother to read from a mysterious pop-up storybook found on his shelf called, “Mister Babadook.” The book tells of a supernatural monster that cannot be dismissed once someone is made aware of its existence. After hearing the story, Sam becomes convinced that the Babadook has started stalking him and his mother. Amelia attributes strange events occurring throughout the house to Sam acting out, although Sam insists that the Babadook is real. Amelia rips up the “Mister Babadook” book and disposes of it in the trash bin outside. At his cousin Ruby’s birthday party, Sam pushes Ruby out of a treehouse and accidentally breaks her nose in two places when she teases Sam for not having a dad and for refusing to believe in the Babadook. Meanwhile, Amelia’s sister Claire admits to Amelia that she cannot stand to be around Samuel, and suspects that Amelia feels the same way. Sam has a seizure after experiencing a vision of the monster. Amelia convinces a doctor to prescribe sedatives to help Sam sleep, and also some for herself so that she may finally get some rest. Amelia hears knocking at the door and finds the repaired “Mister Babadook” storybook on the stoop. She reads a passage about how the monster becomes stronger the more someone denies its existence and sees new pop-ups that depict her strangling Sam. Amelia burns the book on the outdoor grill. After a strange phone call, Amelia goes to the police to report a stalker, but realizes that she sounds delusional. Prue and Warren from the Department of Community Services come to Amelia’s house to inspect Samuel’s home life. Amelia thinks she sees the Babadook stalking her neighbor Mrs. Roach. As more unexplainable events and strange visions occur, Amelia gradually comes to believe that the Babadook is haunting her and her son, and that she is becoming possessed. With her mind cracking, Amelia shows signs of intending to inflict harm on Samuel. Sam stabs her and leads Amelia into the booby-trapped basement where he captures her amongst stored items belonging to Oskar. Amelia coughs up a black substance and escapes. An invisible force pulls Samuel throughout Amelia’s bedroom. The Babadook appears and Amelia threatens it to not harm her son. The Babadook collapses and its spirit retreats to the cellar. Some time later, Amelia and Sam collect worms from the backyard. Amelia unlocks the cellar door and brings the bowl of worms down for the Babadook to eat. Afterward, Amelia prepares a proper party for Sam on his actual birthday.[4]

Seriously....

Spoiler about the plot and finale:

Spoiler!

First, what bothered me the most is that the movie has no real likable characters. The mom is a selfish crazy bitch. She curses at the kid, gets very violent with him, tells him to eat shit because the kid interrupted her nap, doesn't allow him to celebrate his birthday on the day of his birthday because that's also the day the father was killed, etc. The woman playing the mother did a good job acting, but the character just didn't make sense and came off selfish and hateful. The mixed in a lot of suspense to make you sort of think the mom was losing her mind, it just didn't work for me. The kid was an insufferable asshole, but you still feel a tiny bit sorry for him because everyone else in the movie is even more of an asshole.

The movie does a good job at building up lots of tension. It finally results in a big showdown finale of the Mom vs. the Babadook. Up to this point, the Babadook has been able to do all kinds of badass poltergeist stuff, like move objects, make noises, invisibly pick up people and objects, completely posses people, etc. There's a standoff between mom and monster, and the mom screams at it, and all of a sudden the monster loses all its power for no explained reason at all. From that point on, the mom and kid keep the Babadook in the basement and take care of it as a bizarre pet of sorts, and bring it food like a bowl of worms. Everyone lives happily ever after. The end.