Gotta thank my brother from bringing this one to my attention. Thanks for letting me get the shit scared about of me. Today’s feature is the 2014 horror movie, The Babadook.
"@DadandBuried: Yo The Babadook is phenomenal. Scared the shit out of me. Great movie.". Creepy as F..ck
— Shaun C. (@spc73) January 30, 2015
The what? Here, just watch this.
“dook! Dook! DOOOOOKH!”
The Babadook is an Australian-Canadian jointly produced movie that was written and directed by Jennifer Kent, a former actress, and was was her first feature film. It focuses on a small family – a widow and her son – as they try to live in the shadow of a family tragedy. The son is always worrying about monsters in the house, and the mother is always there to protect him and show him that he is safe.
We see that the boy has some behavioral issues, and the mother is struggling to do her best to keep things together. One thing she always does is read a bedtime story to her son each night, and one night the boy takes out a book called “Mister Babadook” though neither of them new where it came from.
I really don’t want to say a lot more without giving anything away. If you like scary movies, and enjoy being freaked out by creepy stuff – as I apparently do – then I suggest you check this out. I definitely had to bight my lip a few times because I was annoying my wife in the next room every time I said “Oh no” or “Oh what the f**k.” I was getting stressed out as well as freaked out.
And I loved every second of it.
A few things to note:
- Part of the production of this film (about $30K, which went mostly to the art department) was actually funded through Kickstarter. In watching the Campaign video, it said they were planning to do all effects in camera with very little CGI. I honestly am not sure how much, if any, CGI was in this, but I thought that was cool and was worth noting.
- Though this was Jennifer Kent’s first feature as a writer/director, it was actually partly based/influenced on her very own 2005 short film “Monster” which you can watch on Vimeo. You can even see what she took from the monster in this short and used for the feature. Cool to watch, but I would watch The Babadook first.
- The movie is a critical favorite, scoring 98% overall approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and was nominated for and won many film awards.
- Lastly – the acting in this, especially by Essie Davis, who played the mother – was excellent. Noah Wiseman, who plays the young boy Samuel, was also great in his film acting debut.
- And I think cosplayers have a new character to dress up as for years to go.
Honestly, if you have the time one night soon – because it has to be at night – give The Babadook a try. It’s streaming on Netflix right now. Go watch it.
And good luck falling asleep afterwards.
7 down. 23 to go.
