A widowed mother (Essie Davis) is coping with her unreasonable and impracticable son (Noah Wiseman) whose latest spooky bedtime book has begun to take on a life of its own.
The Babadook is minimalist horror fare with virtually no scares that works as a family drama until it descends into the usual stupid genre cliches Davis is effective but the young Wiseman is so insufferable, which is intended but still doesn't make the movie any easier to take.
** out of ****
