The Babadook (2014) is an Australian psychological horror film written and directed by Jennifer Kent. It stars Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman.

Unravel the haunting mysteries and symbolism of The Babadook (2014) ending in this gripping exploration. Follow the harrowing journey of Amelia and her troubled son as they confront an imaginary terror that turns their lives upside down. From the eerie Babadook to possession, find out the dark truths behind this psychological horror masterpiece. Discover how love and courage triumph over fear, leading to a surprising and heartwarming resolution. Prepare to be enthralled by the intricate depths of this captivating film’s conclusion.

The Babadook (2014) Plot Twists and Ending Explanation in Details

* * * Spoiler Alert – If you haven’t seen the movie yet, turn back now! * * *

Amelia lives with her son in her house. Amelia is having a nightmare when she is in a car driven by her husband and having an accident. She hears her son’s voice and falls from up to the bed. She wakes up and hears her son saying he is having a nightmare. Amelia falls him into sleep by storytelling him.

The next morning, she wakes up hearing some boom sounds, and sees Sam playing with a wooden gun. Amelia tells him not to break anything. Sam shows what he is gonna do when the monster comes and shoots another ball bullet. Sam loves to make wooden weapons. One morning, Amelia makes him ready for school but the surprising fact is when Sam hugs Amelia at one point it becomes tighter, and then Amelia pushes him back as if tight hugs are not supposed to be done.

Amelia works in a hospital, dementia department. Suddenly she gets a call from Sam’s school. Sam takes a toy pistol in school but it might harm other students. So the principal calls Amelia to talk about this. Sam has some serious behavioral problems that’s why they want to hire a monitor for him who will supervise him 24 hours. Mom says he already feels different so he can’t be able to cope with monitoring. But teachers are stubborn. Mom says she will find another school for her son.

In the super shop, Sam is gonna play with a girl, Amelia thinks he is gonna bother her. She stops him and Sam hears telling something about that girl’s father. Sam says his father is in the cemetery. He got killed in an accident when his mother was taken to the hospital. Hearing those words from such a little boy, the girl’s mom gets surprised but she handles herself and says to Sam his mom is so lucky to have Sam.

Amelia takes Sam to a park to meet Aunt Claire. Mom invites her to Sam’s birthday party but she informs Ruby doesn’t want to go there anymore. Claire invites her to the princess party. Amelia ignores politely the invitation. They are talking, in the meantime, Sam climbs at the peak of the ladder. Amelia immediately takes him down and scolds Sam.

That night Amelia introduces a new book to Sam named ‘The Babadook’. It’s a spooky book where there is a ghost named Babadook. There is written, ‘once you let it in, you can’t get rid of it’. Sam gets scared watching it. When Sam goes to bed then Amelia again opens the book and wonders how outlandish the book is!

At night Sam comes to Amelia being scared of Babadook. He thinks the Babadook is in the room. Amelia caresses her son to sleep.

The next morning, Amelia is already late. She keeps Sam in Aunt Claire’s home and goes to the hospital. Her boss is not happy with her performance when she is playing with the old ladies.

Robbie notices Amelia is exhausted and tense about something. He approaches her and offers her to take this period off. Amelia becomes upbeat and thanks him. She eats ice cream, watches a couple kissing and when returns, Claire complains to her about Sam saying scary things like Babadook.

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Amelia takes him and tells him not to say things again. At that moment, Robbie comes to see how everything is going. After he leaves, Amelia notices the room is open where all of her husband’s staff are kept. All the things are haphazard. So she organizes again and scolds Sam for doing that. Sam says Babadook does it. At dinner time, they find glass crumbs in the soup they are eating. Sam says Babadook did it.

Amelia gets a lil’ bit angry but doesn’t show it to Sam. Later she notices Sam going to her room and she follows. She finds the photo on her bed where someone defaced her and her husband’s faces. Amelia confronts Sam but Sam says Babadook did it. At night Sam gets so much scared that Amelia finds him under the bed shivering. He is saying,

‘Don’t let it in’.

‘Don’t let it in’.

The next morning, Amelia takes Sam to the princess party. Sam didn’t want to play but after she insist, he goes. One of Claire’s friends says she volunteered for disadvantaged women who lost their husbands and they find it very hard. When she is asked about her husband, she says his workload is ballooned and she is too busy with her kids to go to the gym. Now Amelia gets the chance to counter-attack. She says,

‘That’s the real tragedy. Not having time to go to the gym anymore. You must have so much to talk about with those disadvantaged women.’

Yeah girl! You have done it right. Those who always wait to insult people should have heard such retortion. After their leaving, Amelia and Claire are arguing over matters. Amelia didn’t like the matter that they pity her. Claire says whenever someone mentions Oskar’s name, you can’t cope with it. Seven years have gone, you should move on now. Amelia denies it and says she moved on. Amelia adds Claire doesn’t visit her house anymore. Claire accepts she doesn’t want to be around Sam and she also claims Amelia doesn’t want to be with her own son too. Amelia can’t believe Claire can say those things.

On the other hand, Ruby tells Sam to get out of her tree house. Sam says he isn’t hurting anyone. Ruby continues to abuse him saying his father didn’t want to be with him that’s why he died, and his mother doesn’t want him too. Hearing these provocative things Sam pushes her out of the tree. Claire immediately picks her daughter and says screaming at Amelia she should check on other children so that no more child gets hurt today.

