Netflix movie of the day: The Babadook is a seriously scary horror that will get inside your head

There’s a lot going on in this genuinely disturbing horror movie

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The Babadookis one of the most original and iconic horror movies in recent years, attracting rave reviews and ending up everywhere from Pride parades to proudly displayed tattoos – and most recently,Netflix. At heart, it’s a simple story about a single mom whose kid tells her he can see monsters, but it’s about much more than that – and that’s why it’ll haunt you long after the end credits roll.

Why The Babadook isn’t your average horror movie

The story is simple enough. Amelia, who is widowed, is struggling to cope with the demands of being a single mom to her six-year-old son Sam. And then Sam starts having horrific fantasies about a character in a book, Mr Babadook – and Amelia becomes convinced that the Babadook is real, and a real danger to her and her son.

Empiregave it the full five stars, calling it “one of the strongest, most effective horror films of recent years”. “It’s genuinely scary in its jump moments, but also imparts a lingering sense of dread that will stay with you for days,” it wrote. One of the reasons it’s so effective is because it’s as much a portrait of grief as it is a horror movie. As Empire says, “the backstory… is poignant and the portrait of mother and son locked in a single, escalating fantasy is gripping and horribly credible”.

SF Weeklysaid: “There are legitimate terrors here – legitimate because, as any bleary-eyed parent will verify, they come from a real and terrible place.” AndThe Mary Suewrote that “I can’t think of a movie sinceRosemary’s Babywhich acknowledges the unspoken fears of motherhood with such humor, horror, and compassion”.

And the Pride parades? AsThe New Yorkerexplains,The Babadookis “a frightening, fabulous new gay icon” that may have become such because Netflix accidentally listed the film in its LGBTQ+ section. But queer Tumblr rolled with it and had a lot of fun with its new icon. As writer Eren Orbey puts it, “the gay community, witness to so many horrors, is expert at mining spunk and solidarity from what might otherwise seem only tragic.”

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Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir,Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock bandUnquiet Mind.

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