The Official "The Babadook" Thread

[Sensitive Blake Griffin]

BAAAAAAH BAHHHHHHHHHHHH DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK

good flick but it wasn't perfect. The atmosphere was overall horrid and depressing. I thought The Conjuring was overall more scary because it's a little disarming when you see babadook is just allegory and not necessarily a genuine threat.

some of the scariest/most memorable parts for me were:

Spoiler

when she was looking at her old neighbor through the window and saw babadook standing right next to her, or when she was watching TV and saw herself in the window with the story about a mom killing her son with a knife and then herself, and when her book got put back together after ripping the pages apart

 

[FlyRy]

Just watched it and I enjoyed it. I didn't think it was particularly scary, outside of two or three moments, but the atmosphere was well-done and the build-up great. Where the movie faltered was that the build-up didn't lead to a strong enough pay-off. The thing is the Babadook isn't just a 'monster' (to spoil as little as possible), and because of this the movie's tone shifts in a direction where the titular monster plays a completely different role than the build-up makes him out to be.

Spoiler: major ass spoilers here

The Babadook very clearly represents mental illness/grief in both Samuel and Amelia, but I thought the first half hour built up the Babadook so strongly as an actual monster that the point where it becomes clear he's just an allegory, the movie loses a legitimate threat. The resulting movie starts to move towards Sam Raimi-esque fukkery with the whole super-possessed mom and the kid getting his Home Alone on, but because it tries to tell a serious story it doesn't quite commit to the craziness as much as it should either. It does work for what it tries to be, but what that is, is no longer a horror movie.

Regardless of that, it is a well-made picture with very strong performances (both the mom and the kid are great at convincing you they're driving each other crazy) and it's inspired enough that even if the movie can't keep the tone consistent (or precisely because of that) it never becomes dull. So yeah, it's not really scary, but it's entertaining and certainly leaves a more lasting impression than Interchangeable Jump Scare Ghost 4.

Also...

Spoiler: random plot spoiler

I liked how the (female) writer/director put in that implication that she just needed to get dikked down real good. It is the most underrated cure to feeling sad after all.

great analysis breh.

yea not really scary but overall a good flick

I thought the mom had a really dope performance.

Spoiler

when she was flipping out on her son with the knife i was like . The dog scene had me

 

[TheGodling]

great analysis breh.

yea not really scary but overall a good flick

I thought the mom had a really dope performance.

Spoiler

when she was flipping out on her son with the knife i was like . The dog scene had me

My moment was

Spoiler

when he kept saying that he was really hungry and she barked at him that he should eat shyt then.

 

[BXKingPin82]

i swear if my son was that bad id stomp his chest

 

[FlyRy]

i swear if my son was that bad id stomp his chest

first half that kid was so annoying i wanted to slap him

we had to pause it like 50 min in to walk the dog and i told my girl this was an anti-having kids movie

 

[YaBishh]

The movie was alot better than any scary movie i seen in awhile

Spoiler: Link if yall need it

http://180upload.com/n3h2745ohahn

 

[HamAndEgger]

Im downloading this as we speak .....

Spoiler

 

[Silver Surfer]

what the hell was the monster?

 

[hex]

I think what hurt Midnight Meat Train is that they just didn't put enough effort in selling the ending. The short story does a better job of making sense of it all and explaining that the subway butcher is only a small aspect of a greater horror. One of the few times I thought a movie could've used more exposition to explain what was happening.



While I agree with that, the thing about the ending is:

Spoiler: ending spoilers

since the Babadook is a manifestation of her mental illness/grief, it puts the monster in a different light. The ending basically represents that while she has moved on, mental illness is not something that just disappears. It will always be with her, but she can suppress it through medication (represented by the Babadook being kept in the basement like a pet and fed worms) and like she tells her son when he asks how he was, there are good days and bad days.

So in terms of the story the movie tries to tell, it makes perfect sense, but as you've said (and I did in my post above), it's so different from how the Babadook is introduced and built up that it's kinda disappointing we didn't see more of the Babadook as a straight forward horror monster.