Angry and exhausted, Amelia is driving Sam home and says she never wants to hear Babadook’s name again. Suddenly Sam starts telling someone invisible to go away and starts having compulsions. Amelia immediately takes to the hospital. The doctor refers him to a psychiatrist but Amelia wants to be prescribed some sedative because they both can’t sleep at night. The doctor considers the situation and writes down some sleeping medicines. At night, Sam takes pills on the condition that will make him cry,

‘I promise to protect you, if you promise to protect me.’

Sam falls asleep.

The next morning, Amelia sees Sam is still sleeping. Someone knocks at the door, Amelia checks but there is none. Knocks again, this time she finds the Babadook book at the doorstep. The book she torn apart ago, someone taped it and kept it here. Amelia gets shocked, she takes it and checks inside.

I will wager with YOU

I will make you a BET

The more you DENY

The stronger I GET

Reading these lines Amelia feels like there is no ground under her feet. Once the Babadook gets in, she starts to change. The Babadook is growing under her skin. Even The book shows the future showing eventually Amelia will kill the dog, Sam and herself too. Seeing this Amelia burns the book.

Amelia phones Claire to know how Ruby is and seeks help from someone who is following her and Sam. Claire gets irritated and she suggests Amelia go to the police. After the conversation, someone calls her and says, ‘Babadook…dook…dook’. She immediately goes to the police but as she burns the book, the police can’t help. She sees Babadook-type clothes in the police station, so she comes out of the station. Amelia notices so many cockroaches in the back of the fridge. She starts cleaning the whole house.

In the meantime, two people come from community service. They observe the house and don’t feel good. Sam informs them he feels so tired because of the drug his mom gives him. The community service people assume this lady is mentally unstable. They hand her over a card.

Next, she starts watching Babadook everywhere like in her neighbor’s house, in her room, etc. For the fear she is having, she can’t sleep at night. On the other hand, Sam is taking sedatives and gets always tired. Once Sam comes to his mother to tell her that he is hungry. Amelia gets so angry and scolds him so badly. After a while, Amelia comes to him and apologizes for her behavior. She takes Sam to Wally’s to have ice cream.

Amelia’s Deterioration

She is driving through roads and suddenly she sees cockroaches and the Babadook’s face. She takes a hard break and stumbles upon a car. He flares up and shouts at her. She says nothing and just returns home. After returning home, she starts to behave strangely. Amelia takes a violin and lies in her bed embracing it. Sam frequently asks whether he should call Aunt Claire or Gracy but Amelia strictly replies negatively.

Amelia only needs a sound sleep. At night Sam calls Aunt Gracy, and Amelia gets so angry with Sam. She doesn’t want to wake up Mrs. Roach who can hardly talk and walk by screaming at Sam. Amelia sees Sam is dead and blood is all over his body. She goes to save him then Sam screams saying ‘Mom’. Amelia, getting back to her senses, notices a knife in her hand.

Therefore she is about to kill Sam. Even Amelia was about to smother their dog. Amelia doesn’t understand what is happening to her. She is thinking differently from what she is doing. One day Amelia goes to the basement and sees Oskar (husband). They hug each other but Oskar wants his boy Sam.

Possession

Amelia runs out of the basement and sees Babadook. That Babadook attacks him and she gets possessed by the Babadook. That night she kills the dog Bugsy when it is barking seeing Amelia possessed by Babadook. Amelia runs after Sam to kill him. Sam uses her wooden weapons to defeat her but she is too powerful. In the meantime, Mrs. Roach knocks and says she has come just to see if Amelia is okay.

Amelia comes to Sam to say they should stay in Mrs. Roach’s house to earn Sam’s trust but Sam understands it’s a trap so he stabs her stomach, takes her to the basement, and ties her. Sam tries to persuade her saying they have promised to save each other. He is not leaving her because he loves her though he knows she doesn’t love him. Hearing those words Amelia gets the courage to fight back with that evil entity. She gathers her courage and vomits the black thing. Then it leaves her body and it gets back to the basement.

Plot Twist

This Babadook is actually a disguise, this is the soul of her husband who misses her wife and son. So he tried to get them back disguising himself as Babadook. He lives in the basement where Amelia kept all of his staff.

In the end, we see Amelia and her son get back to normal life. They have decided to celebrate Sam’s birthday for the first time which they never did. Mrs. Roach, community service people, Sam, Amelia everyone is happy now. So, it’s a happy ending.

What is the Babadook in the movie?

The Babadook is a supernatural creature that is said to be the embodiment of grief, anxiety, and depression. It is an imaginary form of anxiety or nervousness. It doesn’t exist but people love to imagine their depression as a creature that has superpower.

Why did Sam feel so tired?

For the fear of Babadook, Sam, and Amelia couldn’t sleep at all. Sam always talks about Babadook, scary things, or his wooden weapons. So no one wants to be with him. One day he pushed his cousin Ruby from her tree house.

Therefore, Amelia decides to give him pills so that he can be sedated. The day he started to take pills, he felt so tired.

Why did Amelia not see the cockroaches behind the fridge while talking with the service people?

When people are under pressure, they feel anxious, depressed. Amelia was so worried about Sam. Sam was growing up so differently. He felt he had to protect his mom since his father is not present. He always talks about weapons. The school authority decided to monitor him so he had to leave school. He pushed her cousin from a tree house and broke her nose. Considering every situation, she fell into depression and started hallucinating. That’s why she sees cockroaches everywhere but when the service people came to her house, she saw nothing.

Even when the world is being demolished, your mom will still try to save you. So be a safeguard for your mom.