If you want horror to be horrifying — scary, as opposed to simply tense or shocking — then it helps to shine a light into the those real-life dark corners that people would rather not investigate. The Babadook does just that, gazing steadily upon the strained and fraying mother-love that the widow Amelia (a stellar Essie Davis) bears her troubled son Samuel. Samuel is forever encountering a monster, you see — or is it just that he's sneaking down to the basement to go through (dead) Dad's things? Either way, he's very hard to live with, especially without a sympathetic grownup by your side. The shadowy Babadook shows up a little ways in via a silly-but-chilling children's book, but Sam knows the shadows were already there in their unhomey home. Writer-director Jennifer Kent lets the dread creep in slowly and wisely goes easy on the effects; she knows that hand-drawn pop-ups can be more than enough to unsettle things. Also, that sympathy is what makes horror truly harrowing. (2014) — Matthew Lickona