10 Terrifying Horror Monsters That Only Need A Second To Scar You

Writer-director Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook manages the impossible by building an entire mythos within a single, 94-minute film. Before 2014, none of us had heard of the Babadook, and yet within a couple short years, he had become one of the horror icons of the 21st century.

The story belongs to Amelia Vanek (Essie Davis), a troubled widow and single mum to six-year-old Sam (Noah Wiseman). Their already difficult life is complicated by Sam’s sudden onset of erratic behaviour at school and in public, and his equally sudden obsession with a Mr Babadook, to whom he ascribes the strange events that surround them. A pop-up book about this vicious, mysterious, top-hat-wearing creature appears in their house, and despite Amelia’s attempts to be rid of it, it keeps coming back, its story more and more related to their own lives as these lives unwind.

Now, although we have a strong sense of what the Babadook looks like from the off, thanks to the storybook, the creature itself is barely onscreen at all, and rarely for more than a couple of seconds at a time. It’s very late in the day that we actually discover whether the Babadook’s actions are just Sam acting out, Amelia breaking down, or if this creature is actually stalking them – and when we do, it leaves a deep and lasting impression.