The problem is the movie tries to tell two stories without committing to either one.

For a decent chunk of the movie it could possibly be a nervous breakdown/insomnia and trauma from losing her husband. But then they introduce the actual monster, and obviously supernatural things happen....but then she over comes the monster by asserting herself, and it cowers in the basement where her dead husband's belongings are kept. Maybe the monster thrives off of loss and grief but it doesn't change the fact that they still have a monster living in their basement, who is summoned by a child's book.

It's just....

I'm like....what are you trying to accomplish with the movie? It's all over the place. Maybe if I read an interview with Kent it'll make more sense.

As is stands I still like the movie, but it's an 8 when it could've been an easy 10.

Fred.

 

[TheGodling]

The problem is the movie tries to tell two stories without committing to either one.

For a decent chunk of the movie it could possibly be a nervous breakdown/insomnia and trauma from losing her husband. But then they introduce the actual monster, and obviously supernatural things happen....but then she over comes the monster by asserting herself, and it cowers in the basement where her dead husband's belongings are kept. Maybe the monster thrives off of loss and grief but it doesn't change the fact that they still have a monster living in their basement, who is summoned by a child's book.

It's just....

I'm like....what are you trying to accomplish with the movie? It's all over the place. Maybe if I read an interview with Kent it'll make more sense.

As is stands I still like the movie, but it's an 8 when it could've been an easy 10.

Fred.

Well, regarding all that.

Spoiler

the Babadook is a manifestation of her mental illness and grief. Keep in mind it's summoned not just from a children's book, but a book she probably wrote herself. During the birthday party of the niece the sister mentions she should pick up her writing again, and when she goes to the police station and talk about the book her hand is blackened, insinuating she's the one that added the new pages to the 'reconstructed' book. The entire story is pretty much an allegory so you shouldn't take the supernatural things as literal as the movie presents them.

I think the problem of the movie is that Kent is too skillful for her own good and created a movie monster so captivating and unique that it feels wasted in the side role it's given as the movie progresses into the story it really tries to tell.

 

[ℒℴѵℯJay ELECTUA]

i swear if my son was that bad id stomp his chest

even with mental complications?

 

[Th3G3ntleman]

Eh not really a horror buff so I knew coming it it really wouldn't do much for me and it didn't. The kid was so annoying for the first 30 minutes of the movie I really wanted to close it but I stuck with it and I dunno I guess some of it was creepy. That little fukking kid was a great actor cause at the end I wanted to mother to fulfill what happen in the fukking book and get rid of him. Reason X why fatherless kids are fkin terrible

 

[hex]

Well, regarding all that.

Spoiler

the Babadook is a manifestation of her mental illness and grief. Keep in mind it's summoned not just from a children's book, but a book she probably wrote herself. During the birthday party of the niece the sister mentions she should pick up her writing again, and when she goes to the police station and talk about the book her hand is blackened, insinuating she's the one that added the new pages to the 'reconstructed' book. The entire story is pretty much an allegory so you shouldn't take the supernatural things as literal as the movie presents them.

I think the problem of the movie is that Kent is too skillful for her own good and created a movie monster so captivating and unique that it feels wasted in the side role it's given as the movie progresses into the story it really tries to tell.

I dunno. I feel if they wanted to go the allegorical route they could've left it kinda grey as to whether or not the monster actually existed. Once you have a kid being pulled backwards upstairs by something invisible it's overtly supernatural and becomes about the monster.

But whatever. It's a great movie. I'll chalk it up to the monster actually existing, but being a physical projection of her mental anguish, ala "The Brood".

Fred.

 

[hex]

One more thing....her hands aren't black until after she burns the book. So unless it's a continuity error she didn't restore the book, her hands were just black from cleaning out the ashes.

Fred.

 

[Pool_Shark]

Not what I expected but still a good movie.

When the mom finds out what the kid did to her soup, the look of fear on that kids face.

"The Babadook did it! "