The hype machine churned away at the end of the year for this small Australian horror film, but it was a lot of nonsense and little substance. There are some creepy parts found throughout, but the pacing of the psychological torment with The Babadook is about as subtle as a jackhammer. Essie Davis carries the entire film, but her accomplishment is in sustaining her histrionics for almost ninety straight minutes without showing any cracks. The premise has been done better in other films (The Omen and The Exorcist are obvious influences on this film) so the biggest letdown is that it didn’t move the horror genre in an interesting direction. The last several years have been absolutely abysmal for horror, and if The Babadook is the best the genre offered this year, then it might be time to sound the alarms because this well has officially run dry.