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If it’s in a word, or in a look, you can’t get rid of the Babadook

The older I get, the more I come to realize that the best of my childhood fears offer markers for what I consider entertainment. I’m a monster girl at heart. Fangs, fur, claws, tentacles. I treasure the thing that lives in my closet. The thing that lives under my bed. They have special places in my heart, and often, they need to be fed to be kept happy.

Babadook3When the trailer for The Babadook’s Sundance debut began circulating a few months ago, I clamped both hands to my desk, cranked the volume up, and tittered my way through the pounding in my ears. Maybe it’s just me, but we don’t often see psychological horror compounded with a monster movie too often anymore.

I’m particularly fond of the fact that the main character is a child, that the device is a popup book chock full of creepy images, and the black white illustrative work is exceptional. I don’t even want to see this monster. I just want it to stalk me through a dark house making gravelly rasping noises. Dook dook dook.

The official blurb follows:

Six years after the violent death of her husband, Amelia (Essie Davis) is at a loss. She struggles to discipline her ‘out of control’ 6-year-old, Samuel (Noah Wiseman), a son she finds impossible to love. Samuel’s dreams are plagued by a sinister monster he believes is coming to kill them both.

When a disturbing storybook called ‘The Babadook’ turns up at their house, Samuel is convinced that ‘The Babadook’ is the creature he’s been dreaming about. His hallucinations spiral out of control and as he becomes more unpredictable and violent, Amelia is genuinely frightened by her son’s behaviour.

But when Amelia begins to see glimpses of a sinister presence all around her, it slowly dawns on her that the thing Samuel has been warning her about may be real.

The official trailer was released yesterday, and while I feel that this version is giving away a hair too much, I’m still marking off my calendar for the November 24th release date.

What do you think?

  • Ryan
    November 6, 2014

    It is frickin super creepy.. I only got 20 minutes in so far..in the daytime and was heebied out. Its very well done, and engaging right off the start, the kid is really good !! and your right this movies targets your childhood fears and brings em to life. Going to try to finish it tonight.. dook dook dook !

    • Your avergae thirteen year old
      Ryan
      March 3, 2015

      Seriously? The movie is miles away from the word “creep” and the child is a brat. Don’t get me wrong, I know he’s supposed to be like that, but he’s just so damn annoying. And although it does target some childhood fears, there are many more it chould have touched upon. Really, in that one scene, the only monster under the bed was the boy. Maybe children my age aren’t easy to scare any more; I hate things I personally find disturbing or spooky. But…Oh well, maybe the next generation will fall down a notch when exposed to movies such as these?

      • bentleyproperties
        Your avergae thirteen year old
        February 16, 2016

        Thirteen is too young to fully understand the movie. It is terrifying, it is very deep, and it lets you see with striking clarity the heart and spine gripping terror that plagues the mentally ill. Watch it again in 15 or 20 years.

  • Rocky
    December 20, 2014

    Friend of mine told me about this movie the other day and when I went to research the “monster” there’s no folklore about him. But the interesting thing is that I had a “babadook” growing up as a child (7-9yr old) who pretty much looked exactly like the one in the movie. He was tall, wore a black top hat, a long black coat and milky white skin. Mine just stood in the corner, glaring at me. I would just pull the covers over my head and eventually fall asleep. I don’t forsee looking at the movie (I’m a big chicken when it comes to horror flicks), but I wonder if there’s something to this. Just my thoughts.

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