10 Horror Movie Characters That Didn't Deserve The Hate

Now, yours truly has even written about how gosh-darn annoying The Babadook's child protagonist, six-year-old Samuel (Noah Wiseman), is, but does that mean he's deserving of so much white-hot, full-throated hate?

Director Jennifer Kent makes the ill-behaved Sam loud and obnoxious entirely on purpose, to help the audience sympathise with his exhausted, put-upon mother Amelia (Essie Davis).

The film simply wouldn't work as well as it does without Kent establishing so persuasively that Sam is a stamina-draining force in his mother's life, cemented by the iconic, much-memed line she shouts at her son - "Why can’t you just be normal!?"

While the sheer sensory assault of Sam's bleating might genuinely make you less inclined to watch The Babadook on a regular basis - and honestly, who could blame you? - should we really be directing so much hate towards a young boy who is clearly traumatised and terrified by his experiences?

The kid was involved in a car accident while his mother was in labour with him - an accident which killed his father, no less - and spends the movie being terrorised by the titular entity.

Sam clearly loves his mother no matter that he can sense her resentment of him. And so, as annoying as he undeniably is, maybe we should give him a break?