Anyone perusing my movie reviews will find heaps of scorn, shovelfuls of disgust, and… barf bags. Many, many barf bags.

Not so with The Babadook, an Australian film of pure cinematic genius. Directed by Jennifer Kent, The Babadook follows the story of a single mother and her son.

Watch this movie. Or don’t. It’s your loss.

Warning, spoilers follow:

The Babadook is Amelia’s dead husband, Oskar. Or, to be more subtle, it is the memory of her dead husband (the actual Oskar is of course worm food, his existence forever expunged from reality, just like all dead people). The premise is a little extreme: Oskar died in a car accident while driving Amelia to the Hospital. He was taking her there because she was in labour with their soon-to-be son, Sam. Not only did Oskar die in the accident, but Amelia got to see him mostly decapitated. And, she gets to be reminded every year on Sam’s birthday about the death of her husband.

If you haven’t suffered the death of a spouse I’m afraid you aren’t qualified to judge. I have. I became a single parent to an orphan. And I’m here to tell you, The Babadook is real. The loneliness, the insomnia, the inability to deal with other people, the desire to kill your pets, the loathing of your own child because of what he represents. And it just goes on and on. Years are no match for The Babadook. On and on and on…just be glad the closest most of you will ever come to living in a real horror movie is to be graced with the presence of this movie in your life.

But for “We few, we happy few”, the monster has us forever: “if it’s in a word or it’s in a book / you can’t get rid of the Babadook.”

Enjoy it, if you can. Just remember, The Babadook is real.

Best. Horror. Movie. Ever.